Monday, March 30, 2009

Descendants of Rachel Montfort Voris [John]

RACHEL MONTFORT VORIS [JOHN]

Rachel was the eldest of nine children born to Francis Sr and Charity Banta Montfort. Born in York County, PA on Aug 14, 1769 at Conewago, she moved with her parents and siblings to Kentucky about 1785 or 1786. She was married to John Voris on Feb 4, 1786 with the license being recorded in Jefferson County, Kentucky. John was the son of Peter Voorhees and Sophia Vanderbogert Voorhees.. His brother, Francis, would marry Catherine Montfort, sister of Rachel.

A good history of the Voorhees family was written by Larry Voreis OUR LOW DUTCH HERITAGE, which will give you a good background on the Voorhees family and all its spelling variations.

Rachel and John would have twelve children by the time they joined the Shakers religious society in 1810.

Peter who was born Dec 9, 1786 and died in Peoria, Ill June of 1838....he was murdered. No marriage or children have been found.

John born Jan 9, 1789 and died at Shakertown Sept 18, 1836.

Francis born Sept 20, 1790 and died May 15, 1852 married to Patsey Thomas, daughter of Elisha on Jan 4, 1830...both had left the Shakers. They apparently had one son, Henry B. born about 1836. He appears in the 1850 census with his parents in Peoria, Illinois but not found anywhere after that. Francis was a merchant and in 1850 his value is set at 100,000 dollars. On his death he would leave all to his brother, Samuel, providing they cared for his widow, Patsey till her death.

Polly born May 4, 1794 and died at Shakertown March 11, 1876

Sophia born March 24, 1794 and died at Shakertown Nov 7, 1872

James born Feb 17, 1796 and died at Shakertown June 3, 1823

Jacob born Nov 8, 1797 and died at Shakertown May 4, 1870

Charity born July 5, 1799 and died at Shakertown May 8, 1821

Peggy born Feb 14, 1801 and died at Shakertown Jan 11, 1882

Abraham born Nov 12, 1803 and left the Shakers in Oct 1827, no more known of him.

Samuel born May 20, 1806, married SarahCongleton, died in Peoria, Ill...descendants.

Hortincy born Nov 22, 1810 and married to JOHN D. HOGAN probably in KY. There are descendants.

I recently set out to see if there were any descendants from Peter, Samuel, Hortincy and Abraham and to date have found family lines from Hortincy and Samuel. This blog will deal with the information found on both Samuel and Hortincy's descendants. I hope to add something to the line on descendants of Peter in the future. I will start on what I found on Samuel then go onto his sister Hortinsey in another posting.

Samuel and his wife, Sarah,were married in Peoria on Nov 30, 1835. Her maiden name was Congleton. [Illinois Marriage records online at US GENWEB/Illinois] They had three known children found on census records for Peoria, Illinois in 1860. They were Richard, Robert and Isabelle.

Samuel is listed as a “Gentleman Farmer” in the 1860 census with real estate worth 180,000 dollars and property worth 100,000 dollars. I suspect this may be from the inheritance he received from his uncle Francis Voris and why the widow of Francis, Patsey Thomas Voris was residing with Samuel's family in the 1860 census. Also listed are the three children of Samuel and Sarah, Richard born about 1838, Robert C. born about 1840, and Isabela born about 1839.
In 1870 they are still in Peoria, where Samuel is 64 and a mechanic born in KY and worth 50,000 dollars in real estate and 25,000 dollars in property. His wife Sarah age 65 is living still and with them are son Robert age 30, his wife, Jennie age 26 and their daughter, Maggie one year old. Patsey Thomas Voris is no longer listed with them and presumably has passed away.
Neither Samuel or Sarah are found after the 1870 census so presumably they passed away in the ten years between census taking and are buried in Peoria.

1. Samuel's son, Richard was born about 1838 in Illinois, would marry Belle Parmely [Isabella]on Dec 3, 1863 in Peoria [Illinois Marriage Records online] their first child, Mary was born about 1864. Their other children, Samuel born about 1866, Frank V. born about 1867 and Edward born in 1870, all in Peoria, Illinois. They were followed by Sophia born about 1877 and Callie born about 1879. Richard owned an iron foundry in 1870. Isabelle/Belle Voris is still living in the 1910 census for Peoria and with her are two daughters, Sofia T age 28 and Clarabel age 27 [Callie??]

Of the children of Richard and Sarah Voris, I have yet to find further information on Mary Voris , though she may have married, I have not found anything showing a date for any marriage or any descendants through her line.

Son Frank died at age 64 in Peoria, Illinois on January 22, 1935, nothing further is known of him. He may be the F.B. Voris in the 1920 census of Peoria, Ill with wife, Mollie but it isn't certain without further study. He is listed in that census as 50 years of age and wife, Mollie is 52.

Samuel Jr, died May 16, 1928, in Peoria. He is known to have married Maggie ___ by 1897 when a son, Richard is born and later a daughter, Mary born in July 1899, then Ruth born about 1902, Robert born about 1906 and Thomas born about 1909. The family is found in the census of 1910 for Peoria and again in the 1920 census with only the three younger children still living at home.

Edward is found in the 1910 census of Peoria, Illinois [age 40] with a wife, Lena [age 44] and three children, Edna born about 1901, Leonard born about 1904, Edward Newland Voris died April 1, 1924 in Peoria, Illinois.

2, Samuel's son Robert C. was born about 1840 in Illinois. On Feb 23, 1865 Robert C Voris married Virginia V. Baldwin [Illinois Marriage records online at USGENWEB/IL] He is living with his brother, Richard in the 1880 census of Peoria, at age 40 and it says he was divorced. So far, no children have been found and nothing further on him or his former wife.

bkw2009

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Grave rubbing at Shakertown Cemetery 2007






Thought I might write about the visit to the cemetery at Shakertown in the fall of 2007 with my cousin, Diana Davis. We had just visited with Larrie Curry at the administration building where she made copies of the cemetery layout and initials on the remaining graves. It also showed the center section where no stones remain but where graves have been found through soundings. With this in mind, we entered the cemetery hoping to figure out where Grandpa Francis might be buried. Its almost certain he's in the center section of the cemetery where markers were taken for use in foundations of cabins and barns in the late 1800's. But something directed me to the right of the cemetery as you walk in and a short hike up an incline to a marker that sure looked it had C. M. etched into it. Taking whatever paper and pencil I could find in my bag I made a rubbing of the stone and what I made is shown above. We were certain we had found our Charity Banta Montfort.