Genealogist Amy Johnson Crow, who blogs at No Story Too Small, has set a challenge to write about one ancestor each week. I’ve decided to take up that challenge to wake up my (somewhat) languishing blog, but to honor my ancestors. I plan to post every week on Sunday, and I encourage others to join the challenge with me.

Precious Little

My great-great grandfather Henry S. Roberts (1812 – 1890) was married twice, but because it was his second wife, Hannah Beaumont who gave birth to my great-grandfather, I have not focused much on his first wife. I know that she died in Elmira, New York, in 1846, before showing up in a census where she would be named, but precious little else. However, recently I have learned that she descends from several well-known people in the history of the area. Her mother hid runaway slaves, and her father and grandfather were both Revolutionary War patriots. Also, her grandfather was thought to be one of the first white settlers in Elmira.

Hannah Culp, according to the burial records of Elmira’s Second Street Cemetery, was born in Chemung County, New York, about 1813. Her parents were John Culp and Rebecca Hendy. Hannah and my great-great grandfather Henry married most likely between 1833 and 1835; no records have yet been found to give a more precise date. But I know they had a child born in 1835.

Other than a brief mention in a short biography of her husband, and her burial record, I know very little about Hannah Culp.

Hannah and her husband ultimately had six children before she died in 1846 at the young age of 32, not long after the birth of a son. I am still trying to learn more about her and continue to look for additional records. The 52-week challenge is a great motivator for me to delve more deeply into the lives of my ancestors, which is a good thing! Right now it seems there is more information available about her parents and her grandfather, which I will leave for other blog postings during the 52-week challenge. Once I do some more research. :-/