After weighing the options on how to resolve this issue, I have decided that I am going to create an Image Library, fully documented with source information, but not the web address of the Ancestry.com page I found the information.  On items that are just in a database, with no images to reference, I will take a “snapshot” of the web page with the pertinent info.

I’m not completely sure of just how I am going to do this Image Library.  Rather than trying to create a library for each individual, I think it might be easier to have different sections, such as: Census, Books, Marriage Records, Birth Records, Death Records, Grave Markers, People, Places, and Misc.

I was wanting to do something similar to this on the site, to include photos and such in a centralized location, but I wasn’t planning on working on it right away.  For now, so that I can get everything up and loaded, I will just enter the images in their appropriate section.  I am thinking I will create a simple page that will have thumbnails linking to the full sized images, without a lot of details about the images.

If you have any thoughts or ideas on this, please let me know!

In doing the regular census search for James Joseph McGhee, I have found a James McGhee and a Thomas McGhee in Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania in 1820.  The funny thing is, this is not my James or Thomas McGhee.  This James is shown with three males under 10, two males 18 – 26, and one male 26 – 45.  There is also one female 26 – 45.  Thomas shows one male 26 – 45, one female under 10, and one female 16 – 26¹.  I have searched enough to find out just who this James McGhee is, but I am not able to say one way or another if he is related to my McGhee’s.

The James McGhee found in the 1820 census in Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania is most certainly the James McGhee born about 1755 – 1760 in Northern Ireland that is documented by Mr. Patrick Lowery’s Family Tree.  Mr. Lowery makes no mention in his family tree of the Thomas McGhee listed next door to his James McGhee in 1820.

Perhaps there is not a connection between the two McGhee families.  I have not been able to find anything on this Thomas McGhee, and he is not in Centre County, Pennsylvania in 1830.  The James McGhee died in 1822 and left his land to his two sons, Isaac and John, who are both in Howard Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania in 1830.  These are likely the two males 18 – 26 living with James McGhee in 1820.

I still think it’s strange that two McGhee/McGee families would end up in Centre County, Pennsylvania.  What do you think?

I have a brief manuscript written by Agnes Salathiel Hall, granddaughter of Henry Highland Corel, that details her family history.  It is a wonderful piece of history, but some information is a bit warped, and some appears to be downright wrong.  That alone should keep me from looking to verify anything she has written, but there is a strange occurrence in 1855, and it may not be as Agnes details, but there must be something!

Agnes’ Story

Nancy Corel, Henry her husband, Will their teen age son, and Nancy’s sister Jemima all died within a week of measles, the epidemic of measles at Lawrence was in Kansas History I studied in school. Many died as they did not know what it was. They survived an epidemic of small pox and died of measles. All four of them lay dead in the house -one room- at the same time. The neighbors came in and built coffins of native walnut lumber so abundant in Kansas in an early day. Here I might pause to tell you that our old home on 8th st. in Independence, across from the Elks, was of walnut lumber, dimensions, floors and all. Speaking of parents, Mama said she could hear the hammers building the coffins, Mama was fourteen.

All those who died in the measles epidemic were buried on Mt. Oread, Later this was vacated as a cemetery but the graves being unmarked it is likely their ashes are still there. So many years before it was vacated.

Facts

• Henry Highland Corel and his wife, Nancy Matney, as well as one son, William Corel, all died in 1855.
• Henry had a sister, Jemima Corel McGlothlin who died in Jackson County, Missouri about 1851.
• I have not located a sister named Jemima for Nancy.
• Henry’s father, William Corel also died in 1851.  Was this part of an epidemic?
• “Mama” would be Jemima Corel Salathiel, who would have been about 13 in 1855.
• According to burial cards at Watkins Museum, the Corel family was removed from the Mount Oread cemetery and reburied at the Corel family plot at Oak Hill Cemetery.

Possibilities

As I was writing this, I was searching around to see if I could possibly figure out the mystery to these deaths.  By focusing more on ‘epidemics’ rather than ‘measles’, I believe I may have some possible theories.

• Cholera epidemic in Kansas, 1855¹.
• Cholera had claimed 40 to 170 lives but by August 1855 the area is healthy².
• An epidemic of Asiatic cholera sweeps the Kansas Town settlement in Jackson County, Missouri in 1849³.

In Closing

Rather than measles, the epidemic was probably cholera.  It is interesting that I found information about a cholera outbreak in Jackson County, Missouri starting in 1849, as well.  I wonder if Jemima Corel McGlothlin and William Corel were also victims of an epidemic.

Family legend states that three McGhee brothers, James Joseph,  Adam, and Thomas, arrived in New York from Ireland about 1819.  One descendant of James Joseph recalls hearing stories of James working on the Erie Canal, which was constructed between 1817 and 1825.  Another descendant wrote of the three brothers being grading contractors for the Illinois Central Railroad, “and finishing their contract in 1852, they had $8,000 in silver dollars which they concealed in nail kegs and traveled by wagon train to Kansas City from St. Louis, and after a time went to Kansas where they took up land east of Lawrence.”

James Joseph McGhee married Mary Ann Neidigh in Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania in 1826 and that they had seven children before leaving Pennsylvania.  The McGhee’s arrived in Stephenson County about 1839.

I have recently found that on June 4, 1839 James’ parents and some siblings arrived in New York, by way of Liverpool, on the Barque Agenora.  Those passengers were:  Thomas and Margaret McGee (parents), Thomas, Margarite (Margaret), and Caldwell McGee (siblings), and Robert and Elizabeth McGee (brother and sister-in-law) with their children, Sarah, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Thomas.

All of the McGhee children are accounted for in 1850, living in Stephenson County, Illinois, except for Adam.

In going back to the family legend, I am struggling to prove or disprove a majority of the lore.  In my research, I did find something that has only added to my confusion.  In the 1820 census in Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania, there is a James McGhee listed next door to a Thomas McGhee.  I would be quite excited, if there were no other family members listed.  The James McGhee family shows three males under 10, two males 18-26, and one male 26-45, as well as one female 26-45.  The Thomas McGhee household has one male 26-45, one female under 10, and one female 16-26.  One theory I have is that perhaps the McGhee’s listed in Centre County are uncles or cousins.  With the James McGhee household having two males between 18 and 26, it is certainly possible that this could be James Joseph, and perhaps his brother Adam.

In searching for the immigration of James Joseph McGhee, I have not even been able to locate naturalization records for any of the McGhee’s.

The one thing that I do feel fairly confident about concerning the family legend of the McGhee family is that Thomas McGhee did not come to America in 1819 with two other brothers.  Along with him being listed on the passenger list with his parents and siblings in 1839, in 1819 he would have only been five years old.

This would not necessarily be my first choice for my first brick wall to blog about, but the timing is just too right, since I just finished the Puckett page in the Corel by Chance section only minutes ago!

Thirteen of the Corel children married into only seven different family names between about 1835 and 1867.  One of the children married twice and only two of the children married ‘independently’, or not into the same family names as her siblings!  You may think that with so few families to look into, that it should be rather easy to connect everyone.  It probably would be much easier, if they had married into families that were a bit more visible!

Three Corel sisters married three Puckett men.  All three couples were married in Tazewell County, Virginia by William Henkel.  John Puckett married Mary Ester Corel on August 19, 1839;  Joshua Puckett married Margaret Corel on November 26, 1842; William John Puckett married Louisa Corel on December 18, 1842.

According to census records, John is the oldest, born about 1814 in Virginia.  William John was born about December 21, 1820 in Virginia.  Joshua was born about 1821 in Virginia.

In reviewing message board posts, most seem to believe that the parents for at least some of the three Puckett boys are Lewis Puckett and Rhoda Newby.  I have not been able to find anything that backs up this theory, but according to a biography on a descendant of William John Puckett and Louisa Corel, William’s father was named Lewis.  One avenue I plan on pursuing is to try to locate a will for this Lewis Puckett, who reportedly died in 1846 in Ballard County, Kentucky.

If the will doesn’t pan out, I will certainly be driven quite mad by trying to connect these Puckett men!