Smart Genealogy in LaGrange County, Indiana

The Midwest has a cameo in the current National Genealogical Society Quarterly, in Arlene V. Jennings's masterful article on the Yorkshire origins of Hanna (Watson) Smart. Most of the research action takes place in England, as the author matches up the Indiana and Yorkshire families almost as quickly (and a good deal more cogently) as a certain TV show. Then things get interesting, because Hannah Watson had no baptismal record in the village of North Newbald, where she was married.

In one of those laconic sentences that represents countless hours of work, the author observes that "of eighty-six parishes within a twelve-mile radius of North Newbald, candidates for Hannah appear in four parishes." (There's even a citation to a local demographic study justifying the choice of that size radius.)

Using clues provided by siblings, Hannah's parents are identified, but her father is William Watson, a common name in the area. Eight of the article's twenty pages are devoted to sorting out William Watsons in the area, using land tax assessments, churchwardens' accounts, poor rates, manorial records, maps, probate records, and censuses. These records provide an amazing level of detail about where Hannah's parents lived (near a boundary, of course) and where her parents had lived before their marriage. The genealogical summary shows Hannah's children ending up not only in LaGrange County, Indiana, but in St. Joseph County Michigan; Steuben County, Indiana; and Osage and Marion counties, Kansas.



Arlene V. Jennings, CG, "The Yorkshire Origins of Hannah (Watson) Smart of LaGrange County, Indiana," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, vol. 100, no. 3 (September 2012):199-219


Harold Henderson, "Smart Genealogy in LaGrange County, Indiana," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 24 October 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

The Revolution in LaGrange County, Indiana

The following message appeared on Rootsweb mailing lists recently:

The LaGrange de Lafayette Chapter of the DAR will honor Revolutionary War soldier DAVID COWAN with a grave marker presentation and ceremony in 2011. Seeking descendants of David and Esther Smith Cowan to invite them to the grave marking ceremony and reception.
David and Esther Cowan moved to LaGrange County, Indiana in 1835. They had the following children: Smith who married Sarah Teft; Esther who married an Aldrich; Celinda who married a Pray; Elisha who married Elmina Tucker; John who married Sarah Harding; Jonathan; Phoebe who married Enoch Leighton; Lucy; Amy Angel who married Curtis Harding; and Marenus. Also the McClaskey, Crampton and Cook families can be counted as descendants along with Aldrich, Pray, Harding and Leighton.
David Cowan was born 1765 and died July 24, 1851. Esther Smith Cowan was born 1767 and died March 22, 1848. They are buried in Eagley Cemetery, Van Buren Twp, LaGrange County, IN along with children Phoebe & Enoch Leighton and John Cowan.
DAR chapter is also seeking any Cowan family history, stories and anecdotes about the family. Please contact Barbara Yurs at 260-562-3375 or bayurs@embarqmail.com or Sharon at sharonboyerbates@aol.com for further details.

A check of the DAR Genealogical Research System shows him with the surname Cowing and a birth year of 1764, but these are small differences and the other information tallies. Evidently he was a New Englander.

Women doctors in Indiana

Have you ever wished you could be a fly on the wall at some point in the past? Then don't miss the current issue of the Indiana Magazine of History, which focuses on women's 20th-century struggle to become doctors. Alexandra Minna Stern introduces and frames Dr. Elsie F. Meyers' "Success! Memoirs of a Female Hoosier Physician," starting in the early 1940s in LaGrange County:

I had no science background and very little money. And I had never heard of a female doctor, much less seen one. ... I think that my father's believing in me was what gave me the strength to try.

Meyers, now a retired anesthesiologist, is a straight talker. Those who aren't themselves medical people, or who didn't grow up in a family with them, may choose not to read the memoir over breakfast. Those who feel the need to believe that every respected ancestor deserved respect may not enjoy it. Genealogists and historians will hang on every word.