Clan William: Those Munson Girls - Margaret Jane Munson

Capt Thomas Munson > Samuel Munson > Samuel James Munson > William Munson > Samuel II Munson > Freeman Munson >  Amos Munson > Margaret Jane Munson m Giles P Weaks

Amos Munson, who I wrote about here, is my 3rd great grandfather. My 2nd great grandmother was his daughter Mary Ann who married William Custer Smith and resided in the Butler/Bremer/ Chickasaw counties area of Iowa after leaving Grant County, Wisconsin in the 1860s. Amos' daughter Henrietta Munson Woodington is well-chronicled here.

These four daughters will be the basis for the next few posts.

MARGARET JANE MUNSON

Born 05 Sep 1831 in Trumbull County, Ohio, Margaret was the eldest child of Amos and Mary Ann and most likely named for Amos' mother, Margaret Gregory. The Munson's came to the Eastern District of Grant County in 1849/1850 when Margaret was 18 years old.

Grant County had been established in 1837. Located in the southwest corner of the state, European settlers had started arriving by the 1820s. Mining operations (and an influx of Cornish miners) of lead

and zinc began in the mid-1820s in Hardscrabble (now Hazel Green) in Grant, Wisconsin. This area of Wisconsin is particularly beautiful and full of rolling hills because it did not, as a land, fall victim to the glaciers that flattened out much of the Midwest million of years before. As mining waned, farming flourished due to its fertile land.

Glen Haven, Wisconsin

The Munson's ended up in Glen Haven (originally called Stump Town), which was platted in 1857, just a year after the first steam ferry started operating. When the railroad arrived in 1884, the town flourished to its greatest degree and became a shipping point for both stock and farmed materials between St Paul and Chicago 1 As time went on and the locks and dams on the Mississippi were completed and transportation shifted to trucks for conveyance, Glen Haven slowly shrunk to less than 100 residents.

Margaret met Mr. Giles P. Weaks, son of Robert and Catherine Weaks, who originally hailed from Virginia, and married him on 05 Oct 1851 in Grant County. Giles purchased 40 acres of land at 1 SWNE 4TH PM - 1831 MINNESOTA/ WISCONSIN No 5 N 4 W 2 in 1857.2 They resided in Glen Haven as of the 1860 Census and by 1870 would have grown their family to five children. The 1870 Census also has them located in Glen Haven.

The children: James P. (who died prior to his father's death), Alice J. (who died at age 20 in 1876 in Glen Haven), Matilda Dell Siglin, Floy Margaret Rogers (later Hoppa), and Frank.

1880 found the Weaks family living in Bethel Township in Fayette County, Iowa. They owned 120 acres along the southern edge of the township that place them in Fayette County by at least 1879. I theorized in my post about Amos that for some time, Margaret's parents resided with them until Amos' death in 1885. Margaret followed him in 04 Oct 1896. Her mother, Mary Ann, moved on to live with her daughter Julia Newcomb in Howard, Howard County. Giles lived until 1902 and died in Hawkeye in Fayette County. He left all his worldy goods to his three remaining children.

Giles will is available on Ancestry.com and is below, stating:

First. That all my debts be paid.
Second: I give and bequeath to my daughter Matilda Dell Siglin, the sum of $600.00
Third: I give and bequeath to my son Frank Weaks, the sum of $500, also all my household goods, gray mare, single harness, double harness, buggy, and wagon.
Fourth: That all of my personal property be sold other than the above names.
Fifth: That after the above bequeaths (sic) have been paid, my estate shall be divided equally between my son Frank Weaks and my daughter Matilda Dell Siglin and Floy(d) (sic) Rogers.
Sixth: And lastly, I do hereby appoint my friend D W Wilbur to be the executor of this my last Will and Testament.

Giles Weaks Last Will & Testament

1 http://mississippivalleytraveler.com/glen-haven/
2 Wisconsin, Homestead and Cash Entry Patents, Pre-1908