Facing Uncertainty

#52ancestors Week 44—Frightening

Facing Uncertainty 

By Myra Vanderpool Gormley © 2018 

On the eve of his voyage in 1641 to the New World, my ancestor, Anthony de Hooges, reflected on the “certainty of death, as well as the uncertainty of the hour” at which death would overtake him. He made out a Will even though he was single and only 21 years old. A week later, on 23 July 1641, he boarded den Coninck David (King David) in Amsterdam on a voyage to New Netherland where he was to begin a new job for the West Indies Company and a new life. 

"Anthony de Hooges was baptized in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on 14 December 1620, the eighth and last child born to Johannes de Hooges and Maria Tijron. Both of Anthony’s parents were probably Calvinist immigrants from the Southern Netherlands (likely from Mechelen and Antwerp, respectively, in what is now Belgium). The family was evidently solidly middle class: Johannes [de Hooges] worked as a bookkeeper for the West India Company and was a shareholder in that company as well.”[1]

Anthony de Hooges kept a journal of his long voyage. It begins: "In the year of our Lord 1641, the 30th of July, I commenced this journal in the name of the Lord. May the Lord conduct us to the place of our destination in order that on our arrival we may offer to the Lord the offering of our lips to His honor and our salvation. Amen."[2]

It was an unusually stormy passage and no doubt frightening to all aboard. It took four months to reach its destination. The ship set sail from Texel with about 35 or 36 other ships. On August 19, it reached Plymouth [England] where it stayed until the 30th. Setting sail again, this time with five other vessels, it passed the Madeira Islands on September 16 and 17 and on the 19th and 20th passed the Canary Islands, leaving the other ships, except for one galley, there. By October 4, it was running short of water. It reached the Leeward Islands on October 16th, and anchored at St. Christopher on the 18th. Here it took on water and remained until the 23rd. 

On November 29, den Coninck David sailed past Sandy Hook and Anthony closed his journal saying: "At daybreak we ran to the sand point (Sandy Hook) and we rounded it too close. We got aground on a reef which had formed there within a year. After two hours we got afloat again. God be praised we suffered no damage and with good speed passed between the Hoofden (the headlands at the sides of the Narrows) and in the afternoon came to anchor at the Manhatens, in front of Smits Vly (on the East River). Thus the Lord delivered us at last, after much adversity, for which He be praised forever, Amen. — "Journal of Anthony de Hooges, of his voyage to New Netherland beginning 30 July ending 29 November 1641."[3]

For some passenger lists of ships to New Netherland/New York, including den Coninck David in 1641 see:

 https://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/nnship53.shtml 

Six years later in New Netherland Anthony de Hooges married Aefje Albertsen “Eva” Bradt, adding some Norwegian to my family bloodline. They had four daughters and one son who was my ancestor, Johannes de Hooges (1654-1738), who married Margarita Post (1657-1700).  See The POST Family of New York and New Jersey -- Descendants of Adriaen Crijne Post, by Lorine McGinnis Schulze online at 

http://olivetreegenealogy.com/nn/surnames/post.shtml 

Johannes de Hooges and Margarita Post were parents of six daughters and only one son, who died before reaching adulthood and thus the De Hooges surname has “daughtered out” in America. Johannes and Margarita’s daughter, Cathrina de Hooges married Wynant Vanderpool, my ancestor, in 1706.[4] 

Anthony de Hooges probably has many living descendants today, as he had 25 grandchildren and 143 great-grandchildren, but they will be found under various other surnames, and spelled variantly, such as Bries, Hornbeck, Van Etten, Rutgers, Quick, Oostrander, Roosa, de la Montagne, and Vanderpool. 

He is a fine ancestor to have because there are so many records written by him and/or pertaining to him available. If you have New Netherland ancestry, perhaps he appears in your family tree, too.

 [1] From the Introduction of The Memorandum Book of Anthony de Hooges, translated by Dirk Mouw; publication of the New Netherland Research Center and the New Netherland Institute, 2012. Retrieved from: https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/files/2713/5543/9527/DeHoogesTranslationFinal.pdf 

[2] Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts (Albany: University of the State of New York, 1908), p. 580. Retrieved from: https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/files/4813/8679/0228/NY006011163_1908_VR_Bowier_Manuscripts.pdf

[3] Ibid

[4] Col. William Van Derpoel Hannay, compiler, Dutch Settlers Society of Albany Yearbook, Vol. 41 (Albany, New York: Dutch Settlers Society of Albany, 1966-1968), p. 12.

Mangled

#52ancestors Week 43—Cause of Death

Mangled 

By Myra Vanderpool Gormley © 2018 

Walter D. "Buck" Fricks (1884-1914), left; brother, Edward W. Fricks (1885-1963; sister, Dora M. Fricks (1892-1955)

Photo taken about 1910, Muskogee, Oklahoma

The headline of the page 1 story in the Muskogee Times-Democrat (Muskogee, Muskogee County, Oklahoma) on 18 September 1914 reads: MANGLED: Body of Man Identified as ‘Buck” Fricks, Muskogee Lineman and Well-Known Character, Found on Railroad Track at Wells, Okla., South of Here. 

Many years ago, I walked the Greenhill Cemetery in Muskogee, Oklahoma and recorded all of my known kin buried there. I had also walked it as a child many times with my grandmother, but after I became an adult and a professional genealogist I wanted to verify the information, double-check names and dates, and not rely on memory. 

Greenhill Cemetery is resting place of many of my Fricks relatives — and I knew the man called “Buck” was the brother of my grandfather. I also know that he had been killed in a railroad accident. It was a subject that was never discussed much, so I did not know any details. I had never read the newspaper account until years later. From it I learned that W. D. “Buck” Fricks, whose given name was Walter, was run over by a Katy (Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad) train at small station named Wells, located just north of Eufaula, and about 25 miles south of Muskogee where the family lived. His body was found on the track by trainmen. 

Fricks was either asleep on the track or was thrown beneath the wheels while trying to catch a moving train, according to the newspaper account. George Miller, of the county attorney’s office at Eufaula went out to look at the body and found a letter in Fricks’ pocket from a young woman in Muskogee. The body was fearfully mangled, according the news story. 

The Katy Limited, ca 1910 

It further noted that “A brother of Fricks, who lives in the country near Muskogee was notified by telephone and this afternoon passed through town on his way to Eufaula.” That brother was my grandfather, Charley. I know because my grandfather told me about that sad trip he made to identify his brother and see to it that he was buried in the family plot in Greenhill Cemetery. 

Also per the newspaper account, “Buck Fricks was a well-known character here, and was employed from time to time as a lineman by local public service corporation.” The family history claims he worked as an oil rigger and as a lineman for Western Union Telegraph. He never married and left no known children. 

He was only 30 years old when he died, and I sure wish I knew what the newspaper meant by calling him a “well-known character.” I could use a “character” in the family tree, especially a good one. 

Fatal Affray: Murder at the Courthouse

#52ancestors Week 42—Conflict

 Fatal Affray: Murder at the Courthouse 

By Myra Vanderpool Gormley © 2018 

While not as well-known as the showdown at the OK Corral, a famous fight that took place 26 October 1881 in Tombstone, Arizona, an Arkansas conflict had all of the same elements, plus more. Two antagonists faced each other — one armed with a large hickory walking cane and a double-action Smith & Weston .44-caliber 6-shooting pistol and the other with a pocketknife. When it was over Judge James D. Coates was dead and the ex-sheriff of Desha County, Arkansas, Isaac Bankston, lay dying with three stabs wounds — on a street in Arkansas City, Arkansas not far from the courthouse in early June of 1884. 

Desha County (Arkansas) Courthouse; which is on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America.

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The story behind the conflict began when Bankston went up the Mississippi River about 200 miles from Desha County, Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee in late December of 1883 and married Missouri Bradford. This created two legal problems. Isaac, a white man, was already married with two children, and Missouri was a “woman of color” according to newspaper accounts. Apparently Bankston was guilty of bigamy and of breaking Tennessee’s anti-miscegenation law, which reads: 

The Constitution of Tennessee, Article 11, Section 13, reads, "The inter-marriage of white persons with negroes [sic], mulattoes or persons of mixed blood, descended from a negro [sic] to the third generation inclusive or their living together as man and wife in this state is prohibited."  

See: Article on Race, Marriage and Law  

Isaac Bankston, the son of Ignatius Bankston (ca 1801-1862) and Rosey Ward (ca 1810-1850), was born about 1832 in either Chicot County, Arkansas Territory or Bolivar County, Mississippi. He was the sheriff of Desha County, Arkansas from 1876-1884. He had married first Martha Elizabeth White in 1858 in Washington County, Mississippi. They had two children (according to the 1880 federal enumeration of Desha County) -- Isaac Jr., born in 1872, and Laura, a daughter, born ca 1874. He married secondly Missouri Bradford in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, 28 December 1883. They were married by the Rev. J. E. Roberts, an A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal church) minister. 

When news about Bankston’s marriage to Bradford broke, it was published in a number of Arkansas newspapers. At first Bankston denied it and threatened to sue the newspapers for libel. However, in a newspaper story that appeared in Arkansas Gazette on 12 Feb. 1884, the Rev. Roberts said he had married the couple and that Isaac Bankston and Missouri Bradford were boarding at the same place (as he and his wife were) and, "I thought he was a colored man. He has a dark complexion."  The minister also mentioned that he has talked to Missouri Bradford and she had a little boy and that she had been living with Bankston for three years. 

The calendar for the criminal court of Judge James M. Greer in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee was published in the Memphis Daily Appeal on 23 May 1884. Among the cases for petit larceny, assault to murder, and retailing liquor on Sunday, was a charge against Isaac Bankston and Missouri Bradford, (for) intermarrying with a colored woman. Bankston had been arrested on 5 May. 

Isaac Bankston was indicted for miscegenation (not bigamy) by marrying Bradford, but was acquitted because no evidence was produced against him, and he claimed he had a mixture of Indian blood, which apparently allowed him to legally skirt Tennessee’s anti-miscegenation law. However, in a courtroom drama, under instructions of presiding Judge Greer, the jury returned a verdict of “not guilty” without retiring from their seats and the costs of the case were charged up against James D. Coates, also of Desha County, Arkansas, who was prosecuting the case and who had acted as both a witness and special prosecutor. In an article in The Weekly Democrat-Times (Greenville, Washington County, Mississippi), published 7 June 1884, it also was shown that the prosecution was malicious.

 In a wrap-up story about the Bankston-Coates Tragedy, as it was labeled in the Memphis Daily Appeal on Friday, June 13, 1884, the report of the coroner’s jury in Arkansas City, Arkansas, said that “after said acquittal, Gen. G. P. M. Turner, the attorney general of Shelby County, Tennessee, encouraged Bankston to commit violence on J. D. Coates by making the remark to wit: ‘Bankston, if you don’t go down to Arkansas City and cowhide Coates you are not the man I take you to be.’ "

Bankston then returned to Arkansas City via steamer on 2 June 1884. He came unarmed, but shortly after arrival procured a pistol and a heavy walking stick. He called out James D. Coates, the lawyer who took part in the indictment against him. A fight ensued and Bankston hit Coates with his cane two or more times and Coates rushed at Bankston with a knife in his hand and stabbed him a couple of times, and then they broke loose. Bankston then shot Coates with his pistol, and yet another scuffle ensued at which time Coates gave Bankston a third stab in the back. Coates died first and Bankston soon thereafter.

 For Arkansas City, the county seat of Desha County, with a population of only 500 or so in 1880, this duel to the death must have been a subject of discussion for years as no doubt it would have touched the lives of many of the residents. For genealogists and historians this story presents several challenges on many fronts — about ethnicity, family history, laws, the legal process, and weighing evidence of various sources. It raises numerous questions and provides several additional mysteries to explore. And one is left wondering “what happened next?” 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

#52ancestors — Week 41

October 8-14  SPORTS

Take Me Out to the Ball Game . . . 

by Myra Vanderpool Gormley (C) 2018

 Tall, medium built, with gray eyes and auburn hair, Wilburn Everett Bankston was listed as a “ball player” on his World War I Draft Registration Card dated 26 May 1917 in what appears to be Providence, Rhode Island, but the handwriting of the location is difficult to read. However, his date of birth: 25 May 1893 in Forsyth, Monroe County, Georgia helps to identify him as a son of Hiram Everett Bankston (1859-1946) and Sarah “Dee” Askin (1865-1946). He was one of their 13 known children and a twin to his sister, Evelyn Bankston. The father and son both went by their middle name.

In an article in the Macon Telegram (Macon, Georgia) headlined “Gulls Off To Majors — Fillingem and Bankston Leave to Join the Athletics,” dated 23 July 1915, it was announced therein with a dateline of Charleston, S.C. that Pitcher Fillingem and Outfielder Bankston of the Charleston South Atlantic league team left here today (July 22) to join the Philadelphia American league club, to whom

they were sold several weeks ago. Bankston’s career with the major-league Athletics was short as the team finished last in the American League that year. The Athletics owner Connie Mack refused to match the offers of the newly created Federal League teams, preferring to let the "prima donnas" go and rebuild with younger (and less expensive) players, according to sportswriters. The result was a swift and near-total collapse, a "first-to-worst" situation.

The Athletics went from a 99–53 (.651) record and a pennant in 1914 to a record of 43–109 (.283) and 8th (last) place in 1915. At the time, it was the third-worst winning percentage in American League history. The Federal League had been formed to begin play in 1914. As they had done 13 years before, the new league raided existing A.L. (American League) and N.L. (National League) teams for players. While Bankston’s exact salary for his brief major-league career has not been ascertained, two 1915 Philadelphia Athletics pitchers — Bob Shawkey and Bruno Haas — made $3,249 and $1,200 respectively. Translating those numbers precisely into today’s dollars is difficult, but the range is about $30,000 to $80,000.

When he registered for the World War I draft, Bankston gave his occupation as “ball player” and his employer as Richmond BB Club at Richmond, etc. [sic]. On March 22, 1918, the Atlanta Constitution published a story with the headline “Everett Bankston, former Cracker, quits baseball.” The story notes that he hit .325 in 1916 and .300 last season (1917) and was “secured from the Yankees, the last three seasons with Richmond and formerly a [Atlanta] Cracker, has been lost to the [Memphis] Chickasaws.” It also reveals that he owned a farm at Barnesville, Georgia and “on account of shortage of labor he would be obliged to remain at home and look after the farm.”

However, he served briefly during World War I as Seaman Second Class Wilburn Bankston, having enlisted on 4 June 1918, and training at the Naval Training Camp, Charleston, South Carolina. He was honorably discharged 11 November 1918. He apparently returned to playing baseball after the war. On the 1920 census he is enumerated with his parents in Monroe County, Georgia, but he is listed as “professional ball player.”

 By 1930, still enumerated with his parents, he is recorded as a laborer (farm). Evidently by age 37, his baseball career had ended. His career lasted much longer than “one year” as indicated on a website, although that reference may refer only to his brief career with major-league Philadelphia Athletics. Bankston played with Charleston, Greenville, Charlotte, Augusta and Columbia as well as several other minor league clubs. He broke into the professional game about 1912 when he was 19 years old. In July 1927, he voluntarily retired after being sold by Richmond to the Raleigh club of the Piedmont League. He had a life-time batting average of over .300.

He died 26 February 1970 in Georgia and is buried in Fredonia Church Cemetery in Lamar County, Georgia where his parents and other kinfolks rest. Some websites claim he was married, but a marriage record for him has not been found — to date.

On his paternal side, Wilburn Everett Bankston descends from the Swedes on the Delaware:
Colonial Swedes

He was the son of Hiram Everett Bankston (1859-1946) and Sarah Dixon (1865-1946), who was the son of Welburn Henderson Bankston (1805-1892) and Amanda Rebecca Bush (1829-1896), who was the son of Hiram Bankston (ca 1779-1800) and Susanna Slaydon (ca 1782-after 1815), who was the son of Lawrence Bankston (ca 1755-1844) and Nancy Anne Delphia Henderson (1758-1849), who was the son of Peter Bankston (ca 1732-1804) and Priscilla [--?--] (d. after 1804), who was the son of Lawrence Bankston Sr. (ca 1704-1771) and Rebecca Hendricks (ca 1710-before 1786), who was the son of Andrew Bankston Jr. (ca 1673-after 1746) and Gertrude Boore (ca 1676-after 1740), who was the son of Anders Bankston Sr. (1640-1705) and Gertrude Rambo (1650-after 1705).

Counting to 10

#52ancestors Week 40
 (Oct. 1-7) --Ten

Counting to 10 

by Myra Vanderpool Gormley (C) 2018

William Vanderpool (1808-1884) had 10 known children by his first wife, Mary “Polly” Fuson (1803-1849). They married in 1828 and never seem to stay in any place very long. He was a restless soul and they lived in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. 

Their children, born about every two years, were born in six different states. Of these 10 children, their daughter, Artemissa Vanderpool, born ca 1842 in Missouri, also had 10 children. She married Christopher Columbus Pitts, son of John Pitts and Frances Ann Gaulding, soon after the Civil War ended — somewhere in Missouri. Their children were apparently all born in and grew up in Hickory County, 

Missouri Christopher Columbus PITTS and Artemissa M. VANDERPOOL had the following children: 

2 i. Lucy Josephine "Josie" PITTS, born 1 May 1867, Hickory County, Missouri; married Ruzan H. GIST, 22 Mar 1885, Hickory County, Missouri; died 29 Nov 1939, Wheatland, Hickory County, Missouri. 

3 ii. Charles Lysurgus PITTS, born 1 Oct 1868, Wheatland, Hickory County, Missouri; married Sara Etta SANDERS, Dec 1902, Hickory County, Missouri; died 15 Jul 1959, Argus. San Bernardino County, California.

 4 iii. James Edwin PITTS, born 31 Mar 1870, Hickory County, Missouri; married Margaret Elizabeth MASHBURN, 10 Apr 1892, Hickory County, Missouri. His place of death has not been determined, perhaps Oklahoma or California about 1967. 

5 iv. Annie May PITTS, born 1 May 1872, Hickory County, Missouri; married Daniel HEWITT, 9 Oct 1889, Hickory County, Missouri; died aft 1940, Texas. 

6 v. Gussie G. PITTS, born 16 Mar 1874, Hickory County, Missouri; married John W. JORDAN, 11 Dec 1891, Hickory County, Missouri; died 29 Apr 1952, Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas.

 7 vi. Oliver Silvester PITTS, born 25 Apr 1876, Hickory County, Missouri; married Grace BRYANT, 18 Apr 1899, San Bernardino County, California; died 1957, Ashland, Jackson County, Oregon. 

8 vii. Mary Beach "Beachie" PITTS, born 24 Apr 1879, Hickory County, Missouri; married Edward Monroe BASS, 27 Dec 1896, Hickory County, Missouri; died Nov 1964, California.

 9 viii. Viola Frances PITTS, born 10 Jun 1884, Hickory County, Missouri; married Robert Marvin DAVIS, 14 Jun 1908, Missouri; died 25 Aug 1967, Mentone, San Bernardino County, California.

 10 ix. Alfred Foster PITTS, born 17 Apr 1886, Hickory County, Missouri; married Elsie Retta WATKINS, 25 Aug 1907, Wheatlands, Hickory County, Missouri; died 12 Mar 1960, Atwater, Merced County, California. 

11 x. Arizona M. "Zona" PITTS, born 14 Oct 1891, Hickory County, Missouri; married Paul Emil HERZOG, 17 Apr 1907, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado; died 15 Feb 1968, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. 

These 10 children had approximately 35 children and most of these grandchildren of Artemissa Vanderpool and Christopher Pitts have been identified. The Vanderpool family has been researching all of its American branches since about 1974 and has created a large one-name database. One of the unsolved mysteries pertains to Artemissa Vanderpool. She was born about 1842 in Missouri (the county is in dispute). 

She is listed as an eight-year-old, with her father, stepmother, six brothers and older sister, Rachel, in 1850 in Dade County, Missouri, taken on 27 August 1850. But, she is not with them when they were enumerated on 6 November 1850 in Decatur County, Iowa. She is not with the family in 1860 when it was recorded at Fort Riley, Kansas Territory. 

She did not marry until 1866, but the marriage record to Christopher Columbus Pitts has not yet been found. No known pictures of her have surfaced. Her 1932 Missouri State Death Certificate lists her birthplace as Madison County, Missouri, but I have been unable to confirm or find any evidence her family was ever in that county. 

Hopefully, with the wonders of the Internet some of her descendants will make contact and somewhere out there someone has a picture of Artemissa to share. 

If so, that will be a No. 10 day for me.