LINSEY FAMILY: Owen Dorathy & Sarah Lindsey

Owen Dorathy & Sarah Lindsey Family

Much of the history of my Lindsey/Linsey relatives is still a mystery. The immigrant was reportedly Harvey Lindsey, who has been reported to have been from Ireland or England (or possibly Scotland). He married Peace Macomber and had an unknown number of children.  This was ascertained from death certificates for what were the two known children, Oscar Linsey and his sister Mary Lindsey. 

Through the miracle of DNA, about a year ago, another connection popped up. Sarah Lindsey. it turns out, was the older sister of Oscar and Mary. The story fit neatly together on all fronts, including that her family also traveled from Chautaqua County, New York to Whiteside County in Illinois. 

After recently locating the 1830 Census for Harvey in Washington County, New York, I was able to confirm an, as to yet unnamed, daughter born between Sarah and Mary born between 1825 and 1830.

Born in 1821, in Washington County to Harvey and Peace, Sarah was most likely the oldest or one of the oldest children of the couple. Sarah married Owen Dorathy (an altered form of Dougherty) around 1840 in New York. The couple lived in Ellington in Chautauqua County. Owen was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1815 and emigrated to the US in 1835.

The couple relocated to Whiteside County, Illinois between 1856-1857, settling in the area near Portland. Their post office was the Spring Hill post office. By the time they'd arrived, they already had six of their final count of eight children. The Dorathy's farmed.

While the Dorathy's remained in Whiteside County (until today, in fact), Sarah's younger brother Oscar, my 2GG, moved his family to Benton County, Iowa, near Vinton. Mary, the only other sibling I know about, lived in Whiteside County for most of her life, but died in Vinton, most likely because her brother was there.

Morris Dorathy & Lydia Besse

The Dorathy's were a very well regarded family in the county and in the coming generations were very involved in civic activities and the Methodist church. While that is true, they aren't a particularly interesting group, leading fairly routine recorded lives, much like the lives of Sarah's brother Oscar's family in Iowa. Here is a brief summary of the children of the Dorathy's:

Morris Dorathy: Born 04 Dec 1842/Ellington, Chautaqua, New York (some reports say Cattaraugus County); Died: 10 Apr 1930, Portland, Whiteside, Illinois. Married: Lydia Rose Besse, 12 Nov 1970 in Whiteside County. They had six children. Morris served in the Civil War, with the 75th Illinois Infantry. He served for three years, seeing action Perrysville, Stone River, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge. He was also on the front lines of the Atlantic Campaign. He was discharged in 1865. He was a member of the Modern Woodsmen, the Grand Army of the Republic (a Civil War veteran's organization), and the Masons.

Dennis Dorathy: Born 04 Nov 1844, Ellington, Chautaqua, New York. Died 04 Jan 1922 in Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska. Married: Charlotte Dickerson, 10 Nov 1867 in Henry County, Illinois. The couple was the only Dorathy who continued west during this time. The couple moved to Nebraska around 1870, but possibly prior. The couple owned a couple of different farms in the North Bend area, but after the death of his wife in 1913, Dennis moved to Fremont where he died after developing a cold
which sounds like turned into pneumonia. The couple had two children.

Charles Dorothy

Charles Dorathy: Born 25 Apr 1846, Ellington, Chautauqua, New York. Died 07 May 1937, Maywood, Cook County, Illinois. Married: Never married. Charles Dorathy was the last Whiteside County Civil War veteran when he died at age 91. He served with Company B, 140th Illinois Infantry Volunteers from 1863 to 1865. He farmed his entire life. The last few years of his life he suffered from illness and resided in the veteran's hospital in Cook County until his death.

William Dorathy: Born 09 Mar 1851, Ellington, Chautauqua, New York. Died 24 Mar 1924 in Portland, Whiteside, Illinois. Married: Clementine Toms, 21 Dec 1876, Whiteside County, Illinois. The couple had four children. After farming for many years, the couple moved to Prophetstown. Mrs. Dorathy died in 1940 after a heart attack at her son Bruce's home outside of Prophetstown.

William Dorathy

Catherine "Katie" Dorathy: Born Aug 1852, Ellington, Chautauqua, New York. Died 08 Feb 1875,

Prophetstown, Whiteside, Illinois. Married: George Erastus Breckenridge, 22 Jan 1869, Whiteside County, Illinois. George was also a farmer. The young couple had two children before Katie's premature death. George remarried Nancy Agnes Allen in 1876 and the couple raised his two children and their two children before George's death in 1910 in Red Eye, Wadena County, Minnesota.

Mary Ann Dorathy: Born 24 Mar 1956, Ellington, Chautauqua, New York. Died 02 Jun 1934, Portland, Whiteside, Illinois. Married: Cecil Fuller, 28 May 1973, Whiteside County, Illinois. Cecil was a farm laborer. The couple did not have any children. She was a Methodist and an honorary member of the Portland Club.

Lee Watson Dorathy

Frank Dorathy: Born 18 Oct 1858, Whiteside County, Illinois. Died 03 Apr 1895, Whiteside, Illinois. Married: Christina Catherine "Katie" Kelly, 04 Jul 1882, Whiteside County, Illinois. He worked as a farm laborer during his short life. The couple had no children.

Lee Watson Dorathy: Born 18 Jun 1861, Whiteside County, Illinois. Died 16 May 1932, Whiteside County, Illinois. Married: Lydia Rawson, 29  Jun 1887, Whiteside County, Illinois. The couple had two children. 

While not a lot was gleaned from researching this family, I was struck by one thing - the dour expressions of Sarah and several of her children, were exactly the same expression shared by my own antecedents!

MysteryMuddle: Solving the Mystery of the Early Smulls

George Henry Smull, the first subject of
the Smull Commemorative
Biographical Sketches

Way back in the day (sometime around 1825-ish), three brothers arrived in the Brush Valley, in Centre County, Pennsylvania. The story is not told through records, but through the centennial commemorative publications popular throughout the United States that profile prominent citizens and told the history of the town. Their accuracy was only as good as the transcriber and the subject providing the information so these publications often offer only mixed results.

Those Centre County Smulls were Henry, Peter, and Jacob. Another brother, Jesse, lived in another part of Pennsylvania and the two daughters referenced below have not been identified.

The Smull story is muddled by these very bio sketches. George Henry Smull, son of Reuben Smull, grandson of one of the three Brush Valley Smulls who first arrived to the area, Henry, was profiled in the J. H. Beers & Co. Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania, including the counties of Centre, Clinton, Union and Snyder Counties:

"The first of the line in America was _____ Smull, the great-grandfather of our subject (Henry, son of Reuben). He was a native of Ireland, whence he came to this country in the latter part of the

Centre & Clinton Counties, 1792

eighteenth century to locate in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. 

Six of his children lived to adult age - two daughters and four sons, the names of the latter being Henry, Jacob, Peter and Jesse. The Smull family in Brush Valley is descended from the first three sons, who were skilled masons, and all went at the same time to Rebersburg to build the wall for the Lutheran Reformed Church. They remained in the Valley, and, living in German settlements, they and their children adopted the language and customs of their neighbors. Of the brothers, Jacob, in later years, did an extensive business in cutting tombstones for the Rebersburg cemetery from native rock, and several of  these monuments are still standing. Jacob died at his home below Aaronsburg, and was buried at Rebersburg. Peter removed in later life to Stephenson county, Illinois, and died there." 

Just off the bat, this doesn't make sense. While there are some Smull's hailing from Scotland, the Schmoells, Schmulls, Smulls, Smalls, etc. hailed from Germany. The areas like Rebersburg were very German, speaking and conducting all of their business within their German communities in their language, educating their children in German, and maintaining their customs. It would not make sense for Irishmen to integrate into the German community. But who knows?  Intermarrying had already started.

Centre County Township Map, 1861

On that basis, I've since been looking for some other explanation and finally found one, which also may or may not be fully accurate. This taken from Portrait & Biographical Record of Macon County, Illinois, 1893 by Lake Publishing and the subject was Henry Smull (1842*), a heretofore unidentified child of Peter Smull and Mary Waggoner. There is one child of Peter and Mary whom I still have not identified, based on 1830 & 1840 census calculations. It tells a completely different tale about the same ancestor (the unidentified grandfather of both profile subjects):

"The latter (Peter) was of German descent. The paternal grandfather (unidentified) of our subject was a hero of the Revolution. He left the Old Country to avoid entering the army, and arrived in the United States just in time to aid the Colonists in their struggle for independence.

For seven years he (the unidentified grandfather) participated in the Revolution. The father (Peter) of our subject (Henry)was born February 27, 1796, and died in February, 1869, being buried in Rock Grove, Stephenson County, Ill. His wife, who was born February 4, 1801, died and was buried in the same place in September, 1878. Mr. Smull was always a supporter of the Democratic party. He was a mechanic, and always followed the occupation of farming. He came to Illinois when Henry was a lad of twelve years, and located upon a farm in Stephenson County, where he spent his remaining days."

I think this description may be more accurate, but may be bloated in the heroic description. Until it can be ascertained who the parents of the Brothers Smull were, it's all moot. I have yet to find one person who has a reasonable solution to the problem. What I know is that the family is not related, or is very distantly related to John Augustus Smull, the author of the Smull's Legislative Handbook. 

The big questions for me are:

• Did Jacob Smull have wife and children and if so, whom?
• Did Jacob Smull leave the Centre County area? No records of him exist, but the house which he built in Centre County is on the National Historic Register
• Who are the parents of Mary Waggoner, Peter Smull's wife? I have a case to put before the court of public opinion, but will share that later.
• And, finally, WHO ARE THE PARENTS OF THE BROTHERS SMULL?

*Henry Smull (1842) is the son of Peter Smull and Mary Waggoner and is listed with his birth year to differentiate him from Henry Smull, brother of Peter.