Kin and Konnections: A Family History Blog

In 2016, I inherited some of my grandmother's personal papers. This included some postcards from the early 20th century to her paternal grandparents, Frank and Mary Ellen (Ingersoll) Bryant of Los Angeles.  They were originally from Bloomington, Illinois.  The earliest postcard in the collection was from a soldier, Warren Allen, sent from Paris, France in about 1918.  When I originally shared this on my blog, I did not know how Mr. Allen was related to the family. There was also a 1930 postcard from Alice Allen of South Bend, Indiana addressed to "Dear Cousins": 24 November 1930 Postcard from Alice Allen to Mrs. R. F. Bryant from family collection. It turns out that Mary Ellen had a first cousin, Alice Louella Ingersoll, who married William E. Allen in Bloomington on 24 September 1890.  They had at least three sons, Howard, Warren, and Herbert, born in the 1890s.  Twenty-four year-old Warren William Allen (1893-1970), was working as a bookkeeper and residing in ...

John H. Bryant, Contractor and Builder, Bloomington, Illinois The following biography is listed in the Portrait and Biographical Album of McLean County, Illinois, published in Chicago in 1887 by Chapman Brothers:  JOHN H. BRYANT, contractor and builder, having his office at the intersection of Northeast and Douglas streets, Bloomington, may be properly numbered among the pioneer settlers of Illinois, as he came here in 1837 with his parents, being then a young child. He was born in East Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 3, 1833, his parents being Eben and Martha (Brown) Bryant, natives of Wakefield and Charlestown, Mass. Eben Bryant was a farmer by occupation, and emigrated from the Bay State to Illinois in 1837, settling in Pike County, upon 160 acres of wild land, which he improved and cultivated and occupied until his death; which occurred in 1866. The mother survived him twelve years, dying at the old homestead in 1878. They were the parents of five children, four now living, as follows: ...

I found a pair of Burwell sisters in the DAR [Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books] that I believe are my great-great-grandfather John W. Burwell's sisters. From Volume 14, p. 122 (for the year 1896): Miss Nettie B. Burwell ID No. 13326 Born in Illinois Descendant of John Burwell, of New Jersey. Daughter of Moses T. Burwell and Isabella Goodfellow, his wife. Granddaughter of John Burwell and Missouri Thorp, his wife. Gr.-granddaughter of Jonathan Burwell and Mary Comer, his wife. Gr.-gr.-granddaughter of John Burwell and ___ Lyons, his wife. John Burwell turned out in Capt. Stephen Baldwin's company, Col. Sylvanus Seely's regiment of Morris county militia, 1780, at Connecticut Farms, N.J. He died 1825. Mrs. Mary Alice Burwell Burns ID No. 13327 Born in Illinois. Wife of Luther Burns. Descendant of John Burwell. Daughter of Moses T. Burwell and Isabella Goodfellow, his wife. See No 13326. I believe that these women are John W.'s sisters for several reasons:...

Bloomington, Illinois was home to the Bryant and Ingersoll families for more than fifty years.   The city of Bloomington is located in central Illinois and serves as the county seat of McLean County.    Its claim to fame is that AbrahamLincoln represented clients in several cases here in the circuit court as a young lawyer.   Here is a timeline of some historical and family events: 1820s              The first white settlers arrive and call the area Blooming Grove. 1831                 The city of Bloomington is founded. 1837                 The Bryant family, Eben and Martha and sons Eben Francis and John Henry, move from Massachusetts to Illinois, settling in Pike County.    Eben buys 160 acres and runs a farm.   The parents remai...

William Burwell was an elusive figure.  He and his wife, Gertrude Bright Champion, married at a young age, had four children, and then divorced within a span of a few years in the late 1800's.  I asked my grandmother about her grandfather William.  She had no memory of him and did not know anything about him. When I started researching the Burwell line all I had was the name William Burwell that my grandmother wrote in my mother's baby book.  Generally, I knew that my mother's side came from Illinois and emigrated from England.  One of the first steps was to collect vital records.  William and Gertrude's August 1888 marriage certificate revealed that William (his name was listed as John W.), age 19, was born in Champaign County, Illinois.  His father was Moses T. Burwell.  His mother's maiden name was Goodfellow.  He resided in Normal, Illinois and worked at a fruit cannery.  Later research uncovered that his father owned the B...