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An Intriguing Immigration Theory for Joseph Becker

I've been asking the question, "What could have drawn my great-great-great-grandfather Joseph Becker and his family to Port Dalhousie from Sheldon, New York?" I heard back from one Ontario repository that I had inquired with regarding my question.  The Mayholme Foundation staff answered me this week with a simple answer and an interesting theory. The short answer was "employment opportunities." The theory involved a man named Owen McMahon.  Mayholme staff noticed that McMahon lived two doors down from my Joseph Becker in the first Canadian census in which he appears in 1871 in Port Dalhousie. The staff reported that this was significant as apparently Owen McMahon was known to have advertised to bring workers to Port Dalhousie to work in the various businesses in this growing port city. I found that McMahon was named one of the first city councillors in Port Dalhousie when it was incorporated in 1862 . Perhaps McMahon was facilitating immigration to the area in
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Fact or Fiction? Dewitt Samuel Blackman & the 1890 Mug Book



This weeks' diversion was getting back to a little task I set for myself a while ago: Proving or disproving facts about the Hub's great-great-great grandfather Dewitt Samuel Blackman, published in Portrait and Biographical Album of Sumner County, Kansas, Containing Full-Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County. I first wrote about Blackman's biography in this post.

This type of book was known as a "mug book." Author Rhonda Frevert writes, "Late nineteenth- and early-twentieth century mug books were published only by advance subscription. If a person had the funds to subscribe, he or she (more often he) would have a biographical sketch in the book."1 

Mug books often also contained bios of U.S. presidents or other prominent individuals, and this is the case with this book. More importantly, the publications gave insights into the everyday lives of ordinary people. They were, however, notoriously flattering, sometimes inaccurate, and often fluffed up for the benefit of those who paid to be included in them. Reputations were burnished, and the truth was often "fast and loosely" played with. 

This mug book also contained sketches of several Sumner County farm residences. Sadly, Blackman's was not one which was featured. Another Belle Plaine (noted as Belle Blaine here) resident's farm was drawn, however, giving some idea of what Blackman's farm might have looked like.

Blackman's farm may have looked like Wm. A. Darby's residence, also in Belle Plaine Twp.2

 

So, was the portrait of Dewitt Blackman accurate or not?

My method was simple: Note down every "fact" included in the bio, and then research each one to verify them or disprove them. To give some grace to both the author and the subject, some errors could be attributed to the faulty memory of the subject or the inaccurate recording by the author. And mistakes can happen—we're human.

And what did I find?

So far, I've been able to verify several facts stated in the bio.

  • Dewitt owned 160 acres in Walton, Sumner County, Kansas. That's true. In fact, D.S. Blackman is noted on an 1883 map of Sumner County; his parcel shows where his residence was located as well as what appears to be orchards surrounding it.3
  • He owned property in Section 14 of Sumner County. Again, true. The map shows the Blackman parcel on the map in Section 14 of Township 35 South, Range 2 East. The section number was part of the land description used in the Rectangular Survey System.4
D.S. Blackman's 160 acres (outlined in blue), in section 14, Belle Plaine, Sumner County.
  • Dewitt served in Co. B of the 47th Ohio Infantry of the Union army during the Civil War. That's true and noted in his Civil War service record.5
  • He served in the war until June 1865 and was discharged at Washington, D.C. Both true and noted in his service record.6
  • Dewitt married Elizabeth Butler. Yes, his marriage record documents their 17 July 1853 marriage date.7

In the category of incorrect are these facts:

  • Dewitt was born in Lewis County, New York. Dewitt was born in Lyons, Wayne County, New York, which is near Seneca County. I wrote about this discrepancy after noticing it in his Civil War service record, in this post.8
  • Regarding his Civil War service, he is noted as enlisting in 1862 as a private. This is incorrect. His service record states he was drafted on 27 September 1864. Here's an instance where the "burnishing" may have happened, as it was likely considered more heroic to enlist than to have been drafted.9
  • The bio states Dewitt and Elizabeth married on 14 July 1852. There was a certified copy of their marriage record in Blackman's pension file provided by the Defiance County, Ohio, clerk which documented the marriage on 17 July 1853. This error is understandable and was probably a case of faulty memory. After all, Blackman applied for his pension in 1890.10

This copy of Dewitt Blackman and Elizabeth Butler's marriage record was in his Civil War pension file.
 

The following facts are possibly true, but I'm still seeking more documentation:

  • Dewitt settled in Walton, Sumner County in 1877. A newspaper correspondent in Walton County reported in 1884 on his visit with D.S. Blackman. In it, he stated, "Mr. B came from Ohio in '77 and settled on this farm which at that time was a wild waste of prairie." I'm hoping land or tax records can verify this one. I've so far discovered he was not the original landowner on the parcel he owned in 1883.11
  • He raised stock. The same newspaper article mentioned Blackman's orchards and corn crop but did not mention stock. However, the county history was not published until 1890 so he could have taken on stock raising by then.12

D.S. Blackman came to Kansas in 1877, according to this newspaper snippet.
 

  • His parents were Sylvester Blackman and Clarissa Peek. There is a Dewitt Blackman, age 26, in  Sylvester Blackman's household in July 1850, in Richland Twp., Defiance Co., Ohio. But I'm still looking for firm documentation on his parents.
  • His mother Clarissa died in Defiance, Ohio when Dewitt was a boy. If Sylvester is Dewitt's father, AND Sylvester married his second wife Mary Zellers in 1840, AND Dewitt was born about 1837, then he would be about 10 years old or less at the time of that marriage. And clearly, Sylvester could not have married a second time unless he was a widower. A lot of "ifs" to back up.
  • His father Sylvester was born in Connecticut. The 1850 census notes Sylvester's New York birthplace; more info needed.

There are several other claims that will take more work, but so far, this has been a fun exercise and challenge. I'll write an update when I've got more to report.

Have any of your ancestors been named in one of these "mug books?" Have you verified the claims about them? Tell me about it in the comments. 

Until next time...

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© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2024. All rights reserved.


NOTES

1 Rhonda Frevert, "Mug Books," Commonplace: the journal of early American life (https://commonplace.online/article/mug-books/), originally appeared in issue 3.1, October 2022.

2 Chapman Brothers, Portrait and Biographical Album of Sumner County, Kansas, Containing Full-Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County (Chicago : Chapman Brothers, 1890), p. 317; digital image, Google Books (https://www.google.com/books/edition/Portrait_and_Biographical_Album_of_Sumne/jHcUAAAAYAAJ : accessed 10 April 2014). Dewitt's profile: Ibid, p. 366-367.

3 "U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1996036:1127 : accessed 6 March 2024); citing Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Also: John P. Edwards, Historical Atlas of Sumner County, Kansas (Philadelphia: F. Bourquin, 1883), p. 27, D.S. Blackman, Section 14, Twp. 35 South, Range 2 East; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/359122/ : accessed 10 April 2024).

4 Ibid.

5 Compiled service record, Dewitt S. Blackman, Pvt. Co. B, 47th Ohio Infantry; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Record Group 94, Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762-1984; National Archives, Washington D.C. Images retrieved by Civil War Records, 2022.

6 Ibid.

7 Certified Copy of Marriage Record, issued 16 December 1895, Elizabeth Blackmon, widow Dewit S. Blackmon, widow's pension application no. 1065349, certificate no. 428941; service of Dewitt S. Blackmon (Pvt., Co. B, 47th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Civil War); Case Files of Approved Pension Applications..., 1861-1910; Civil War and Later Pension Files, Record Group 15: records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C. Images retrieved by Civil War Records, 2022.

8  Compiled service record, Dewitt S. Blackman, Pvt. Co. B, 47th Ohio Infantry.

9 Ibid.

10 Certified Copy of Marriage Record, issued 16 December 1895, Elizabeth Blackmon, widow Dewit S. Blackmon, widow's pension application no. 1065349, certificate no. 428941; service of Dewitt S. Blackmon (Pvt., Co. B, 47th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Civil War).

11 "Correspondence," Geuda Springs News, p. 3, col. 3, visit with D.S. Blackman; image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/478278884/ : accessed 7 March 2024).

12 Ibid.

 


 


 






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  1. Karen Packard RhodesApril 10, 2024 at 10:38 PM

    I do indeed have an ancestor, a granduncle, who has an entry in a "mug book." I wrote an article for our genealogical society on this entry, as it contained many errors of fact. Some of these appear to have been nothing more than foggy memory; some of them are outright fabrications, probably designed to pump up the resume. This particular biographical book is A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, compiled by William E. Connelley (Chicago, Lewis, 1918, five volumes). The biographies were actually written by the subjects themselves. The disambiguations I had to perform, the corrections of errors, and the clearing-up of confusion in this article took me five pages to completely get through. I ended the article with this cautioary note:

    "It pays to be wary when reading these biographies of our ancestors in compilations such as these. One probably can rely on the information concerning activities in the geographical area covered by the compilation. A subject would not be able to get away with padding the resume where there are many fellow citizens who would be likely to say, “That isn’t exactly right, now, is it?” to the subject’s face once the book came out. But activities which took place away from that region, or information about ancestors, is more suspect, as we see here in this case study. These biographies can be a useful springboard for further research, but we must beware of the traps they may contain."

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  2. Nancy Gilbride CaseyApril 11, 2024 at 8:50 AM

    Wow, I certainly had an easier time—so far! The trouble comes when researchers take these for gospel, and add erroneous facts to their trees. I have also found mentions of my husband's ancestors in county histories, and those too, need to be verified. I think my favorite stories have come from Silas Turnbow's books, where ancestor Jesse E. Casey was written about in two stories. He's my husband's 4x GGF.

    I'd love to read that article you wrote!

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