Did You Know #14

From an early age I have possessed a strong interest in 19th century American history, especially the American Civil War. In recent years I have been able to "catch up" on long denied reading, even research into this very sad period of our nation's history. It is no surprise that the Bragg family has deep ties in this conflict.

Many members of the Bragg family bravely served on either side of the War Between the States. According to ancestry.com, there were 317 Union and 363 Confederate soldiers named Bragg. Many of these remain relatively unknown to most of us today. There were, however, some with direct relationship to our family occupying high positions in both the Union and Confederate armies. Most notably are perhaps the most despised Confederate General Braxton T. Bragg (third cousin four times removed; cf Did You Know #3) and the highly respected Union General Edward S. Bragg (connection with our family not clearly established as of this time).

Another related family member, Major Charles Venable, served as an aide to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. According to Wikipedia, Charles Venable was

"present at the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861, serving as a lieutenant in the South Carolina state militia. He then fought as a private in Company A, 2nd South Carolina Infantry. In the spring of 1862, Venable joined the staff of presidential military advisory General Robert E. Lee as an aide-de-camp with the rank of major. He continued serving on Lee's staff when the general took command of the Army of Northern Virginia on June 1, 1862. He served on Lee's staff from the Peninsula Campaign to Appomattox Court House and was promoted to lieutenant colonel." Here is the connection. Our lineage is on the right, his is on the left:

Abraham B Venable & Martha Hannah Davis
Nathaniel Venable b.1733	Hugh Lewis Venable b.1727
Samuel Woodson Venable b.1756	Elizabeth Venable b.1764
Nathaniel E. Venable b.1791	Hugh Lewis Bragg b.1795
Charles Scott Venable b.1827	William Bragg b.1834
	Frank Martin Bragg b.1867
	Orval Bishop Bragg b.1895
	Don Cicero Bragg b.1920

Therefore, Charles Scott Venable and William Bragg (our Great-great-grandfather) were 3rd cousins.

On the Union side, at the end of the Civil War the two most famous Generals had to have been U. S. Grant and William T. Sherman. Both were from Illinois. But I want to look at one of these two men with a direct connection with our Bragg family. William Tecumseh Sherman was born "in Lancaster, Ohio. Orphaned at age nine and raised by a prominent Ohio politician, he graduated from West Point in 1840, saw service in Florida, and, during the Mexican War, in California; he stayed there and in 1853 resigned from the army to become a banker. When the bank failed in 1857, he became superintendent of the Louisiana Military Academy; he resigned when Louisiana seceded early 1861" (source). Sherman is perhaps most notable for the siege of Vicksburg, MS, the capture of Atlanta, GA followed by the famous "march to the sea." Edmund Sherman and Joan Makin were William Tecumseh Sherman 5th great-grandparents. They are also our 11th great-grandparents. Here is the family connection:

Edmund Sherman and Joan Makin
Samuel Sherman	Esther "Hester" Sherman b.1606
John Sherman	Esther Ward b.1623
John Sherman	Daniel Burr b.1660
Daniel Sherman	Elizabeth Burr b.1696
Taylor Sherman	Nathaniel Hull b.1726
Charles Sherman	Ezekiel Hull b.1765
William Tecumseh Sherman	Platt Hull b.1787
	Ezekiel Hull b.1813
	Rebecca L. Hull b.1841
	Frank Martin Bragg b.1867
	Orval Bishop Bragg b.1895
	Don Cicero Bragg b.1920

Did You Know #12

Brief mention was made in Did You Know #8 of an early settler in in America's northeast, Edward Bragg (born in 1616 England), whose growing family thrived in the Salem, Ma area. Since that time, actually well before that time, I have been seeking a legitimate connection with our section of that Bragg family that settled further south in Virginia. Imagine my excitement with I seemed to have found that connection. Imagine my surprise when I found that connection in studying, not my Bragg family ancestors but the Ethington family.

My mother's earliest American ancestors also settled in Virginia, in their case in the Spotsylvania and Culpepper section of the state. First, let's work our way back through the Ethington family, beginning with our grandfather, Luther Ethington.

	Luther Ethington b.1888
	Charles Franklin Ethington b.1862
	Charles Neal Ethington b.1831
	John Lewis Ethington b.1806
	John Ethington b.1774
X	William Ethington b. 1748
	William Ethington (born around 1720)

I have placed an "X" next to our 5th great grandfather, William Ethington (b. 1748). He and his wife, Cathrine (or Caty), became the parents of eleven children. While our specific family descends through their son John (b. 1774), it is the family line of their son William (b. 1748) that we will next trace out. The chart below adds William's descendants in the column to the right of our own family tree.

	William Ethington b. 1748
	John Ethington b.1774	William Ethington b.1773
	John Lewis Ethington b.1806	John Ethington b.1820
	Charles Neal Ethington b.1831	William Preston Ethington b.1845
	Charles Franklin Ethington b.1862	George Floyd Ethington b.1872
	Luther Ethington b.1831	Ralph Price Ethington b.1906

As the above chart illustrates, our grandfather, Luther, and Ralph Price Ethington were 4th cousins. Ralph Price Ethington was born in Shelby Co., Kentucky on Dec. 26, 1906. He married Veda Haymore on Jan. 18, 1927 in Mesa, Maricopa Co., AZ.

It would be in Veda Haymore Ethington's ancestors that took me across the New England Bragg family. First you have to wind your way through 17 generations all the way back to Eleanor Plantagenet. She was, according to Wikipedia , Eleanor was born on Sept. 11, 1311 and died on Jan. 11, 1372. She "was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Philippa, and was in service to her in Ghent when her son Henry was born. John de Beaumont [Eleanor's husband] died in a tournament on 14 April 1342." After the death of her first husband, Eleanor married Richard Fitzalan, the 10th Earl of Arundel, on Feb. 5, 1344, after Richard's previous marriage was officially annulled. They had seven children.

"Eleanor died at Arundel and was buried at Lewes Priory in Lewes, Sussex, England. Her husband was buried beside her; in his will Richard requests to be buried "near to the tomb of Eleanor de Lancaster, my wife; and I desire that my tomb be no higher than hers, that no men at arms, horses, hearse, or other pomp, be used at my funeral, but only five torches...as was about the corpse of my wife, be allowed.""

Veda Haymore Ethington would have then been the 16th great-granddaughter of Eleanor Plantagenent through her Matilda de Beaumont (daughter of Eleanor and John de Beaumont). The third child of Eleanor's second marriage was named after his father, Richard Fitzalan. Proceeding down from Eleanor Plantagenet through her son Richard and across some 11 generations to Zerviah Brigham. She was born 1698 and, sometime around 1730 Zerviah married Ebenezer Bragg, the grandson of Edward Bragg.

Looking over this convoluted journey in our daughter's home in western Missouri, after spending some time just the evening before in Independence, MO, I realized something interesting from this material. continuing from Ebenezer and Zerviah Bragg, this is what I found:

Ebenezer and Zerviah Brigham Bragg

Elizabeth Bragg b.1732

Samuel B. Gates Senior b.1760

Samuel B. Gates Junior b.1783

George William Gates b.1807

George Porterfield Gates b.1835

Margaret Elizabeth ''Madge'' Gates b.1862

Elizabeth Virginia ''Bess' Wallace b.1885

Bess Wallace, then, was the 6th great grand-daughter of Ebenezer Bragg, the 17th cousin 2 times removed of Veda Haymore Ethington. She is, however, best known for her famous husband, the man who brought her to live awhile in the White House, Harry S. Truman.

I know this must be hard to follow, so here is a chart that traces out the lineages presented above:

		Eleanor Plantagenet
		Matilda de Beaumont b.1358	Richard Fitzalan b.1350
		Hugh de Courtenay b.1396	Elizabeth Fitzalan b.1366
		Elizabeth Courtenay b.1447	Margaret de Mowbray b.1387
		Thomas Trethruffe b.1478	Sir John Howard b.1420
		Margaret Jane Trethruffe b.1505	Thomas Howard b.1443
		Francis Buller b.1545	Countess Catherine Howard b.1496
		Richard Buller b.1578	William Rice b.1530
		Katherine Buller b.1600	Henry Rice b.1564
		Richard Parker b.1630	Edmund Rice b.1594
		Richard Parker b.1670	Henry R. Rice b.1617
		Hannah Parker b.1694	Mary Rice b.1646	Edward Bragg
	William Ethington b.1720	Elizabeth Sisson b.1726	Jonathan Brigham b.1674	Timothy Bragg
	William Ethington b.1748	Frances Strange b.1767	Ebenezer Bragg married Zerviah Brigham b.1698
	William Ethington b.1773	Nancy Williams b.1787	Elizabeth Bragg b.1732
	John Ethington b.1820	Benjamin Taylor Jr b.1816	Samuel B. Gates Senior b.1760
	William Preston Ethington b.1845	Lucinda Adeline Taylor b.1847	Samuel B. Gates Junior b.1783
	George Floyd Ethington b.1872	Arthur Samuel Haymore b.1878	George William Gates b.1807
	Ralph Price Ethington b.1906 married Veda Haymore b.1908		George Porterfield Gates b.1835
			Margaret Elizabeth ''Madge'' Gates b.1862
			Elizabeth Virginia ''Bess' Wallace b.1885 married Harry S. Truman

WOW – Kari Ann Bragg Honored

     As was stated in the previous post, Kari Bragg graduated from Freed-Hardeman University in the school’s 140^th Commencement Ceremony in Henderson, TN.  Kari received the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Secondary Education.  She was a summa cum laude (Latin for: “summa cum laude “) graduate with a perfect, 4.0 grade point average. Kari was also recognized as being a member of Alpha Chi National Honor Scholarship Society.

     In looking over the graduation program I noticed that a special presentation would be made recognizing the one student who best epitomizes the values of FHU, academic excellence, leadership qualities both within the student body and in the local community.  The recipient of the Faculty Scholarship-Leadership Medal, the highest honor for the graduating class, is chosen by the faculty members and is awarded to one individual in each graduating class.  As I reflected the father in me knew that Kari should win.  As Dr. Samuel T, Jones came to the podium to announce the winner of the 2009 Faculty Scholarship-Leadership Medal he explained the history,  importance, nomination process, and the five qualities the award represents.  Then he began the introduction by stated that this years winner was a music major (I thought, “could it be??”).  Then he kept saying, “she,” and that she was a honor’s student (my mind began trying to wrap around the idea that he could very well be talking about Kari).  His next words were, “She was the founding member of Main Street Fuzion …” (an acapella group whose presentations included popular music and 

spiritual  selections).  I could not be more proud that Kari was to be recognized by her instructors (and many other faculty members who never even had her in their classes) for her hard work while a student at FHU.

     So congratulations again to Kari for so admirably completing her course of study at FHU.  Congratulations for winning the 2009 Faculty Scholarship-Leadership Medal.  Congratulations for your new teaching position in Clinton, MO.  We are so proud of you!!!

Congratulations Kari Bragg

     Last Monday Kari Bragg had her first interview for a music teacher position.  She met with Clinton, MO middle school principal, visited with the retiring music teacher and took a tour of the music room (next fall, with the opening of a new high school, the middle school will move to the old high school).  She would, in addition to teaching general music classes, also direct the middle school choral program. 

The interview went well, and she was told that she would get a call on Friday about the position, even if someone else were offered the job.  So she was surprised, and pleased to be offered the position Thursday morning.

     Clinton, MO is just a few miles southeast of Kansas City, MO.  There are two nearby colleges nearby where she can pursue her graduate studies in music education.  The Clinton school and community seems to be vary supportive of the arts, and it seems to be a very good match for Kari.

     From a very young age it was clear to us that Kari would be a teacher.   Then when she began to sing, and learned to play a wide variety of instruments, we were pretty sure that she would be a music teacher.  And there is little doubt that she will be a popular and effective music teacher. 

     Mom and Dad are also pleased that she will live fairly close to their Cape Girardeau home.

     Congratulations Kari!!!!!!

Did You Know? #11

Who in our family tree is most closely connected with the $10 bill?

The famous and infamous can be found in every family tree, especially when you consider just how many other families throughout the generations become entwined by marriages. In just going back a few generations we find just such a connection with a man who, depending on who is telling the story, was “one of the most brilliant students graduated from Princeton in

the eighteenth century”¹ or a treasonous traitor (for a time he not only spent a number of years in a self-imposed exile in Europe but

apparently adopted his mother’s maiden name instead of his surname to escape the relentless dispersions heaped

upon his name).² His is the story of how the famous and infamous can reside in a single person as a moment’s decision taints a lifetime of greatness.

Consider these astonishing achievements:

• Entered Princeton University as a sophomore (at the age of 13).
  
• Graduated from Princeton, with honors (at the age of 16).
  
• A Revolutionary War hero.
  
• Member of the New York State Assembly.
  
• New York Attorney General.
  
• United States Senator.
  
• Vice President of the United States.
  

With such a strong drive to succeed, it may come as no surprise that such a person might have a somewhat inflated self-opinion. That seems to be the

case with Aaron Burr, who is to have remarked, "In the past even I was afraid of my own greatness, therefore I could not stand in front of mirrors."

So what is the family connection? Here is the line of ancestry running through this story:

• Don Cicero Bragg b.1920
  
• Orval Bishop Bragg b.1895
  
• Frank Martin Bragg b.1867
  
• Rebecca L. Hull b.1841 (wife of William Bragg)
  
• Ezekiel Hull
  
• Platt Hull b.1787
  
• Ezekiel Hull b.1765
• Nathaniel Hull b.1726
  
• Nathaniel Hull b.1695
  

On November 29, 1716 our 7th-Great-Grandfather Nathaniel Hull was married to Elizabeth Burr, one of Daniel and Elizabeth Pinkney Burr’s ten children. Elizabeth was one of ten children. Her brother was Aaron Burr, Sr., President of Princeton University and father of Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States and killer of Alexander Hamilton.

Burr’s father, who served as Princeton’s president, died suddenly of a fever. The vacated Princeton presidency post was then filled

by Aaron Burr, Jr.’s maternal grandfather, the famed Jonathan Edwards. Not long after the death of the elder Burr, Aaron Jr’s mother

contracted smallpox and died. Orphaned at the age of only three (his sister, Sally, was only 1 year old), he was raised by an apparently domineering uncle.

After graduating from college Aaron Burr began practicing law in New York and, at the age of 26, married a widow in her mid

thirties with five children. Two daughters were born of this union, but only one survived birth. Named Theodosia, after her mother, she was widely

esteemed for her gifted intellect.

Burr’s wife died in 1794 after a long bout with stomach cancer, leaving him to raise his eleven

year old daughter. Theodosia would eventually

marry Joseph Alston of Charleston, SC. Shortly after their marriage Joseph become that state’s Governor. The couple had one child, Aaron Burr Alston, who died of the fever at the age of ten. About this same time Theodosia Burr Alston died, perhaps when pirates attacked the ship upon which she was traveling.

But Aaron Burr’s life was pretty well defined by the events that culminated in the early morning

hours of July 11, 1804 along the edge of the Hudson River at Weehawken, New Jersey. It was on that morning that Burr, intent on defending his honor, engaged in a duel with his long-time political foe Alexander Hamilton (pictured on the $10 bill). Burr won the duel, but he lost

any hope of a political future.

Aaron Burr married later in life (at least once). In 1833 seventy-seven year old Burr married Eliza Bowen Juman, a rich widow, but the marriage did not last very long. The couple separated with their divorce being finalized on September 14, 1836, the very day of Burr’s death.

Notes

¹ Alexander Valentine and Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, 1978 Princeton University Press.

² Wikipedia, so it MUST be true.

Did You Know? #10

Although there are some dissenters, many researchers believe that our branch of the Bragg family can be traced back to America’s earliest settlers in James Town, VA (cf. “Did You Know? #5). In tracing out our family tree through the various maternal branches (associated through marriage to our Bragg ancestors) I discovered an even older connection with earlier American inhabitants.

Tracing backwards from our current generation, as has been previously listed in prior entries, we must traverse the familiar lineage of our last 6 generations:

Dad (Don C.)

Granddad Bragg (O.B.; 28 Aug 1895 - 16 Mar 1989)

Frank Martin (18 Mar 1867 - 23 Jun 1944)

William (14 Jun 1834 - 4 Dec 1900)

Hugh Lewis (1795)

Richard (born around 1762)

In 1785 our Great- Great- Great- Great-Grandfather, Richard Bragg, married 21 year old Elizabeth Venable, the daughter of Hugh Lewis and Mary Martin Venable. The Venable family possessed “immense tracts of land in Hanover, Louisa, Goochland and Albemarle” counties, wealth, and a number of slaves. Elizabeth’s grandfather, Abraham Bedford Venable, served as Justice of the Peace in Louisa, County, VA, “Captain of Colonial Militias and County Lieutenant, and a member of the House of Burgesses" from 1742-1762. Elizabeth’s great-grandfather, Abram Venable(s) (the family name originally ended in a final “s,” but Abram dropped the “s” when immigrating to America in 1685), “was a surgeon in the first regiment of troops sent out from England under the command of Sir John Harvie. He was so pleased with the prospects of the Colony of Virginia that he resigned his commission on returning to England and received from [King Charles] a grant of land in Manikin Town.”

Abraham Bedford Venable, a second generation American, married Martha Hannah Davis in 1723. Hannah was the daughter of Nathaniel and Abadiah Lewis Davis. Nathaniel Davis, like Abraham Bedford Venable, was a second generation American (both of their father’s came from Devonshire, England). Hannah’s grandfather, also bearing the name “Nathaniel Davis,” worked as an Indian trader in Hanover County, VA. This dangerous profession was made considerably easier by the fact that the elder Nathaniel Davis’ wife was herself a half-breed, the daughter of Rice Hughes and Nikitti (which means "she sweeps the dew from the flowers").

Nikitti’s father was the greatly feared Opechancanough, Chief of the Pamunkey Indians in Virginia, who “planned the massacres of 1622 in which one fourth of all the settlers of Jamestown were destroyed and 1644.” Eventually captured by Sir. William Berekley, Opechancanough was killed by one of Berekley’s soldiers in 1846 while he was held prisoner in Jamestown.

Opechancanough’s predecessor, his famous brother Powhatan (his real name was Wahunsonacock), was a great warrior in his own rights, serving as the leader of the estimated 15,000 Algonquian Indian population settled near the James River. John Smith described Powhatan as

"a tall well proportioned man, with a sower look, his head somewhat gray, his beard so thinne, that it seemeth none at all, his age (as of 1608) neare sixtie, of a very able and hardy body to endure any labour."

Powhatan had a large family, consisting of over 100 wives and many children, most notable

among them was the young Indian girl that endeared herself to John Smith and the English settlers, Amonute (or Matoaka), better known as Pocahontas (or “Lady Rebecca” to the English).

From Nikitti, Martha Hannah Davis’ great-grandmother, the generations can be traced as follows:*

Opechancanough (Nikitti’s father)

Scent Flower (Nikitti’s grandfather)

Dashing Stream (Nikitti’s great-grandfather)

Murmuring Ripple (Nikitti’s great-great-grandfather)

This makes Nikitti, Pocahontas’ first cousin, my 13^th Great-Grandmother, so “TAKE THAT, WALT DISNEY.”

* Researchers vary as to the identity of and chronology of parents. Some list Dashing Stream and Scent Flower as Opechancanough’s father and mother while others list them as his male ancestors. Another confusing aspect comes from the apparent fact that Opechancanough’s wife and mother of Nikitti, Cleopatra, happened to be Opechancanough’s half-sister.

Peyton Linley

Is this a "great" grand-daughter or not?  Peyton Linley was born on Sunday, February 8, 2009.  She was 22 inches long and weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz.  Her parnets, Diana and Matthew are reportedly doing great.  Congratuations to them upon the birth of their daughter, grandmother, Ruth, and to Mom and Dad on the safe arrival of yet another great-grandchild.