Margaret O'Neil - Part I - About the Women

Margaret O'Neil - Pioneer and Story Teller - Part 1

Margaret O'Neil might be just another name in a long list of names of my ancestors. An ordinary woman in a faraway corner of 19th-century America, she was a wife, mother, sister, and aunt who was born in small-town Wisconsin and grew up, lived, and died in small-town Iowa. In those days, letter writing (correspondence) and journaling were common occupations of those who could read and write. Margaret was no different, except for one thing that stands out, which helps us shine a light on her existence. She wrote a story, a story of her family and their traveling adventure across the Midwest in a covered wagon - it's a pioneer's story. She told it well enough to get it published in a local newspaper and through that, it found its way to others. Not unlike a more famous writer and contemporary, Laura Ingalls, Margaret told her 'Little House on the Prairie' tale.

Margaret (center) with brother Loren and sister Hannah. They
were just little kids on the month-long journey to far western Iowa.

About the Women

As one researches their family history, it soon becomes abundantly apparent that most of the information is about the men in the family, and information on the women is often severely lacking. 

The O'Neil Sisters, Frontier Women.

Nina Goldbin - About the Women

Nina Goldbin, Rags-to-Riches

Nina Goldbin is a relatively recent find in my hunt for ancestors and like most of my discoveries, it was completely unexpected. Lately, I have been searching for any new information (new to me), which has allowed me to update, add to, and generally refresh my older posts. There is always new information available and this round of inquiry was very fruitful. When I found Nina, I was intrigued and the more I looked into her story, the more interesting it became. The rags-to-riches title may be a bit of an exaggeration but I think it is safe to say that Nina rose from very humble beginnings to something completely unexpected.

Nina, circa 1922

Peder P. Moe - Short Biography

Peder Moe, North Dakota Pioneer

Peder Moe was born on September 28, 1858, in Hafslo, Norway. In 1864, at about the age of six, he came to America with his parents, Peter Olsen Moe and Anna Augundsdatter Lad and several siblings. They first went to Black Earth, Wisconsin and then settled on Section One in the northeast corner of the Town of Blue Mounds and just north of what would eventually become the Village of Mount Horeb.

Peder Moe, about 1890.

1950 Census - Another Milestone

Back in 2012, I was really excited about the release of the 1940 US Census - I called it once in a lifetime and it was. But lo and behold, these past 10 years have gone by fast and another 'once' is happening. The 1950 census data has been released.

72 years ago, census takers were going around the country gathering information about the population. My mom was 12 years old and growing up in small-town Wisconsin. As a matter of fact, her hometown (and mine) had a population that was less than a quarter of its size today. 1950 ushered in an era of prosperity and growth for much of the country. World War II was in the rear view mirror and the future looked bright. In my own family search, many of the boys and girls from the 1940 census are adults and starting families of their own by 1950 and there are new names in the lists - new children who were not yet born in 1940. There are also those that have disappeared from the record, yes, some have died in the intervening years. The census brings home the full circle of life in cold, hard facts.

The Buell Family - Colonial Americans

Martha Buell was the wife of Nathaniel Holcombe II. She was born in Simsbury, Connecticut in 1675. Martha was the third or fourth of nine or ten children of Sergeant Peter Buell (b.1644, d.1728) and his first wife, Martha Cogan (Coggins / Cozzins) (b.1648, d.1686), both of Windsor, Connecticut.

Martha and Nathaniel Holcombe were married in 1695. She was raised on the frontier at Hop Meadow and would raise her family in the remote outpost at Salmon Brook. By the early 1700s, the area was becoming more settled and less of a frontier but there were still dangers lurking about. 

William Buell listed on the Ancient Map of Windsor. Connecticut.

Salmon Brook (Granby), Connecticut

Salmon Brook, which started out as no more than a small cluster of houses and a remote outpost of Simsbury, would later become part of the newly formed Town of Granby. It was the home of Nathaniel Holcombe I, II and III and is an important place in the history of this family line. It is certain that almost every Holcombe in Granby was a descendant of the first Nathaniel and hundreds of them raised families and lived out their lives there. Six generations from this writer's direct line lived there, for over 120 years, starting with Nathaniel and ending with Apollas.

Granby Center (Salmon Brook); from the United States Geological Survey, 1892

In Search of David Hollister

One of the joys of family research is discovering lines of ancestors that you had never heard of. In my search, there have been a few of these, mostly from my paternal grandmother’s family. I did not have much information on her and so a lot was waiting to be found. One of these families, the Hollisters, started out in colonial Connecticut and ended up, via New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, in far western Iowa.


The Town of Dansville, Stuben County, New York;
where David Hollister spent his youth?