Rebecca Ann Corel and Robert Emmitt McGlothlin were married on October 29, 1840, making today the 169th anniversary of their wedding.

Rebecca Ann married Robert Emmitt McGlothlin October 29, 1840 in Tazewell County, Virginia^{2, 3}.  Rebecca Ann was the only child of Rebecca Oney and William Corel who did not move her family west to Missouri in the late 1840s.  Rebecca Ann and Robert chose to remain in Tazewell County, Virginia to raise their fourteen children.  In 1870 the family was living in Maiden Spring, Tazewell County, Virginia⁴ and by 1880 they had relocated to Lawrence County, Kentucky⁵.

Rebecca Ann and Robert remained in Lawrence County, until Robert’s death on April 13, 1900⁶. Rebecca Ann was then supported by her son, Thomas R. McGlothlin, and lived in Driskill, Boyd County, Kentucky⁷until her death on February 15, 1912.⁸  Rebecca Ann Corel and Robert Emmitt McGlothlin are buried at Buckley Cemetery, Seed Tick, Lawrence County, Kentucky.

This has me at the end of the children of Jemima Corel & David McGlothlin, since I still haven’t found anything on their son, John beyond the 1860 census.  I haven’t received dates and all from our newly found cousin on this line, so I am going to wait on doing the grandchildren of Jemima and move on to Henry Highland’s children.  I have done some preliminary research on this line, and aside from Jemima Morris Corel, I think this line will make me want to pull out hair, as well! 

Over the holiday weekend I spent some time with Mom and Grandma and got some scans of more photos.  I had a great time and learned more about my family’s history!

I know this isn’t much for What’s New, but it’s all I have!  Researching the 45th Kentucky Infantry was very time consuming.  There isn’t a lot out there on this regiment.

Henry H McGlothlin, © All rights reserved

This photo was taken by John Jackson at Pleasanton Cemetery, Pleasanton, Linn County, Kansas on August 19, 2007.

A few years after his father remarried in Kentucky, Henry H. McGlothlin went back west to live with his grandmother in Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas¹.  By Spring of 1864 Henry is living in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas when he enlists into Company K of the 15th Kansas Calvary Regiment².

The 15th Kansas Calvary dealt with a minor skirmish from time to time while patrolling the Kansas – Missouri border.  October 19, 1864, Major General Alfred Pleasonton and 7,000 cavalrymen were chasing down the infamous Confederate General Price through western Missouri when about 2,000 cavalrymen from the 15th headed towards Lexington, Lafayette County, Missouri to aid in slowing down the Confederates³.  The Union was defeated at Lexington, and the Kansas Militia retreated and the next day arrived at the Little Blue River, eight miles east of Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.

A small force was left at the Little Blue Bridge to keep the Confederates from crossing, while the Kansas troops were ordered to Independence.  On the 21st the Kansas Militia was ordered to return to the Little Blue, where it was discovered that the small force had retreated from the prime defensive hold when faced by the numerous Confederate soldiers.  The Union forces tried to take back the defensive location along the river, but a five hour battle took it’s toll on the smaller army and the Union was forced to retreat to Independence⁴.  The following day, the Army of the Border, which included the 15th Kansas Calvary, established a strong defensive line along the Big Blue River when they were attacked and pushed back from Byram’s Ford, where General Price was able to ford his men and cattle across the river.

The Border Army retreated back to Westport, Jackson County, Kansas as General Price crossed the river.  General Alfred Pleasonton was close behind Price and easily defeated the Rebel division left to protect Byram’s Ford on October 23, 1864⁵.  General Price continued to move his Confederate Army towards Westport, deciding to take on the Army of the Border before dealing with General Pleasonton’s force closing in behind him.  The battle that took place at Westport on October 23, 1864 would have more soldiers than any other battle west of the Mississippi River (about 40,000).  The Army of the Border attacked the Confederates across Brush Creek at Westport.  The Rebels were holding off the attacks until the Union reinforcements from the Big Blue River as well as General Pleasonton’s army reached Wesport.  General Price had no choice but to retreat south.  The Battle of Westport was the deciding factor on the success of Price’s Missouri Expedition.  From this day on, the Confederates were in retreat^6,7.

Two days after the Battle of Westport the 15th Kansas Calvary was among the troops that followed Price’s army south to Mine Creek in Linn County, Kansas⁸.  Although outnumbered more than two to one, the Union forces were able to take control of the area and about 600 Confederate prisoners after only thirty minutes of battle⁹.  The following year was rather uneventful for the 15th Kansas Calvary.  The regiment mustered out on October 19, 1865¹⁰.  During his service, Henry H. McGlothlin was promoted to First Sergeant¹¹.

More can be read about Henry H. McGlothlin on his page here on the Corel Cousins website.

The fact that he is living with a Ward family intrigued me enough to dig to find the connection between this family and William’s brother-in-law, George Washington Ward and step-brother, Jonathan Ward.  George W. and Jonathan Ward are cousins, their fathers, James Whitehead Ward and Jonathan Ward respectively, were the sons of Susannah Oney and Solomon Ward.  Ironically, George W. and Jonathan Jr. are cousins from their maternal sides as well, Lucinda Meek and Melinda Meek respectively.  The mother of Lucinda and Melinda is a Judith Hylton.  Judith’s sister Levina Hylton married Shadrack Ward, brother of Solomon Ward.  Shadrack and Levina are the parents of James Apperson Ward, who has young William McGlothlin living with his family in 1860.  To try to clear this up a bit, I made the following:

You can click on the image to see the full sized view for easier reading.  I know it’s still confusing, but this was the best I could come up with.  Be thankful I kept working on it and didn’t decide to use the first graph I made!! 

After making this find of William McGlothlin on the 1860 census, I decided to search a bit more and see if I could find anything else.  Interestingly enough, I have found that he also fought in the Civil War, alongside his brother, Shadrack, in Company F of the 45th Kentucky Volunteer Mounted Infantry³.  Although I still have not found any proof of a marriage, nor any evidence of when William may have died, I have decided to create a page for William to share the information I have found of his service during the Civil War.  That page should be up by the end of this week!

Shadrack McGlothlin, © All rights reserved

This photo was taken by John Jackson at Pleasanton Cemetery, Pleasanton, Linn County, Kansas on August 19, 2007.

Shadrack McGlothlin was the youngest child of Jemima Corel and David McGlothlin, born in April 1847 in Tazewell County, Virginia.

At the age of 16, Shadrack mustered into Company F of the 45th Kentucky Mounted Infantry in Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky on November 2, 1863¹ to fight with the Union in the Civil War.  Many documents have Shad listed as “Shadrack McGlathlin”.

By 1885 Shadrack moved his family to Pleasanton, Linn County, Kansas², where his older brother, Henry H. McGlothlin had settled.  Shadrack remained in Pleasanton until his death on February 4, 1906.  More can be read about Shadrack McGlothlin on his page here on the Corel Cousins website.

Last time I shared what was going on, I told you all that I had finished the page for James Joseph McGhee and Mary Ann Neidigh and that I would begin working on the grandchildren of William and Rebecca.  The logical place to start was with the oldest child, Jemima Corel McGlothlin.

Ever since I have started working on researching our Corel family, Jemima has been the most difficult.  She died so early that there are very few records of her.  David McGlothlin moving the family back to Kentucky kept her children from being as connected with the Corel family as the other descendants were during the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Her son, Henry H. did come back to Kansas and lived with Rebecca Oney Corel, but he had no children.  His brother Shade later came to Kansas and settled near his brother in Linn County, Kansas and Corel Cousin Bobby Dobbins Title has done tremendous research on both brothers.  Jemima’s other two sons seem to ‘fall of the face of the Earth’, which most likely means that they died fairly young and probably without any children of their own.  So, that left me with researching on Jemima’s daughters.

Mary McGlothlin appears to have died fairly young herself.  She had two young sons, but after her husband remarried, I cannot find the boys.  I then began looking into Martha Jane McGlothlin.  A while back, I had seen some posts from one descendant of Martha Jane’s, but after several attempts to contact her, I have had no luck.  So, I started my research on the children of Martha Jane once more.  Martha is easier to track than her sister, because she had married twice and she had children from both marriages.  It has been a bit tricky to track down her son from her second marriage, as apparently there were several Charlie Pack’s living in Kentucky in the early 1900s.  So, I looked back at her first marriage and her children from that union.

The Kentucky records that are on Ancestry.com are spotty.  If you are lucky enough to have the right year, you can find a wealth of information.  If you are not so lucky, good luck in finding anything!  Luckily, the two oldest children of Martha Jane were born in the right years!  Henry Jefferson and Charles Johnson Spence are two children of Martha Jane that I have been able to trace.  It became much easier once I definitely ruled out the Samuel Jefferson that some people have connected to Martha Jane McGlothlin!  With census records and a grandson who died in a good year in Kentucky, I have also been able to partially piece together a third son, David Spence.

By then turning to Google to see what else I may be able to find, I found a wonderful conversation between two descendants of Henry Jefferson Spence.  Both posted emails in their forum posts, so I quickly emailed them both, hoping that at least one email would still be a good email.  Later that night, I was so very pleased when I heard back from a newly found Corel Cousin, Jan!

Jan’s husband, Mike, is our connection to Jemima Corel.  Henry Jefferson Spence married Mary Anna Ratliff in 1884.  Any of you who have researched on the families in Tazewell County, Virginia will certainly recognize the Ratliff name.  What I find to be most amusing is that Mary Anna’s father, Robert Ratliff, is the son of Mary J. “Polly” McGlothlin and Richard Ratliff, and a grandson of none other than Judith Leathers and John McLaughlin!   This makes the descendants of Henry Jefferson Spence and Mary Anna Ratliff their own cousins – most likely, if we could only prove that David McGlothlin was a child of Judith and John.

Henry Jefferson Spence and Mary Anna Ratliff had several children, including Archie who married Ruth Scantlin.  Ruth and Archie Spence had six children of their own, including cousin Mike’s mother (who is still living!). What makes this new find even more exciting is that our newly found cousins live in Lawrence, Kansas!

I do not have exact dates and such on all of the descendants of Henry Jefferson Spence, but I am hoping to exchange GEDCOM files with Jan soon.  As soon as I do, I will email each of the Corel family genealogists so we can all update our files!

Rebecca Oney was born August 26, 1791 either in Richlands, Russell County, Virginia or a short distance away in Cedar Bluff, Virginia.  Today, Cedar Bluff is in Tazewell County, Virginia.  It is believed, but has not been proven, that Richard Oney and Sarah Highland are the parents of Rebecca.  It is also quite possible that Rebecca was their daughter-in-law without issue, as she is not mentioned in Richard’s will.

Rebecca Oney married William Corel, a man who eludes genealogists as well, on June 6, 1811 in Tazewell County, Virginia.  The couple made their home near Maiden Springs, Tazewell County, Virginia.  The couple had fourteen children, 11 girls and three boys, this alone makes Rebecca a remarkable woman.  Sadly, three daughters did not survive into adulthood, but this did not signify the end of Rebecca’s life.

As the older children were marrying and starting their own families, William and Rebecca Oney Corel decided they would move west to take advantage of the new life that the new frontier had to offer.  In 1849 William and Rebecca packed up all of their worldly belongings and 10 of their 11 living children, along with a few grandchildren and left Virginia.  Many brothers and sisters of their sons- and daughter-in-law joined the family in this westward trek.  The first few days the group traveled by horseback to clear the mountainous terrain.  Once they reached the Ohio River, they continued on by boat until they reached Westport Landing in Jackson County, Missouri.

By the 8th of August in 1850, the day the census taker came by, William and Rebecca Corel had quite a full house in Kaw Township (now Kansas City), Jackson County, Missouri.  Along with their youngest children (William, Cosby Jane, James Pickens, Nancy Maryland, and Olivia Gillespie) they had three other children living with them, Stewart Peart, Mary Louisa Peart, and William B. Peart.

How this came to be, I cannot speculate, but I have found that the mother of the Peart children, Oney Biggs Peart died in January of that same year.  Oney Biggs Peart and her widower, Jonathan Peart had married in Platte County, Missouri in 1842, long before the Corel family moved to Missouri.  In those few months after they arrived from Virginia, they must have made quite a connection with the Peart family to be willing to take on three young children (Stewart was the oldest listed as 7 on the census).

Another interesting note about Rebecca, who was just over two weeks away from turning 59,  is her occupation listed on the census.  Where most wives/mothers we find are listed as “at home” or such indicating they were housewives, which is quite a job in itself, Rebecca is listed as a farmer.

The following year Rebecca is faced with great hardship in this new land her family now calls home.  Jemima, William and Rebecca’s oldest daughter died on June 13, 1851.  Jemima’s husband, David McGlothlin, soon heads back east with his six children.  Life did go on for Rebecca as she prepared for  her daughter, Cosby Jane, to be married to William Justice just two months later on August 14.  On September 27, 1851 even more tragedy strikes the Corel family when the patriarch, William passes away.  I can only imagine that Rebecca found solace knowing that her two youngest sons and her two youngest daughters were still living at home to stand by her throughout these trying times.

Rebecca Oney Corel’s adventure did not stop there.  At 5:00 AM on March 4, 1854 the United States Senate passed the Kansas-Nebraska bill after an all night session.  I wonder how quickly Rebecca and her children heard of the bill’s passing.  I wonder when they decided to move further west.  On May 1, 1854 the Kansas Territory was open to settlers.  According to the December 25, 1890 issue of the Lawrence Quarterly, three Corel brothers (Henry H., William, and James P.) accompanied Clark Stearns of Michigan to stake their claims on land in Douglas County, Kansas.  “The first settlement made in Lawrence was on May 14, 1854 when the foundation of a cabin for Clark Stearns was laid…” A survey map of the area dated July 4, 1857 shows the land of C. Stearns on the west side of the land of J.P. Corel, although, at the time the land actually belonged to Rebecca Oney Corel.  The area that the Corel family settled was not their first choice.  They had planned on settling on the north side of the Kansas River, but the camps of the Delware Indians had them rethinking that plan.

In 1855 a measles epidemic swept through the town of Lawrence.  Rebecca’s son’s family was hit hard.  Henry Highland Corel, his wife, Nancy Matney Corel, and their son, William Corel all died in 1855 from the measles.  About 1858 Rebecca lost yet another child, Margaret Corel Puckett.

The next few years, Rebecca married off her children that were still living at home:  William was married  to Margaret Ann McGee about 1856,  Nancy Maryland married Francois LaHay December 19, 1856,  James P. married Susannah Clay McGee on August 20, 1857, and Olivia Gillespie married John Jacob McGee April 19, 1860.

After Olivia and John Jacob McGee were married, Rebecca lived with the couple along with two of her grandchildren, Rebecca Corel, daughter of Henry H. Corel and Nancy Matney, and Henry H. McGlothlin, son of Jemima Corel and David McGlothlin.  It was about this time that Rebecca sold her land claim to her son, James Pickens Corel, but he would not be vested in the land until after her death.

November 9, 1860 Rebecca left this world to see the many family members who had passed before her.  Rebecca was buried along with her family members, son Henry H., daughter-in-law Nancy, granson William, and daughter Margaret, in the Mount Oread Cemetery, also now known as the Pioneer Cemetery.

In 1865 the city of Lawrence, Kansas opened a new cemetery, Oak Hill Cemetery, and burials at Mt. Oread ceased.  After Oak Hill Cemetery opened many of those buried at Mt. Oread were moved to Oak Hill.  It would be over 100 years after the moving of the graves that Corel descendants would find that the Corel family members originally interred at Mt. Oread were among those moved to Oak Hill.  Watkins Museum in Lawrence, Kansas received old burial reinternment cards from the city of Lawrence that proved the transfer of the bodies.  There are no markers for the graves that were once at the Pioneer Cemetery, but the burial cards now in possession of Watkins Museum show that the Corel family members are buried in the same area as the Corel family plots.

Rebecca Oney Corel led a difficult life being one of the pioneers who left Virginia to settle in the Midwest.  Five of her fourteen children passed on before her, as did her husband and a few grandchildren.  In a time when her peers were often housewives, she farmed the land.  She continued to live when others may have found the circumstances too difficult.  Sadly, even in death she was not able to rest in peace, as she was moved from one cemetery to another.

The women of the early 1800s were required to live through many trials and tribulations that we may not have to face today, but the inspiration I get from knowing that I am descended from Rebecca Oney Corel is that no matter what I must face, in the end I can still live to fulfill my dream, just as Rebecca was able to make it to Kansas and claim land as her own.  Today, four families that are descendants of Rebecca Oney and William Corel still live on the land that Rebecca settled on in 1854 on the south bank of the Kansas River.

The last update blog post I did, I wrote about how I did not think that Robert Emmitt McGlothlin was a child of Judith Leathers and John McLaughlin.  Cousin by marriage, Teresa Klaiber, shared some information with me, as well as some conversations she had with her mother-in-law, and now I believe that Robert Emmitt McGlothlin must have at least been raised by Judith Leathers and John McLaughlin.  On the McGlothlin page, I share the reasons why I do not think that Judith Leathers is the mother of Robert Emmitt McGlothlin, but since I do believe that she played a part in his life, I also have a link to the information I found on Judith Leathers and John McLaughlin (found here and on the McGlothlin page under Corels by Chance) and what is believed to be their descendants.

In addition to the McGlothlin family, I have also added the Matney family.  There is also conflicting theories on the ancestry of the Matney’s and who is the father of Brooks Matney who married Jane Young.  As these families are not my direct lines, and much of the research I have done for each of these families is no more than a week of scouring the internet, I have decided to go with the majority on this question.  On the Matney page you will find links to the descendants of both Walter Matney and Brooks Matney.

A page has also been created for the Dobbins family.  This is the family I have spent the least amount of time on because Cousin Bobby Dobbins Title has been so kind to share her work with me for this site.  On the Dobbins page you will find the descendants of Robert B. Dobbins and Katy Alexander, as well as a link to a page for James Alexander Dobbins and Elizabeth Perkins.  I also have a link for a wonderful essay written by Cousin Bobby on this line.

Along the top and bottom of each of the pages on this site, you will see the main page links for this site:  Home, Calendar, Contact Us, Welcome!, William & Rebecca, Corel-Oney Children, and Corel by Chance. 

• Home is the main page you see when you come to Corel Cousins.
• Calendar is something new I thought might be fun to share important dates in the Corel family.  I have created a Google Calendar and so far I have added the birth dates, marriage dates, and death dates for William Corel and Rebecca Oney and their children.  I plan to add more dates to the calendar at a later time, most importantly the Corel-Oney reunion will be added once a date has been decided on!  If anyone has any dates they would specifically like to see, or if you see a correction that needs made, please let me know!  This is a public calendar on Google, so anyone who is already using GCal can add this to their personal calendar.
• Contact Us is similar to the ‘Corel Researchers’ page on the original site.  I have included names and email addresses, as well as photos for those that I had, for the different sections of the family.  I have also added Connie Bishop to the top of the page as the contact for the family reunion.  At the bottom of the page is a contact form if anyone wants to drop a quick note to me without getting into their email program.
• Welcome! gives a brief history of what is going on with this site, and it’s purpose.  It was the home page on the original site.
• William & Rebecca gives the history of William Corel and Rebecca Oney Corel.
• Corel-Oney Children lists the
• Corel by Chance is the page for the links of the allied families, most of which came into the Corel family by marriage.

On the sidebar, I have two ‘widgets’ I’d like to point out.  You can find these ‘widgets’ beneath the Corel Cousins links.  By the way, if anyone has a website who is a Corel Cousin and it isn’t listed, please let me know so I can add your site!  The first ‘widget’ is Google Friend Connect.  For those of you who are already active with the Google products, this is a way we can stay connected.  The second ‘widget’ is for FaceBook.  I have many of you already as FaceBook friends, and if other family members are out there are on FaceBook, I would like to add you, as well.  This widget is for anyone who is on FaceBook to follow this blog from within FaceBook, and it lets me know that I have a couple of people who might like it!

So this is what is new on Corel Cousins since my last update.  I am in the process of completing quite a few more pages!  I am nearly done with a page for the Justice family.  I’ve been researching for the Puckett family page.  Which reminds me, I’ve tried emailing Cousin Sandy who is a Puckett descendant, and haven’t heard back from her.  Has anyone heard from her recently?  Did she perhaps change email addresses?  I’d love to hear from any Puckett descendants, because I’m really struggling with this line!  I need to start on the McGee family.  I think it scares me because it’s my line and I have so much info scattered everywhere on this family!  Plus I’m afraid this might end up looking like a McGee site if I go a bit overboard!  I have been compiling a links page that will be included on the top and bottom menu on each page.  I could probably put it up now and just add to it as I need to….  Look for that soon, I will probably do that!  The next thing I’ve been working on is one thing that really had me nervous before…. I’ve started working on the grandchildren of William and Rebecca!  You may have noticed that I have also started participating in a blog meme called Tombstone Tuesday.  This is to help me make sure that I remain active on this site, and so you all know I’m still here!  If anyone has a tombstone photo that they would like featured here, please send it to me!

Finally, I want to share a bit of my thought process with you.  As I am going through these lines and I am seeing other families mingle in with the Corel descendants, I am looking to see the connections.  This is part of what fascinates me is how this family mixes it up so much with other families.

For instance, what I found yesterday was that Lucinda Meek and Melinda Meek were sisters.  Lucinda married James Whitehead Ward and Melinda married his brother, Jonathan Ward.  After Jonathan died, Melinda married David McGlothlin, widower after Jemima Corel’s death, on July 19, 1853.  Lucinda’s son, George Washington Ward married Mary McGlothlin, oldest child of Jemima Corel and David McGlothlin, on July 31, 1854.

David McGlothlin was always the mysterious one for me.  He was the one that I felt might not belong with the Leathers-McLaughlin family.  I had no real proof one way or another, and I still don’t, it is just a gut feeling.  I will be the first to admit that I am still rather new at genealogy, compared to many researchers who’s work I have reviewed, so my gut feeling may not mean a thing!

It seemed to be quite reasonable that Robert Emmitt McGlothlin was the son of Judith Leathers and John McLaughlin.  Several resources show that Judith and John did have a son named Robert.  Unfortunately, their son Robert and Robert Emmitt McGlothlin are not one and the same.

In more closely reviewing the Revolutionary Pension file for John McLaughlin transcribed and posted online by Don McGlothlen, as well as a forum post by Jim Ratliff discussing Mary Jane “Polly” McGlothlin Ratliff, I have come to realize that there were two Robert McGlothlin’s in Tazewell County, Virginia in the 1850’s.  This is not that difficult to accept, as Robert is a fairly common name.

I have gone into more detail of why I have concluded that our Robert Emmitt McGlothlin is not part of the Leathers-McLaughlin family on the McGlothlin Family page.  I will likely be adding more info on the McGlothlin family, but as I have discovered that this answer was not as I had expected, I feel it is time to move on to the next family and come back to the McGlothin’s at a later time.

UPDATE

I have become even more confused!  I have just received an email from Teresa Klaiber, who has extensively researched Robert Emmitt McGlothin’s line and she has sent me snippets of a letter written by Thomas R. McGlohtlin in letter Dec 2, 1942

“…Judy Leathers, and Juda’s mother was a Wheatley, and they came over with the colonists or later known as first settlers…” “…heard their grandmother …that Judy Leathers was of Wales; that her mother …was a Wheatley; that Judys parents did not come to Am and d bef she came with her brothers John Leathers and Patty Leathers; …also …Judy was 109 when she died…”

Evelyn S. Jackson Collection Elswick vf Boyd County Public Library, Ashland, Kentucky March 2003

The one big question that keeps bouncing around my head is why would Thomas R. McGlothlin, son of Robert Emmitt and Rebecca Ann Corel McGlothlin know this about Judith Leathers and refer to her as his grandmother?

I still don’t think that there is enough evidence to prove that Robert Emmitt McGlothlin is Judith Leathers McLaughlin’s son, but with this new documentation, I cannot say it is impossible.