There have been four “Great Awakenings” in American Protestant religious history. Amos Munson, son of Stephen Samuel and Lydia (Bassett) Munson, and the great-grandson of Captain Thomas Munson, was a leader in the First Great Awakening (1730 – 1755) in the American colonies during his short life (9 April 1719 – 1748).
The traditional Puritan religious experience emphasized orderly ritual and theology in worship. The traditionalists became known as the “Old Light” way of faithfulness. Amos Munson, having graduated from Yale College (now Yale University) in 1738, at the age of 19, was educated in the way of traditional “Old Light” theology. His association approved him for preaching in congregations on 30 Sept 1740.
Jonathan Edwards, also a Yale graduate, was a key figure in this first “Awakening.” He emphasized personal experience, an emotional connection to the faith, and genuine repentance of one’s sins. Amos Munson believed in the value of this “New Light” theology and began preaching it in his sermons.
The “Old Light” church was run by an association of leaders, something like a modern day diocese or synod. The leaders made decisions about who was fit to preach and how to meet the needs of the congregations. The Congregationalist “New Light” churches wanted to have direct control over their decisions and allow their pastors similar freedom.
Only months after getting his license to preach, in May 1741, Amos Munson, found by the overseeing association of the “Old Light” congregations to have been preaching in New Haven
“in a manner which we think disorderly, and also contrary to the advice and direction of Rev. Mr. Noyes” appointed the Rev. Timothy Allen to talk with him and to direct him to go to Mr. Noyes and to give him satisfaction.*
However that conversation unfolded, if it did, a year later, in May 1742 Amos was a charter member of the New Light Separatist congregation in New Haven now called the “North Church” or “United Church.”
Amos was never ordained, but continued to preach. He proclaimed the gospel to the people of West Suffield in 1744-45 and in 1746 the “Old Light” leaders admonished a Mr. Robbins for “improving strolling or traveling preachers and those who were most disorderly . . .” including a meeting “carried on by Messrs Wheelock and Munson.”*
I do not have any record of a wife or children for Amos. He died at the age of 29 from a cause I do not know. The few years of his ministry were powerful and courageous and most certainly impacted the faith of the people whose lives he touched.
* 1637-1887. The Munson Record: A Genealogical and Biographical Account of Captain Thomas Munson (a Pioneer of Hartford and New Haven) and His Descendants. January 1, 1896. Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press
Martin Boerner m. Catharina Storch > Martin W. Boerner m. Anna Kososki> Dorothy Boerner m. Roland Occhietti.
Dorothy Boerner married Roland Occhietti (pronouned “O-ketti) on 4 Feb 1953. Roland’s father had immigrated from Italy to Iron Mountain, MI; his mother was a first generation American of Italian immigrants. Roland was born in Iron Mountain and for most of his adult life ran the Occhietti Jewelry store in Iron Mountain with his brother, Benjamin.
Occhietti’s Jewelry Store in the 1950s and the 1980s.
Beyond his successful business, Roland lived a full and vibrant life. His obituary gives a sense of the impact his life had in the world.
He was born on May 9, 1929, in Iron Mountain, son of the late Aurelio and Pia (Jafolla) Occhietti. Roland graduated from Iron Mountain High School, Class of 1948. He went on to attend Elgin Watch College in Elgin, Ill. He returned to Iron Mountain and joined his brother Ben as a partner in Occhietti Jewelry.
Visitation will be Wednesday, August 31, 2011, from 4:00 p.m.to 7:00pm at the Jacobs Funeral Home, Iron Mountain. The American Legion Uren Cooper Post No. 50 of Iron Mountain will accord military honors Wednesday 7:00 pm at the funeral home. The Elks Lodge 700 will offer a memorial service Wednesday immediately following the veterans service at the funeral home. Prayers will be recited Thursday 10:30 a.m. at the funeral home. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday 11:00 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Msgr. James Kaczmarek will officiate. Entombment will be in Cemetery Park, Iron Mountain.
Here is a fun story of a distant cousin through my second great-grandmother, Henrietta Munson Woodington:
Captain Thomas Munson > Ensign Samuel James Munson, Sr. > Captain Theophilus Munson > Benjamin Munson > Dr. Aeneas Munson > Dr. Aeneas Munson
Dr. Aeneas Munson
Aeneas Munson, son of Dr. Aeneas and Mary (Shepherd) Munson was the oldest of nine children born to the couple. Born 11 Sep 1763, he graduated from Yale and immediately became a Surgeon’s Mate during the Revolutionary War.
From The Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut:
“Surgeon’s Mate of Webb’s Continental Regiment, March, 1779; transferred to 4th Connecticut, 1st January, 1781; transferred to 3d Connecticut, 1st January, 1783; retained in Swift’s Connecticut Regiment, June, 1783, and served to November, 1783.
Yale and her honor-roll in the American revolution, 1775-1783 provides the following account of Aenea Munson’s service:
Very soon after graduation or September 1, 1780, Munson was commissioned Surgeon’s Mate in Col. Swift’s Seventh Connecticut Continental Line. During the winter of 1780-81 his regiment was hutted with the Connecticut Division on the Hudson, opposite West Point. In June following he was detached to assist Surgeon Thacher, of the Massachusetts Line, in Col. Scammell’s Light Infantry corps, which, after engaging in one or two sharp skirmishes in Westchester County, marched in August with the army to Yorktown, Virginia. There it took a leading part in the siege, and in after life, Dr. Munson had many incidents to tell of the operations and surrender. Returning north he rejoined his regiment, which in 1781-82 was the Fourth Connecticut, under Col. Butler, with Dr. Timothy Hosmer as Chief Surgeon. Remaining in the Highlands, he served until the disbandment in June, 1783.
The TIME magazine article from which his picture above is taken, an article written by Elizabeth D. Herman online reports: (July 3, 2013)
Faces of the American Revolution
The TIME magazine article lists Dr. Munson as having left medicine for a successful life in business. The Connecticut Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, Volume 8 holds the possibility of a different career option after the war.
President Dwight of Yale College wanted to establish it as a University. His vision was to have
four departments of Philosophy and the Arts, Theology, Law, and Medicine. But his death in 1817 came before he was able to carry out his plans. Only the Medical School had actually been organized. This began in 1813 with a faculty consisting of Aeneas Munson, Nathan Smith, Eli Ives, Benjamin Silliman, and Jonathan Knight. All were eminent men and the School “attained immediately an enviable reputation and marked success.”
Dr. Aeneas Munson lived a full and courageous life, making a difference in the Connecticut colony as it became a state.
Thomas & Elizabeth Ufford>Thomas Ufford>Abigail (Ufford)Terrill>Abigail (Terrill) Tyler>John Tyler>Isaac Tyler>Susanna (Tyler) Munson>Freeman Munson>Amos Munson>Henrietta (Munson) Woodington>Furman Woodington>Ethel Woodington Hope>Billie Hope Aderman>Carmala
Thomas Ufford, my 10th great-grandfather, was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Ufford. Most of the historic data states he was born in 1590 in Newbourne, Suffolk, England, northeast of London. I have very little information about his parents, but the initial data I have found suggests they died when Thomas was still quite young. His father may have died when Thomas was only three years old and his mother may have died when he was about ten.
The next data available, found in more sources, tells us Thomas married Isabel Bryan in 1520 or maybe 1521. Since their first child (my 9th great-grandmother) Abigail was born in Newbourne in 1521, it suggests the couple may have married in Newbourne, and more certainly, lived there in their early years of marriage.
In 1532, Thomas and Isabel boarded the ship, Lyon, with their young children (Abigail, Thomas, Isabel, and John). Their youngest son, Samuel, was born that year on 16 September. I suspect Samuel may have traveled in utero, because the family arrived early enough in the year for Thomas to get an important “status” in the community.
The ship arrived in Roxbury (now a neighborhood of Boston), Massachusetts where the family lived for a few years. Thomas applied for and received a “Freeman’s” status that same year, 1632. According to New England, The Great Migration and the Great Migration Begins, 1620 – 1635, by 1632, the Uffords were living in Springfield where Thomas signed the Springfield Agreement of 14-16 May 1636. The agreement was a contract for governing that particular plantation. Thomas, apparently not educated to write his name, marked his signature with a “T”.
This plantation was in difficult territory and none of the original signers, including the Uffords, stayed in Springfield permanently. Within a few years, Thomas had moved on.
In 1640, the Uffords were in Wethersfield; by 1644 Thomas was counted in the Milford, Connecticut Colony population. Isabel joined the Milford church in January of 1644/45, Thomas joined on 11 Feb 1645.
The couple lived out the rest of their lives in Milford, New Haven, in the Connecticut Colony. Isabel died in 1654. Thomas married Elizabeth Theale, the widow of Nicholas Theale of Stamford. He died a few years later, 20 August, 1660.
Thomas and Isabel were buried in the cemetery in Milford. No tombstone remains for them, but according to Find A Grave, they are buried in Peter Pruden’s Garden.
I am in awe of the tenacity and courage Thomas and Isabel had. They sailed across the Atlantic with their young children, they moved and started over four times. There was a lot of hard work, inevitable setbacks, and certainly times of joy and celebration. I’m proud to claim them as my ancestors.
Today would have been the 90th birthday of my 2nd cousin, 1x removed, Neil Allen Woodington. We share the common ancestry of Moses Woodington and Henrietta Munson. I am a descendant of their son Furman’s branch; Neil was a descendant of Furman’s brother, George Franklin Woodington.
Neil had the privileges of education and opened doors but he was not able to hold on to those as he aged. He had three marriages and three divorces, spent time in prison in Wisconsin, and died at the relatively young age of 62.
My cousin and genealogy buddy Lori Hahn from Me. Here. Right Now., contributed an excellent article about Neil’s life and struggles. It is well-documented and an interesting read. I hope you will take time to learn about his life.
The national US Census in 1940 took place on April 1st. No foolin’! Oscar and Ann Aderman, my paternal grandparents lived in Niagara, Wisconsin, USA that year (and for many years). Grandpa was a crane operator at the time, according to the occupation column. Oscar and Ann’s youngest son, Bill, was not yet born and her father, Martin Boerner, Sr., was living with the family.
It was fun to see their neighbors on either side of the Aderman house. My father spoke often of the Papaich’s, immigrants from Serbia, and the Ponzios. Mary (Boerner) Ponzio was Ann (Boerner) Aderman’s sister, my father’s aunt. Dad had lots of stories of the cousins playing together.
Source: Web Address search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1940usfedcen&h=771115
80&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt
Christoph Adermann & Anna Louise Erdmann> Christian Adermann>Ferdinand Adermann>Carl Aderman>Oscar Aderman>Darrell Aderman>Carmala Aderman
My 4th great-grandparents, Anna Louise Erdmann and Christoph Adermann were married in Bertikow, Brandenburg, Prussia on 13 November 1813. Anna was 22 years old at the time of the wedding and Christoph was 35. Her father is listed in the marriage record as Friedrich Erdmann; Christoph’s father is recorded as Michael Adermann.
Christoph lived long enough to sign permission for their only known son, Christian, to be married to Fredericke Louise Bergemann, on 2 March 1857. It is believed Anna was still living at that point, also. I have not found definitive death dates for either.
- Citation:
- Title: Brandenburg, Germany, Transcripts of Church Records, 1700-1874
- Author: Ancestry.com
- Publisher: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.
- Publisher Date:2011
- Publisher Location: Provo, UT, USA
I wrote earlier about Captain Thomas Munson, my 9th great-grandfather through my maternal Woodington line. He was an early founder in New Haven plantation of the Connecticut Colony. Thomas was born and baptized in 1613 in Rattlesden, Suffolk, England; he came to the new colony in 1637. By 1939, he had moved to the newly-formed New Haven plantation and signed their Fundamental Agreement.
Captain Munson became a key figure in the early public, military, and political life of the New Haven plantation. As the town began to grow, they decided there was a need to lay out the structure of the community. Following the old English tradition, New Haven was laid out in a grid of nine squares. The following picture shows the grids, the community square in the center of town, and Thomas Munson’s property.*
In 1640, the Rev. John Davenport, one of the founders of the community, envisioned a college in New Haven. The idea didn’t unfold until 1701 when the Rev. James Pierpont got a few colleagues together to pursue an “Act for Liberty to erect a Collegiate School” wherein youth might be instructed in the arts and sciences “and fitted for Publick employment both in Church & Civil State, . . .” The next year, the first student arrived for his education. The local Munsons helped financially support the new college.
They made enough of an impact in the town that there is a street and “Triangle” named after them. Check this out:
Munson Street and Munson Street Triange in New Haven.
Munson Street is some blocks northwest of where Thomas Munson’s home was. His land is now part of the Yale University, just off the “Green.”
From the New Haven’s Mayor’s page:
By 1640 a complete government had been established and the settlement, originally called Quinnipiac, was renamed Newhaven. The town plan was based on a grid of nine squares. In accordance with old English custom, the central square, now the Green, was designated a public common. By 1641 New Haven had grown into a community of approximately 800.
Over the next few years, however, the flow of newcomers began to weaken and trade with the outside world shifted more and more to Boston. In an attempt to establish direct trade with England, the settlers managed to assemble enough produce to fill a vessel which would become known as the “Great Shippe.” However, after setting sail in January, 1646, the ship and its crew were never heard from again. This disaster ended the dream of creating an economic empire and over the years New Haven became overshadowed by New Amsterdam and Boston.
In 1649, King Charles I of England was accused of treason and beheaded. His son, Charles II, became king eleven years later and sought vengeance against the men who had signed his father’s death warrant. Two of them, Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law Colonel William Goffe fled to America and, in 1661, they were hidden by John Davenport in a cave on the top of New Haven’s West Rock. They were later joined by a third regicide, John Dixwell. Three of New Haven’s streets are named after the regicides and their story has become an integral part of New Haven’s history.
In 1664, the forces of King Charles’ brother, the Duke of York, seized New Amsterdam. Rather than face the possibility of rule by the Catholic duke, New Haven surrendered its hope of remaining independent and united with the Connecticut Colony. By 1701, New Haven had grown to be the village center of a mainly agricultural township and became co-capital of Connecticut, along with Hartford. It was not until 1873 that New Haven lost its status as co-capital.
New Haven had a district court so in 1839, it was the site of the imprisonment and trial of the Mende people made famous in the Steven Spielberg movie, Amistad. The 50 warriors were found to have been kidnapped and were order to be sent back to their home in Africa.
As we prepare for the upcoming March Madness, my cousin and genealogy buddy, Kevin Hackett, author of Our Family Genealogies, sent me some articles he had collected over the years about our Uncle Feeley as a star basketball player in Altamont, Illinois in 1923. Enjoy these newspaper articles celebrating his accomplishments as “the star of the Altamont team.”
Anna M. Kososki was born on this day, 22 Feb, in 1908. Anna was the oldest daughter of immigrant parents. She married my great-uncle, Martin William Boerner, when she was 16 years old and he was 20. Martin was the brother of my paternal grandmother, Anna Marie Boerner Aderman.
Anna Kososki’s father, Stephan “Steve” Stanley Kososki immigrated from Abienko Poviot Yoisto, Poland. He boarded the Kroonland on 15 Nov 1902 and entered the port at New York ten days later, 25 Nov 1902. His passage was paid by his brother, possibly the brother he was going to live with in the states, Jan Kososki.
Anna’s mother, Julia Forystek, was also a Polish immigrant, coming on the ship Friedrich der Gross, landing in New York on 7 Jun 1905 as a 16 year-old girl. According to the ship’s manifest, she may have traveled alone, but she was going to live with her sister in Norway, MI, USA. On 1 October 1906, she married Stephan Kososki in Marinette, Wisconsin.
Their first child, Anna, married Martin on 28 July 1924 in Iron Mountain, MI, USA, just a few miles from Niagara, WI which both of them claimed as their home at the time of their wedding. Niagara and Iron Mountain, well, technically Kingsford, MI are separated by the Menominee River. Because the communities are so close to their respective state borders and to each other, it is common for the residents to share the hospital in Iron Mountain, employment and shopping, and worship centers in their everyday lives.
Anna and Martin had two children, Dorothy and James. Martin was the publisher of the Niagara Journal, a weekly newspaper for the community.* To distinguish Anna Kososki Boerner from her sister-in-law (and my grandmother) Anna Boerner Aderman who also lived in Niagara, WI, the women were called “Big Annie” and “Little Annie.” Martin was a shorter, slight man and his wife was quite heavy. She is remembered as woman who . . . (Uncle Roger)
Today is my mother’s 89th birthday. To celebrate her life this year, here is an article from the local newspaper when she was named Wisconsin’ Mother of the Year in 1984. Happy Birthday, Mom.
Wisconsin’s Mother of the Year
Hugh McNary & Janet Logan>John McNary>Ann McNary Blue> Robert Blue>Elizabeth Blue Bates>Robert Bates>Floy Bates Aderman>Oscar Aderman>Darrell Aderman>Carmala Aderman
On 17 September 1751, my 7th great-grandfather, Hugh McNary (Minary) committed to marry Janet (Jannet) Logan, my 7th great-grandmother by paying a 500 Pound bond to the governor of the colony of New Jersey. Hugh’s oldest brother, James, signed his agreement to help pay the bond if Hugh backed out. These are my ancestors through Floy Bates Aderman.
In the 1700s, marriages within the community were typically announced from the pulpit of the local church for three consecutive weeks or a written announcement posted on the church where the wedding was to occur. This announcement was called a “bann.” Its purpose was to make sure there were no reasons “why this man and woman should be joined together in holy matrimony” as we used to say in the old wedding liturgies.
The primary reasons for objections to a marriage were typically 1) one of the betrothed was already married (“affinity”), 2) the blood relationship between the two was too close (“consanguinity”), or 3) one or the other of the betrothed were too young to get married.
The “bann” worked adequately when the couple both belonged to the same community. When the early residents of the colonies, and then the states, started expanding their geographical territory, there was a shift from “banns” to “bonds.” Since the community did not always know one or the other of the couple, a different mechanism had to be put in place. The bond was still a public announcement allowing members of the community to object to the marriage in advance. It was just a different way to still hold the betrothed to a high standard of qualifying for marriage the community had for them.
“Bonds” were an announcement of betrothal, a public commitment of engagement, where the groom-to-be and/or relatives of his, would pay a significant amount of money to insure it was his intention to marry the woman named on the bond. Typically, the bond was a financial promise to the governor of the colony or the state and would have to be paid only if the groom withdrew from the commitment before the wedding.
When Hugh Minary wanted to marry Jannet Logan, he contracted to owing 500 Pounds to the governor of New Jersey, Jonathan Belcher, Esq. If Hugh backed out of the contract, he and his brother James would owe the 500 Pounds.
As an added note, Governor Jonathan Belcher was in an ongoing writing relationship with Ben Franklin. Some of those letter can be found from the National Archives. Belcher had been the colonial governor of Massachusetts before he was made governor of New Jersey. This picture of him is in the public domain.
Social Security became law in 1935 and in January 1937, employers and workers were to start making application to the new program. On 21 January 1937, William Jennings Woodington, my great uncle, made his application through the CER-1 (Carrier Employee Registration) Form used by the Railroad retirement program.
Jennings worked for the Chicago & North Western Railway Company as a telegraph operator. When he registered for the World War I draft twenty years earlier, he listed his job as a telegraph operator for a railroad company then, also.
Jennings died on 5 August 1962 at the age of 64 presumably never collecting on the money he put into the program.
Source:
- Title
- U.S., Chicago and North Western Railroad Employment Records, 1935-1970
- Author
- Ancestry.com
- Publisher
- Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.
- Publisher Date
- 2015
- Publisher Location
- Provo, UT, USA
Today, 6 Jan 1981, my second great-uncle, Theodore “Tad” Rudolph August Aderman passed away in the Lutheran Hospital in Mesa, Arizona.
Uncle Tad was the sixth of twelve children born to my paternal second-great-grandparents, Ferdinand and Mary (Heiden) Adermann. Born on 13 November 1894 in Altamont, Effingham County, Illinois, USA Tad lived much of his life in Effingham and nearby Logan Counties.
He registered for the draft in both World War I and World War II. The 1930 and 1940 US Census’ list his occupation as a farmer “on his own account” in Mount Pulaski, Logan County, Illinois. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, Eastern Star, and Mount Pulaski Christian Church.
Cleava Brashear (1892 -1975) married Tad in Lincoln, Logan County, Illinois on 4 Feb 1915. By the time he was 26 years old, he experienced the death of four of his siblings (Magdalene Maria, Ida, Henry, and Mary).
Tad and Cleava raised two daughters, Mildred and Betty, and in retirement, wintered in Mesa, Arizona. His obituary is below. My thanks to Kevin Hackett of Our Family Genealogies for some of this information.
My 2nd great-uncle on my father’s side, Wilbert “Feeley” Adermann (25 Oct 1904 – 2 Dec 1985) had his car stolen just a month before his 60th birthday. He and his wife, Dorothy, were at church on Sunday, September 26, 1965 when three boys from Pennsylvania were apparently working their way to California by stealing cars along the way. Uncle Feeley’s vehicle was sitting outside the church while everyone was inside worshipping. The boys helped themselves and continued west on Highway 40. They were caught further down the road in Vandalia.
Uncle Feeley was a life-long resident of Altamont in Effingham County, Illinois. Highway 40 is still the only east-west paved highway through Effingham County. It was a great highway for the boys to travel as they drove from Pennsylvania to California. The police caught the boys west of Altamont in Vandalia at the junction of Highways 40 and 51.
The intersection of Highways 51 and 40 is at Vandalia on the left side of this map. Altamont and Highway 40 is at the upper right side of the map.
Here is the story as my cousin and genealogy buddy, Kevin Hackett, found it in the Centralia (Illinos) Evening Sentinel, 27 September, 1965, page 10.
Arrest Three in Stolen Car
VANDALIA–Three Pennsylvania youths were arrested yesterday in a stolen car minutes after state and local police received the radio message from Effingham County.
State Trooper Clifford Dean and Vandalia policeman William Black took the youths, ages 15, 16, 17, into custody after blocking the Rte. 51-40 junction with the police car.
The youths, two from Philadelphia and the other from Pittsburgh, told authorities they were en route to California.
The stolen car was owned by W.P. Aderman and was taken from in front of church while the Adermans were attending services. A stolen car, with Indiana license, was found near-by.
The youths were to be returned to Effingham County today.
Whence We Come 