Isaac Mulkey's Will (1849) - Amanuensis Monday

Thanks to John at Transylvanian Dutch for providing a framework (and nudge) for transcribing family records, news clippings and other treasures.

Isaac Mulkey's Will.

I Isaac Mulkey do make and publish this my last will and testament hereby revoking and making void all other wills by me at any other time made.

First - I direct that my funeral expenses and all my just debts be paid as soon after my death as possible out of any moneys that I may die possessed or may first come into the hands of my Executor.

Secondly. I direct that all my property including my Stock household and Kitchen furniture farming utensils books and all other  property not named in this will be given to my loveing companion for the support of her and any of my children that are single and laboring under bodily affliction to belong to my wife during her widowhood but should she marry it is to be given up to such of my single children as may be inable to make a living by their own exertions and at the death of the last of them included in this second direction I direct that it go into the hands of those that support them while they lived and my Executor is hereby directed to give up the property to my widdow Rachel Mulky as soon as he enters on his Executorship.

Lastly. I do herby nominate and appoint my two sons Philip Mulkey and Robt H Mulkey my Executors to Carry this will into effect.

          Witness my hand and Seal 25th August 1849

                                                                                            Isaac Mulkey [seal]

Signed Sealed and published in our presence and we have subscribed our names hereto in the presence of the Testator this 25th August 1849.

                                                                                            R. S. Ferguson

                                                                                            John Murray

The foregoing Will was proven in open Court at October Term 1855 by R. S. Ferguson and John Murray the subscribing witnesses thereto and orderd to be recorded.

                                                                                            Henry Hoss, Clk.

                                                                         

Notes: Isaac Mulkey was my gggg grandfather. When his will was written his eldest son Philip was 39 years old. His son Robert was 24 years old. 

Witness John Murray was Mulkey's brother-in-law. R.S. Ferguson's relationship is unknown, however he may be related to Amanda Ferguson who married Mulkey's son Hiram and/or to Alexander Ferguson who married his granddaughter Sarah Mulkey. 

It is unclear which children Isaac was referring to in his will as disabled. He had 3 males, aged 10 to 15, in his household in the 1840 census and 3 younger females, one under 10 and two aged 15 to 20 in addition to his wife. 

In 1850 Isaac was enumerated in Washington County with his wife Rachel and four of his children still living with him - Sarah (aged 32), Lucinda (aged 27), Hiram (aged 21) and Rachel (aged 17). Robert H Mulkey was one of the males listed in the 1840 census, as was Hiram. The third may have been a son Howard who does not appear in any subsequent census listings but was named in his brother Jesse's will. The younger females' ages roughly correspond to the ages of the daughters in the 1850 census (Sarah is older than she should be if the 1840 census listing is correct). 

Sarah may have married a Mr. Depew or she may have died. She does not appear in the household in subsequent census listings. Hiram married Amanda Ferguson. Both he and his wife died in the 1870s leaving young children. Lucinda survived her father and was enumerated in the 1860 census living with her mother, younger sister Rachel and Rachel's husband, Joseph Campbell. Lucinda does not appear in subsequent census records. Isaac's widow Rachel Mulkey was enumerated in the 1870 and 1880 census listings in the household of her son-in-law Joseph Campbell. He and his wife Rachel do not appear to have had children, but adopted a son. 

Source: Washington County, Tennessee, Wills, 1: 565, Isaac Mulkey; Tennessee State Library and Archives roll #169.

Anna's Story - Family life and later years

My grandmother Anna Pereksta emigrated to the United States in 1913 when she was eighteen years old. Almost ten years later she married Stefan Papp (Stephen Popp). You can read about her early life here.

Anna with her husband and first two children

Once they were married Stefan moved into Mrs. Dunda's boarding house in Binghamton, NY to live with Anna. She stopped working at Endicott-Johnson and they began their family. Their first child was born in December, 1923. The next year they bought their first home, a small house on Baxter Street. Two more children were born there. Anna stayed home, raising the children, tending her garden and keeping some chickens. Her life revolved around her family and her church. Binghamton's First Ward, where they lived, was a melting pot of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. Many languages and dialects were spoken in the homes and shops. People worshiped in their own churches, shopped in ethnic grocery stores, and socialized in ethnic social groups. With her sisters living nearby and her church only a few blocks away Anna was settled deep in an American immigrant community. Her parents, living in Príslop, both died in the 1930s. Half the Pereksta children settled in the United States; half had remained in Europe. In 1934 Anna became a citizen of the United States.

Citizenship certificate, 1934

Anna was a small woman, physically fragile, but with a strong will and work ethic. She was usually the disciplinarian, with little patience for backtalk or dawdling. In 1935 she had her first heart attack, forcing her older children to shoulder much of the housework during her year of recuperation. Even so, care was taken that the children would not be injured cooking meals. They would prepare food to be cooked, but a neighbor would come in the evening to light the stove or their father would cook once he got home. Anna continued to have heart problems for the remainder of her life, suffering multiple heart attacks over the years. She retained her will and work ethic.

Anna and her family c. 1946

About 1941 she and her husband bought a duplex on Cleveland Avenue. They lived in the north side of the house and rented out the south side. There was a large yard where she established her gardens. Anna did superb crocheting and needlework, decorating their home and sewing and maintaining the vestments at St. Michael's. She sewed her children's clothes until they insisted on store bought rather than home made clothes. In 1942, with her children growing up and feeling at loose ends, she briefly returned to work at EJs but stopped when her husband, fearing for her health, objected. Their oldest son went off to war but blessedly survived unharmed. Their daughter and younger son grew up and finished their schooling. When the younger son was accepted into college Anna gave him a small cache of money she'd saved to help him on his way and even did the laundry he mailed home so he'd not have to spend money on laundromats.

Family Dinner in the early 1950s

In 1948 her husband Stefan died suddenly while working - still a leather cutter at EJs. Her brother died the same year. Anna was 53 years old. She never remarried but remained in the house on Cleveland Avenue living much as she had before - devoted to her family, her church and her friends. Her daughter and son-in-law lived with her until 1956 when they bought their own home several blocks away. They saw her almost every day, first helping her maintain the house and garden, then caring for it and her as her health failed. Her sisters both died in the 1960s. Anna traveled twice to the west coast to visit her son and grandchildren - the flights a dramatic change from her journey across the ocean aboard the Amerika.

Reunion in 1977

Anna and her daughter had stayed in touch with her family in Europe, writing letters and sending packages back and forth. In 1977, sixty-four years after she left Príslop, she was able to meet the son of her younger sister Nacia who had remained in Europe. Her nephew and his wife came to the United States from Czechoslovakia to visit, though they were not allowed to bring their children. Her children and grandchildren had integrated into American life just as her nieces and nephews in Europe adapted to life under Soviet domination. In the picture Anna is standing on the left and her nephew from Europe and his wife are standing on the right.

Anna died of heart failure on 19 October 1982. She'd said she would never die in the winter. In the mountains where she grew up, and the Southern Tier of New York where she lived most of her life, a family might wait months for the ground to thaw before they could bury their dead. She was buried next to her husband in St. Michael's Cemetery on a hill overlooking her church and Binghamton.

You can read some final memories and thoughts about Anna here.

Anna's Story - The first years

Delayed Birth Certificate

My grandmother Anna Pereksta was born 10 March 1895 in the remote Carpathian mountain village of Príslop, then located in Zemplén County, Hungary. Today Príslop is in the far northeastern corner of Slovakia about 8 kilometers as the crow flies from the Polish border. It was a very small, almost entirely Greek Catholic village with a population of only 159 people in 1914.

Anna was the sixth of eight children born to Ivan Pereksta and his wife, Olena Sidor (Hocko). When she was a young child her father, older brothers and sisters went to the United States to work. Her father would be gone several years at a time, returning home for a year or two and then returning to U.S. for work. Her mother worked their small plot of land. Food was sometimes scarce. Their home was shared with their farm animals. Little formal education was available.

Hungarian passport

Life could also be challenging in the U.S. for the emigres. Anna's eldest sister, married with a child and expecting a second, was unhappy in the U.S. and returned to Príslop. However, after several months of working in the fields, she opted to return to the U.S. When Anna turned 18 she emigrated to the United States arriving at Ellis Island aboard the Amerika with her father on 13 July 1913. They were held overnight until her sister Susanna arrived from Binghamton, NY. She never returned to Europe, never saw her mother, younger sister or two brothers again.

Anna lived with her sister Sue in Binghamton and then, following Sue's marriage in 1914, with her sister and brother-in-law. She went to work as a stitcher at an Endicott-Johnson (EJ) shoe factory and remained there until her marriage almost a decade later. In the early 1920s, as her sister's family grew, she moved to live with one of her Sedor cousins (her mother's nephews). She and her cousin George Sedor were both ill for a considerable time and recuperated at a sanitarium in Saranac Lake (which is where, I believe, the above picture was taken). By the end of 1922 she had moved to her friend Mrs. Dunda's boarding house. Mr. Dunda was a leather cutter at EJs. His wife took in boarders to bring in extra money.

Anna had been unwilling to marry, prizing her independence. But in the winter of 1923, when she was 27 years old, she met Stefan Papp (Stephen Popp), a 40 year old leather cutter working at EJs. They met on the street while she was walking with a friend who was from the same village Stefan had emigrated from two years earlier. He could not take his eyes off her and showed up at Mrs. Dunda's door the next evening. Anna, wet and bedraggled from trudging home in the snow, was sitting by the stove when he arrived. He asked her to a movie the following Saturday and, with her friend emphatically nodding yes, Anna agreed. He asked her to marry him that Saturday, explaining that he was ready to marry and raise a family. She was more than a little dumbstruck, but Mrs. Dunda and her sisters encouraged her to agree and she did. It may be the only impulsive move she ever made, but it was a good decision.

Church Marriage Record

His cousin was a priest in Indiana and Stefan suggested they go there to marry, but Anna wanted to be married in Binghamton where her family and friends were. After a whirlwind courtship they married on 17 Feb 1923 at St. Michael's Greek Catholic Church only a few weeks after they met.

Anna's story is continued here.

Four Sawyer Boys, 1904 - Wordless Wednesday

The four eldest sons of my great-grandparents Gee and Catherine Conway Sawyer: (clockwise from top) William Herbert Sawyer (19 August 1895 - 27 March 1923), James Philip Sawyer (27 August 1901 - 9 April 1931), John Conway Sawyer (11 January 1904 - 19 October 1989) and Robert Porter Sawyer (20 July 1898 - 11 September 1985).

Four Sawyer Sons, Photograph, undated. Digital Image.  Privately held by Nolichucky Roots [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], 1986.

Genea-Resolutions Update

One month in to 2011 and I'm already off track. This is far from unexpected. I have a long and rich history of starting projects but moving onto something more interesting once the novelty wears off (usually around day three). But I am actually fairly pleased with my efforts in January.

I began 2011 with my first hard drive failure in many years - and the first since I started digitizing the piles of photographs and papers that are threatening to force us out of the house. It was unpleasant and ate up almost two weeks, but all has been restored. Given an actual excuse I'll take it.

I still managed to accomplish a few things. Here's how things stand.

Organizing Research goals -

• I am almost finished clearing the room that will become my workroom for processing the family papers. The papers themselves have been collected and are waiting to move in. Obviously no boxes got processed. I get a C on this.  
• The website is closer to going live. I've completed the design, the Home Page, the geographical overviews, family page introductions and some individual pages. Given the limits on computer time this month I'm giving myself a solid A.
• No updating on the pedigree file. An F here, but I can live with it given the circumstances. 

Blog goals -

• I missed the biographical sketch. An F, but again, I'll forgive myself this.
• I published a Hampton brickwall post. An A.
• Posted at least a couple photos or transcriptions each week. Another A.
• Blog reading. It's hard to stop at 30 minutes of reading when there are so many wonderful things to read. I managed to keep to the schedule most days, but there were a couple that simply got away from me. Of course, if you average in the days I was pretty much offline I did beautifully! I earned a B here. 

Research goals -

• I aced this. Of course, my goal was to stop doing research. Done. I get an A.

Not too bad. We'll see how I do in February without a built in excuse!