My Trails into the Past

A new month, a new surname. My great-grandfather, Thomas N. Johnston, was born 25 July 1885 in Texas to Reuben M. Johnston and Olivia Jane Jones. The tombstone photo showing his birthdate is consistent with other records created in his lifetime: [1] July 1885, living with his parent Reuben M and Jane Johnson in 1900 [2] 25 July 1885, as stated on his WW I draft registration card [3] 24 July 1885, as stated on his WW II draft registration card [4] 25 July 1885, as stated on his death certificate. His wife, Rose Johnston, was the informant. [5] 25 July 1885, on the funeral notice. [6] However, his place of birth has conflicts: The obituary and death certificate said he was born in Montague County. [7] The WW II draft card he supplied the information for said Coleman County. [8] His parents were living in Comanche County in 1880, making this his likely place of birth. [9] Likely the same informant provided the information for the tombstone, death certificate, and funeral notice. H...

Here is my last post about the Gorrell family for the month of July. I did not get as far as I had hoped, certainly not researching Amos Sr's wife, Leah Wollam's family, or James Jr's wife, Sarah Milholland's family. Perhaps I'll get to it next year. This is the final installment about the tax and census records I found for Beaver County. The previous posts can be found here and here . I never found how these men acquired the land or how the land was disposed of. I learned that townships have local records and the next time I visit Pittsburgh for GRIP, I will take the time to visit Beaver County, particularly Ohioville and South Beaver. After discussing the tax and census records for the two James Gorrells and their widows, I wrote a few paragraphs about the history of Beavery County book I found that mentioned James Gorrell in the early part of the county's history. The Report* I recorded the information from census and tax records from 1800 through 1841 for v...