William Place Sr.

William Place Sr. he was born in (1804- 19 June 1886) in Monroe co., Pa to Martin and Mary Overfield Place. Martin & Mary where esteemed residents of Middle Smithfield Township. William moved to the Egypt Mills/Bushkill area of Pike County and had a large amount of land he farmed and later he and his wife Susanna operated the hotel known as Maple Grove. He married Susanna Custard (1808-aft 1880). She was from Pike County and the daughter of William and Elizabeth VanCampen Custard. William and Susanna had a busy family life and had children; Elizabeth, Mary, Jacob H., Oliver (1839-1908), Susanna, William, Sarah (1841-1919 VanAucken) & baby Sophenia. Their son Jacob H. went into the family business and owned the Mountain View House @ Maple Grove. I’m not sure if that is the Maple Grove House or another boarding home. William, Susanna and their daughter Sarah are all buried at the Swartswood/Valley View Cemetery, outside of Bushkill in Lehman Township, Pike County, Pa.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39712017
directions: Located about.3.25 miles north of Bushkill in Lehman Township on a hill just west of Route 209.

Cemetery is located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Pennsylvania side, just south of Tom's Creek Picnic area. Watch for the sign for Mile Marker 4. There is semi-circle gravel parking area directly opposite Valley View Campsite entrance. Park and walk back along the North entrance drive then take the footpath into the woods. This path opens up to a woods road, take right fork and follow to the top of the bluff. The cemetery overlooks Rt 209 and a large corn field.

Major General George H. Thomas

Ed Mcginnis gave me a tour of The Oakwood Cemetery while visiting him and his wife Sandra during Thanksgiving weekend. While listening and looking at their map I was taking random photos of things that interested me. I knew nothing about George Thomas history when I took the photo of his tomb. I started to research him and realized, he’s one of those military guys no one talks about but has had an amazing and successful military career. A lover if nature and a real hater of war, basically a nomad, staying only 5 months at a time in one place or another threw his whole life. I enjoyed learning about his life and career. Known as “The Rock of Chickamauga.”  he held the Union line against the Confederate forces, earning him the nickname, Major General George H Thomas, born on 3 July 1816 Newsoms, Southampton Co. Virginia to John and Elizabeth Thomas.

Promoted to Full Colonel on 03 May 1861. Promoted to Full Brig-General on 03 Aug 1861. Commissioned an officer in Company S, Regular Army 2nd Cavalry Regiment on 25 Apr 1861. Mustered out on 03 Aug 1861. Transferred to Company S, Regular Army 5th Cavalry Regiment on 03 Aug 1861. Commissioned an officer in the U.S. Volunteers General Staff Infantry Regiment on 03 Aug 1861. Promoted to Full Major-Gen on 25 Apr 1862. Promoted to Full Brig-General on 27 Oct 1863. Mustered out on 27 Oct 1863. Mustered out on 27 Oct 1863. Commissioned an officer in the Regular Army General Staff Infantry Regiment on 27 Oct 1863. Promoted to Full Major-Gen on 15 Dec 1864.

 He was set to go to law school when a friend secured him a place at West Point in 1836. When Virginia seceded from the Union, George remained with the Union, engaging in many battles on his home soil. His family never forgave him. They turned his portrait to the wall, never spoke to him again, and refused to come to his funeral. He and his wife, Frances Lucretia Kellogg (1821-1889) who he married in N.Y. 20 Nov. 1852 had no children, its said that the Army of the Cumberland, numbered in the tens of thousands called him father and wept for him in grief when he died 28 March 1870, San Francisco, Ca. He is buried with his wife at Oakwood Cemetery, Troy NY. The funeral was the largest in New York history. Over 10,000 mourners, including President Ulysses S. Grant. 

Also buried their Rice Cook Bull a Union Army Soldier in the Civil War and author of the book, Soldiering: The Civil War Diary of Rice C. Bull, 123rd New York Volunteer Infantry. Still in print today, it is considered by many historians to be one of the finest first-hand accounts of an enlisted man's experiences in the Civil War.  But we will save him for another Tuesday.

See also :

https://www.oakwoodcemetery.org/

https://www.facebook.com/oakwoodcemetery.troyny

Appleton Cyclopedia of American Biography 1600-1889 Vil VIhttps://www.ancestry.com/interactive/61360/47194_547526-00100?pid=15216&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db%3D61360%26h%3D15216%26indiv%3Dtry%26o_vc%3DRecord:OtherRecord%26rhSource%3D4394&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true#?imageId=47194_547526-00099

Louisa Jourdan Sommers

Louisa Jourdan Sommers. I had a visit to the Moravian Cemetery at High Acres, Canadensis. Every time I visit, I am always drawn to the stone of Louisa Jourdan.  Her stone is in a metal sleeve which holds it up and together. I have no family connection with her but have the feeling she was a very strong soul, along with a few others resting here. 

 Louisa, born 12 Jan 1798 in Diefenbach, Enzkreis, Baden-Wurttenberg Germany, she was the daughter of John Peter Jourdan and Marie Katherine Cheneelle. She marries John Christopher Sommer on 8 April 1822 in her home town.  In 1832 she applies to leave Germany for the USA. Pioneers, Lousia and Christopher with their young children come to the USA and reside in Canadensis the rest of their lives. Making a living on the farm they have children; Rachel. Andrew, Christoph, John, Joseph, Caroline & Catherine.  She died 14 Feb 1883, at the age of 85. All the Sommers descendants of the area can trace their linage to Louisa.

Margaret Fenical

Margaret Fenical. She was born 9 Aug 1829, one of 9 children (Catherine, John, George, Henry, Elizabeth, Mary, Jacob) of Jacob and Margaret Fenical. Her dad & mom along with her brothers were farmers. Margaret works as a housekeeper, all her life. Your last name gives you a sense of identity and helps you discover who you are and where you come from. The sur name Fenical, its unusual but the family was among the first to settle in Pa. The immigration of the family, puts them coming from Scotland, Ireland and Germany. Margaret never marries and takes care of her family. She dies on 30 Jan 1907, before her father and  is buried in Middle Smithfield Cemetery. 

John Brown

John Brown. He was born in abt 1844 in Middle Smithfield Township, his parents Lewis (1790-1879) born in Germany and his mother Lydia Ace Michaels Brown (1806-1857). Johns family were farmers and an interesting fact my husband’s 2^nd cousin 4x removed. I’m not even going to try to figure that one out. When Lydia dies the family splits up and John lives with Daniel & Mercy Brown. I don’t know if they are related to John or not. He moves south and on 6 Sept 1864 he enlist in Co. E 203^rd Reg which were from the city of Philadelphia, and from the counties of Lycoming, Lancaster, Chester, and Delaware, Pa. His company engages in a battle at Ft. Fisher, N.C. on 15 Jan 1865 and he is wounded in the left thigh. He is transported to Mc. Dougal General Hospital, N.Y. (MacDougall Hospital was a U.S. Army military hospital located at Fort Schuyler in New York City before and during the American Civil War.It had a capacity of 2000 beds. In October 1863, the hospital was "to be removed without delay"; it was one of the oldest of the U.S. Military Hospitals. During the Civil War, about 16% of its patients were lost by desertion and failure to return from furlough. In the fall of 1864, the hospital housed 1600 patients)
John died of his wound on 30 Jan 1865 and is buried with his family at the Coolbaugh Cemetery or the Middle Smithfield Presbyterian Cemetery. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2186640
More on the 203^rd from Rootsweb: http://www.pa-roots.com/pacw/infantry/203rd/203dorg.html

I have seen is research a John Brown the tanner, not sure if this is the same john or not.

Annie Bush Ace

Annie Bush Ace. We stopped at the Analomink U.M. Church.  They have just finished rebuilding the front of the church. I don’t know how I missed the news, someone actually ran their car into it, and it looks like they kept going into the fence on the other side. (shaking my head) So, Annie has a lovely spot in the cemetery. I wanted to remember and honor her this week. My research has turned up very little about her, or her family. She was born 17 September 1850,She could be the daughter of Jacob & Anna Labar Bush from Middle Smithfield Twp., Joseph & Catherine Bush from Paradise Twp. Or I Like Annie Bush from Pocono Twp. She married William T Ace 1843-1927,I found a record in Scranton, Lackawanna Co., Pa 19 Nov 1870. The marriage record say she was from Hyde Park Ny but it also says he was to. He could have moved their after the war (civil), but he and his family where definitely from Bartonsville, Pa. She died after Christmas on the 30^th in 1872, she was 22 years old. William remarried a few years later to a Susan Lake 1847-1905, they had a few kids and lived in Scranton, Lackawanna Co., Pa where he was a conductor for the rail road. He and Susan are both buried in Washburn Street Cemetery in Scranton.

Henry Courtright

Henry Cornelissen, Hendrik Kortregt, Cortright (Henry Courtright); Henry born on 29 March 1703 in Ulster Co.,N.Y. was the son of Cornelius Kortreck (1680-1745) and Christina Rosekrans Kortrect (1667-1745) he was a farmer according to the Pa. Tax records for 1768-1801. His family has a number of variants for their surname. The family origins where probably Holland. There is a lot out there on this family, and most of the local families can be traced to this family line. I spent a lot of time reading about them. Sorry to say and surprised I am not related to them. I could probably dig up some distant relation because they do seem to be related to everyone. John Howard Abbott; The Courtright Family very interesting read, The Michael Shoemaker Book had a section on Henry and his wife  Find a grave has his marriage record listed http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=84146003 he married 6 November 1724 to Jannetien Ennes d/o William Ennes Sr. & Cornelia Vier-Vant Ennes. They had children, Cornelius 1725-1752, Catrina 1727-?, Daniel 1729-1788, Benjamin 1731-1780, Johannes 1736-1772, William Ennes b: about 1739, Abraham b: abt 1741-1787,Janneke b. about 1745, Jacobus (James) b: about 1746, Abram b: abt 1747. Cornelia b: about 1749. He is buried in the Brodhead/Courtright Farm Burial Grounds. This cemetery along 209 in Wheat Plains is in Pike County Pa. and with-in the boarders of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area. His stone reading;

Henry Courtrig

rt dyed April 15

1787

Let me give you all something to think about, yes the stone carver continues his name to the second row. This NEEDS TO BE PERSERVED!!! It is a hand carved, still readable, still standing grave marker and by my calculation is probably the oldest in Pike County. YES, the oldest! We have seen what happens to park service cemeteries. Yes, I get it, no money blah, dead people not important blah, house falling down blah blah. There is a group …The Brodhead Family group, not sure if that’s the name. If any of you are reading this. I have seen plans you have for the Brodhead house ect.. they are awesome. Not sure if they have plans for the cemetery, but would you PLEASE consider Henry in your planning. I know he is outside the fence. His family like yours has a long and amazing history. Remembering Henry, pioneer, father, husband & farmer. Here is a link to some other photos of the cemetery. https://goo.gl/photos/qRkhWJjxBUgcRmNs5