William (Buck) R. Buckingham - Part 3, The Hobo

On June 1st of 1935 Dad began one of the great adventures of his life. He had just graduated from Ball State teachers college, and for want of a little adventrue, started to hitch-hike and hobo across the country. Mom once said that he kept a journal about the trip but destroyed it after Don and I were born because he didn’t want us to see it.

I don’t know why he told her that. I found it in the attic years later, and there were no skeletons in his closet. The journal was written in an old composition booklet from his recently finished college days. The first four or five pages were a combination of notes from a math class, names and addresses of a dozen fellow students, and doodles. He then began his journal.

Dad’s itinerary shows he made it to California and back in just thirty-three days. It started out with a list of where he stayed each night. Many entries refer to “box car”, so he apparently was in transit on those nights.  He wrote quite a lot on the first two days of his trek, but sadly it ends there. He added nothing more other than the list of places he stayed at each night.

The following is a lightly edited version of what he wrote.

Saturday, June 1, 1935 - Box car in Greencastle, Indiana.
Sunday, June 2 - St. Louis Monday, June 3 - Kansas City, MO
Tuesday, June 4 - Junction City, KS
Wednesday, June 5 - Driving
Thursday, June 7 thru June 9 - Denver (Probably stayed with Aunt Lelah Buckingham)
Monday, June 10 - Box car
Tuesday, June 11 - Salt Lake City, UT
Wednesday, June 12 - Box car
Thursday, June 13 thru June 19 - Maryville, CA (Stayed with brother, George Buckingham.)
Thursday, June 20 - Fresno, CA Friday, June 21 - Long Beach, CA
Saturday, June 22 and 23 - San Diego, CA
Sunday, June 24 - Yuma, AZ
Monday, June 25 thru June 27 - Box car
Friday, June 28 - Tucumcari, NM
Saturday, June 29 - Amarillo, TX
Sunday, June 30 - CCC Camp
Monday, July 1 - East St. Louis, MO
Tuesday, July 2 - Indianapolis, IN
Wednesday, July 3 - Home

“June 1. Started today. 1st ride took me to Milton - Fellow had another hitch-hiker. A guy in a milk truck picked us up next (Fellow hitch-hiker and myself), and took us to Dublin as he was only going to Cambridge. He was just one of those helpful hands.
 
Baking truck stalled. Mechanic too dumb to fix it - I fixed the fuel pump for fellow who was very pleased, and gave me two pies which I put in my pocket as I was not very hungry at the time. Got my clothes greasy! I next got a ride into Greenfield in a stock truck with neighbor Earl Abernathy. He gave me some donuts. They also went into my pockets.
 
I didn’t have to wait very long in Greenfield as I was soon picked up by a drug salesman and I was very glad when he took me clear thru Indianapolis to some small town on the other side. And who do you suppose picked me up there? No one but my teacher, Billy Crone, who took me about 5 miles out in the country where he left me - out in the dark. At last I got another ride, this time with a couple of fellows going to Greencastle, although it was out of my way. They were a cheerful lot - told me about a pal of theirs who had served on the notorious Georgia chain gang because they had caught him hitch-hiking thru that state. They advised me to catch a freight out of Greencastle and were so obliging to even take me down to the yards.
 
Thought I would catch myself a “side-door” Pullman in Terra Haute that night and inquiries told me that one would be thru the yards in about two hours. Well I got into an empty box car and laid down to wait - That’s all.”

“June 2nd - I was awakened by a freight train pulling out but I was too late. I got up and walked the tracks a distance along an upgrade so I could easily catch the next one because it would be going slower uphill. I laid down under a tree with my little suit case as a pillow and went to sleep.

Again I was awakened by a freight train pulling out, but it was day light now so I hopped on this one. I saw a hobo riding just ahead of me so I ran up and started to talk to him. The first thing I learned from him was that I was on the wrong train - this train was headed south.

It was a rough old road but it seemed to be plenty fast. I road upon the top, and after a short time it started to rain. The fellow bo (hobo) was pretty friendly after he found that it was my first experience. He explained where the “dicks” would be found; mostly at the division yards. I met my first “dick” in Bloomington. It was raining like hell and he ordered me out of my dry place and out of the yard. It sure was raining and I stood under a tree just outside the yard. Although there were none there at the time, it was a bo’s jungle. As soon as the train gave the hi-ball (two sharp blasts of the whistle) I made across the yard for it. I had been told of this by my fellow “bo”. I stayed with this freight until I came to the town in southern Indiana where the B&O lines crossed the Marmon lines. (I was on the Marmon). It was not yet noon when I arrived here - My first thought was to clean up, particularly to shave, but I didn’t care to spend the money for a hotel.

I went out to the yards and there a “brakie” showed me where I could get some water. He was real friendly after he found that I wanted to clean. He even let me use his own private wash room. Well, I went down town and got something to eat. I sure was hungry. That afternoon I met several bos down around the railroad track. They all seemed to be gambling - using the old army game. One fellow seemed crazy. They all told me how hard the “dicks” were out west.

That afternoon I saw passenger trains “blinded” - that is, to ride right in back of the engine. It looked real good and fast riding to me, so I “blinded” the next passenger train going west. Three CCC boys had already “blinded” it , but they were just going a short distance. They were just kids but good fellows. They were dressed up and were they black. The four of us stood in a space about the size of a doorway.

After about 50 miles they left me and the next 250 miles sure was hell. I did everything but stand on my head After riding about six hours we got into St Louis. I didn’t know enough then to get off - went across the Mississippi. It looked a mile wide, and then into a damned tunnel. I came out of there sweating and black, and right into the railroad yards. I got off and made for the streets. I was in negro town - I stopped some negro (that’s all there were) and asked him where the transient camp was. He, thinking I was a negro also, directed me to the negro transient camp. I soon found out my mistake or rather the negro’s mistake, but I had to show the fellows in the transient camp that I wasn’t a negro by pulling up my sleeve. They told me where the white camp was a couple of miles up town.

I walked the longest distance without seeing anyone as it was after midnight. I finally saw a white fellow and ask him where the transient camp was and he said he was going up by it. We walked along and he asked me a million questions. I finally asked him if he knew where there was a cheap hotel as I said I didn’t care to go through the red tape of getting into one of the transient camps. He took me to a good clean hotel were I got a room for 25 cents. He was leaving me he showed me that I had been in good company - he was a plain clothes man (a policeman??). I went into the hotel and asked for a room and was given it. I then asked for the bath room. After I had cleaned up I went to the lobby and the clerk called me to the desk and changed my room. It seemed that because of my dirty appearance he thought that I was one of those kind of bums who never take a bath and he had put me in the section with them. He apologized and gave me another bed, and although it looked the same I noticed that the fellows around me were much cleaner.

They kidded me about looking like a negro before I cleaned up. They agreed that the “blind” was not a very good place to ride, and I was thoroughly fed up with trains. I resolved to go back to hitch-hiking the next day. I went out and got something to eat - a greasy stew.”

Monday, June 3, I awoke about 7 o’clock.”

His journal ended there telling only about those first two days. His trip lasted another 31 days. Mom told about how he hitched a ride for several days with a guy who drove a vehicle with a frame only, no body, and they sat on wooden boxes. The guy stopped at night and syphoned gas from filling station tanks.  There were probably other adventures - lost now, never to be told. I wish he had completed his journal. It would have made a great story.
GO TO: Part 4, The Father I Knew

Manlove Origins, Part 9 - Conclusions

About Using The United States Census. I’ve witnessed couples age by the decade, and their children grow up. I’ve seen families become larger, and then shrink as the kids moved on. I’ve noticed the "head of Household" eventually pass to a new one, and the aged parents placed at the end of the family list - behind the new “Head of Household” and that person's children. And in the next census they would be gone. I’ve watched generation after generation fan out in greater numbers, and realize each one of those names - hundreds of them - belonged to a person who once had hopes and dreams similar to my own. And they are all gone. The census tells a lot. They tell me names, when people were born, who and when they married, how many children they had, where they lived, and when they died. They tell me who could read and write, which ones were retarded, who was insane, and what they did for a living. They told me that the Manloves were all farmers.

Manlove was the line I was following - a male line that carried the name through time, but there were other names going all the way back to the 1600’s: Williams, Robins, Browne, Robinson, Dunning, Caldwell, Egler, and Parsons. Eight generations ending with my Great Grandparents. Her name was Nancy Parson, his was John Henry Manlove. He was born in 1858 and she six years later. The worked a farm until their older age. The 1920 Census finds them living in Connersville as “helpers” in a boarding house. She died in 1923. John Henry was renting a room in a private home for $12 a month according to the 1930 census. He died in 1932 at 72 years.

John Henry was the oldest child of James, who was the sixth offspring born to George W. Manlove and Mary Caldwell. John’s second born was my Grandmother, Dorma. She is the only Manlove I ever met, and the photo to the left is a good representation of how I remember her. She married my grandfather, John Harrison Buckingham, in 1906 and gave birth to my father six years later. John Buckingham was a “body finisher” in an auto plant in Connersville, Indiana. His was the first generation whose profession was listed as anything other than “farmer”.

Manlove Origins, Part 8 - Be Fruitful and Fill the Land

William and Jonathon’s children did their part to populate Illinois, Wisconsin and Kansas, but it fell to the offspring of George Manlove to fill the new State of Indiana. George and Rachel (Dunning) had five kids. The oldest, Hannah, married Edward Trotter, and they moved to DeKalb County, Missouri sometime after 1825 - both appeared in the 1850 US Census. George and Rachel's remaining four children were boys and they all settled in the Hoosier State.

William Manlove, the oldest son, first landed in Preble County, Ohio, and then moved on to Fayette County Indiana - probably about 1814. A local history of Fayette County stated that.. “William and Prudence (Cook) Manlove, natives of South Carolina, who, with their two children, took up their residence in what is now Posey township, about 1812. After a short residence …William went to Cincinnati, with a team, for supplies, and while there contracted the cholera, from which he died on the way home. His widow and six children were thus left almost destitute in a new and wild country, but the former managed to keep her family together.” The couple had six kids at William’s death in 1819 - two daughters and four sons.

John probably got to Indiana about the same time as his brother William - maybe a year before. He settled in Henry County and lived to a ripe old age of 96. His wife, Jane Wheeler, and he produced five boys and two girls. They each had a gaggle of their own, and all seemed to have stayed in Henry County.

George W. Manlove was my Third Great Grandfather (G-G-G-Grandfather). He died in 1832 while driving hogs to market in Cincinnati. He had sired eight children (six boys) at his death at 45 years of age. His two eldest sons, John and William, being 19 and 17 years of age were old enough to keep the farm going. His wife, Mary Caldwell lived on the place until her death at 83 years in 1878.

Mark, the youngest, was probably the last to arrive in Indiana. He was in Ohio for more than ten years, but eventually settled in Tippecanoe County by 1840 with his wife (Jane Hodgson) and their seven children (5 boys). It’s a curious coincident that he should have settled in the area in which Tecumseh established Prophetstown, and where the Battle of Tippecanoe was fought in 1811.

I figure nearly 30 grandchildren of George Manlove were seeded across several counties of Indiana - no wonder I had so much trouble in unraveling my line of descent when I first began tracing my ancestors. It seemed like several counties had nothing but Manloves.
GO TO: Part 9

Manlove Origins, Part 7 - George, William & Jonathon

Mark Manlove, the youngest son of George and Rachel Manlove, sat down in Highland county, Ohio and penned a letter on September 10, 1827. He wrote: "Dear and respected Brothers and sisters with gratitude to Him that rules over us all; I pronounce the enjoyments of perfect health and a tranquil mind. Hoping these few lines may reach you all enjoying the same blessings…. My dear father, that has been one of my family for more than four years, is no more. After being afflicted more than 10 months with pains he departed this life the 5th of this instant, mostly in his perfect senses.” Thus ended the life of the man who saw the family migration from Delaware to North Carolina, and then to pioneer the opening of the Indiana-Ohio territories. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, and may have participated in the American Revolution.

Mark’s letter continues, “My dear father received a letter about three weeks before his death from Uncle William Manlove which was dated Sixth Mo., First Day of which I send you some of the particulars.” (George had two half-brothers, William and Jonathon, who moved with the family, as teenagers, from Delaware to North Carolina in 1783.) Further down the letter he states, “I learn that Brother Jonathon and all his children and wives are well pleased with their country.” (They settled in Illinois in the mid 1820s). “Jonathon’s son, William T. Manlove, is now at my house having returned to North Carolina about ten days past. It has long been my intention to visit the Western States and have often been disappointed in my intention; but William has set his cousins all on fire and his old aunt not far behind them for a new country. Till very lately I had no other inducement to come to the west than only to see my near relatives, but I now expect, if I like the country on seeing it, to sell and move. I expect to be at Mark Manlove’s in about 11 months on our way to the Illinois so that if it is the will of heaven to spare us till then and no unforeseen accident happens we may meet again, for which I do most devoutly pray.”

Brother Jonathon went out to Illinois with his extended family, and a James Beard accompanied them. James Beard was married to William’s oldest daughter, Mary. That fact was probably a further inducement for William to move to Illinois. He was listed as living in Schuyler County, Illinois in the 1830 US Census, so I guess he and the family made it - apparently the “will of heaven” answered his prayers. Schuyler County lies in the middle and western side Illinois, one county distant from the Mississippi River. He died three years later. William married Mary Smith in 1793, and all eight of their children moved to Illinois. All apparently died in Schuyler County except for the youngest, John H. Manlove, who moved on to Butler County, Kansas in his later life, after 1880. He died there in 1895.

Jonathon was more adventurous. He moved again in the 1840’s to Grant County, Wisconsin (on the western border with Illinois) with his youngest son, Moses Manlove. He died there in 1852. William T. Manlove died in Schuyler County in 1830. His other two sons, David and Jonathon went further west to Kansas, settling in Bourbon County.

GO TO: Part 8

Manlove Origins, Part 6 - On to Indiany

George W. Manlove’s journal is the only artifact surviving these two hundred years to indicate when and how the Manlove family got to Indiana. Since his is the family’s earliest writing to come down to us it is tempting to conclude that George W. was the family point man, the first to make the trip. That may be so, but his father and three brothers also went to Indiana about the same time, and we don’t really know who got there first.

George W mentioned in his Journal that he took the Crab Orchard road (The Logan Trace??) on 17 Oct to visit his father. It is therefore likely that George senior had already moved from North Carolina, but it’s a mystery as to what he was doing in that part of Kentucky or how long he stayed.

George W.’s older brothers, William and John entered the Indiana territory before 1820. William died in the early part of 1819 of cholera. He was living in Fayette County, as was George W. John lived in neighboring Henry County. These two counties, along with Rush and Wayne are four clustered at the border of Ohio, and are the main ones into which the Manlove family eventually migrated.

I think Mark, the youngest brother was the last to come into Indiana. He originally settled in Highland county Ohio, but moved to Tippecanoe county after 1827. The brothers’ oldest sibling, and only sister, Hannah, was possibly the last family member to leave North Carolina. She, her husband, Edward Trotter, and family left after 1822 and probably passed through Indiana. They may have stayed a while, but eventually moved on to Missouri.

A year after he got to Indiana George W. Manlove wed Mary Caldwell. The Caldwell family was also from Guilford County, North Carolina, but had been in Ohio a few years. The marriage was performed in October of 1811 in Preble County, Ohio - which is just across the border and a short hop from his land on Lick Creek, Fayette County.

The newlyweds and Mary’s parents, moved onto their Lick Creek farms shortly afterward, but were forced to withdraw to Ohio as Tecumseh, the famous Shawnee leader, was actively organizing a confederation of Midwestern tribes. Things got really hot in the territory during the War of 1812. George W. Manlove’s father participated in the war, and probably came to Indiana country after it ended. The uprising failed after Tecumseh was killed in battle in 1813. The families returned to Lick Creek in 1814, and developed the land.

GO TO: Part 7

Manlove Origins, Part 5 - George W. Manlove’s Journal

"A JOURNAL - North Carolina Guilford County Deep River, the 17th of the 9th month, 1810. “We, Edward and Joseph Bond their wives and my self George Manlove, this day began our journey for the Indiany Territory about four in the afternoon, went a few miles and camped on a friend's yard.

"Wednesday the 18th . We set out after breakfast on a fair morning, but cloudy in the afternoon, some thunder and rain. We camped the night at Salem which was disagreeable and wet.

"Thursday the 19th . We set out on foggy morning which was followed with some rain the forenoon, but cleared up in the afternoon. Went a few miles. We had difficulty in climbing a hill which we did safely by doubling our teams. We went on all well except Joseph's mare failed some. We camped about three miles from the Shallow Ford on the Yadkin to-night which was cloudy with some rain in the forepart of the night.

"Friday the 21st. We started out early in a foggy morning and crossed the Yadkin about eight o'clock. About ten the weather became fair and continued so all day. We arrived at John Bonds about three where we stayed all night.

"Saturday the 22nd. The weather continued fair. We are all well except colds. This morning my mare lame, I draw a nail and she is getting better.

"Sunday the 23rd . A fair day. We continue at John Bonds. The evening was cloudy with some rain.

"Monday the 24th. We set out in a fair morning went to Elwood Bonds, Jr. where we tha't it best to buy another creature as we have but two to each wagon and our load was heavy so we sold one cow and some other things and fixed a three horse team.

"Tuesday the 25th. We set out fro Edward Bonds about twelve. The weather continued fair. We crossed the Yadkin at Rockford. The old man had like to of set the wagon but as there was several friends with us we lifted the wagon out of the place and went on well till night. Took a camp where we spent the night comfortable.

"Wednesday the 26th. We set off early in a fair morning. Our cow was very troublesome all day. We camped on the Old Hollaw road the weather continuing fair and cool.

"Thursday the 27th. We started early went about eight miles to the foot of the mountain. Watered our horses and rested a few minutes then doubled our teams and took up our wagons one at a time which took us all the day, nearly went on for Joshua Bonds. Night took us about two miles from ther. John Bond being in company with us went on to Joshua's and they both come and met us a light. We had a hilly road but good otherwise.

"Friday the 28th. As our cow still proved troublesome and we rather weak of force we changed the cow for a mare and fixes three horses to each wagon but did not move the wagons today.

"Saturday the 29th. The morning was some foggy. We started early, proceeded till about one o'clock. When we arrived at the house of a relation by the name of E. bond where we staid till morning.

"Sunday the 30th. We started early, proceeded on our way. Tho' the road was rough past the Furnis and crossed new River at Evanses ferry then a good road till night. The weather continued fair. Our mare performs well.

"Monday the 1st of October 1810 . The morning was fair. We set out early, pased Mythe Court House and in a few miles met a drove of cattle which contained one hundred and sixty seven, and saw a drove of sheep in a field which I suppose contained three hundred. We made a good days journey and had a comfortable night.

"Tuesday the 2nd. We started early. We saw a drove of cattle in a field. I suppose, about one hundred and fifty. We also met several small droves of horses, crossed Solston several times and camped on the bank near Mile ford and had a comfortable night.

"Wednesday the 3rd. We started as soon as it was light enough and proceeded on all well. Met a drove of hogs of about one hundred head. In the afternoon we pased Arlington and went three miles and camped for the night which was fair.

"Thursday the 4th. We performed as usual.

"Friday the 5th. We started early and went on well till noon when we was hindered one hour to wedge a wagon box then went on again cross the north fork of Solston today and weather continued fair and dry and very dusty.

"Saturday the 6th. We started early on our journey and cross Holstine at Dotsons ford. The weather was fair till late at night when it became cloudy and some rain fell.\

"Sunday the 7th . The morning was cloudy and about nine it began to rain and continued till about twelve, when it cleared up and was cold. We arrived at John Canadays where we stayed all night.

"Monday the 8th. The morning was clear and frosty. We started after breakfast and went about one mile and a half and stopped our wagons in the road till Joseph and I went to look at some mills in a sink hole and then proceeded on our way for Lost Creek. We stopped at Charity -illses (Millses?) and took dinner and left Joseph there and went on John -- where we staid all night and also Tuesday and Wednesday the 9th and 10th.

"Thursday the 11th. We started with William Mendenhall who was going to the Ohio with a wagon and we also have Reuben Morgan in company with us. We crossed Holstine and Hanses ford. The weather continues fair and frosty till today which was cloudy, but little rain.

"Friday the 12th. We started with Clinch Mountain on our right hand and continued on till evening when we crossed Clinch River at Bullers ford, went one mile and camped. The night was wet and disagreeable.

"Saturday the 13th. We started in a wet and cloudly morning. Had a very bad road. About noon we fell into the old Kentucky Road at Clabourn. We crossed Powel's river at Powel's mountain. The weather became clear in the afternoon. We camped the night at Powel's valley.

"Sunday the 14th. We started in a foggy morning. Soon arrived at the foot of Cumberland mountain which we found bad going up but worse down. We also had rough road all day. Crossed some small mountains and in the evening crossed Cumberland River and camped on the bank one mile down below the ford. I was taken ill the night.

"Monday the 15th. I being unwell did not start till after sunrise. The morning was foggy. We had a rough road. We camped at Richland and I found myself better.

"Tuesday the 16th. We set out early. Had dry and rough road and camped at the forks of the road.

"Wednesday the 17th. I took the Crab orchard road and the rest of the company the Madison road. I went to see my father who I found about 10 o'clock and staid with him till Friday the 19th and then started after my company and fell into the road before I got to Richmond. I rode late and then up till near day. I staid at Willim Johnses.

"Saturday the 20th. I set out before day and crossed Kentuck River about day break and over took my company at Lexington and passed Georgetown and crossed Elkhorn in the afternoon and took our camp for the night which was warm and clear near day, then clouded over.

"Sunday the 21st. We set out in a warm foggy morning but soon began to rain and about noon cleared off. We had a bad road. We arrive at the foot of the dry --- at dark and went upon the hill to camp.

"Monday the 22nd. We set out in a clear and cool morning. We killed some turkeys. The rode was dry and good.

"Tuesday the 23rd. We set out and made 12 miles again eleven. We took the new road and camped the night six miles from Cincinnati. The weather is cold.

"Wednesday the 24th. We set out early and crossed the Ohio at Cincinnati and staid in town till 2 o'clock then went on and camped at the forks of the road nine miles from town. The night was cold and frosty.

"Thursday the 25th. We parted with William Mendenhall and Ruben Morgan who we fell in company with at Lost Creek and we took left hand road towards Hamilton which we passed in the afternoon and crossed the big Meamy and took for road for Eaton and camped at the five mile spring.

"Friday the 26th. We proceeded on till about eleven when we stopped with James Rands and took breakfast and the went on and camped about one mile from Eaton.

"Saturday the 27th. We fell in company with Isaac Jessup and Benjamin Smith who was our pilots. Some distance in the evening we got Jacob Jessup Jr. to pilot us to William Bonds but met him before we got to his house and he led us to his house where we arrived about dark."
GO TO: Part 6

Manlove Origins, Part 4 - The Wilderness Road & Cumberland Gap

The Appalachian Mountain range running from New England south to the middle of Georgia was an impenetrable barrier to early colonial migration. Its complex system of mountains, valleys, ridges, and plateaus thwarted easy passage. People of Scott-Irish descent entered in the north, followed the Great Appalachian Valley south into the remote hinterland and became isolated and forgotten for more than a century. Many “Hillbilly” legends evolved after they were rediscovered in the early 20th Century.

There were only a few ways to get by the Appalachians: direct passage in the north via the Hudson and Mohawk valleys; the roundabout way by skirting their southern terminus in Georgia; or through gaps in the range made by rivers that had cut through mountains. The Manlove family made the crossing to the other side via the Cumberland Gap.

George W. Manlove, the fourth child of George and Rachel (Dunning) Manlove, made his appearance in 1786, three years after his parents immigrated from Delaware to North Carolina. He grew up in the Deep River area of Guilford County, but left for Indiana just before he turned 24. We know the specific time and place because this is the way he started his travel journal. “North Carolina Guildford County Deep River, the 17th of the 9th month, 1810. We, Edward Bond and Joseph Bond their wives and my self George Manlove, this day began our journey for the Indiany Territory about four in the afternoon, went a few miles and camped on a friend’s yard.“

He added a sentence or two nearly every night. They camped in Salem the next night, and three miles from Shallow Ford on the Yadkin River the third. Mostly the comments concerned the weather, places they camped, landmarks, or the condition of the road. They stayed several nights at relatives of his traveling companions - John, Elwood, Edward, and Joshua Bond’s places were mentioned. I tried to follow their route but found I could only identify a few points. They crossed the Yadkin several times, the last one being at Rockford. After that their exact route became vague. Rivers were crossed at named fords, but I was unable to identify any other than Shallow Ford. The crossings and mountain ranges proved to be the only way I could follow the party’s early progress. The journal mentioned the New, Solston, Holstine, Powell, Clinch, and Cumberland Rivers - much in that order; the Clinch and Powell Mountains were named just before the party came to the Cumberland Gap. The group eventually entered on Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road, and their travel became easier to follow.

GO TO: Part 5

Manlove Origins, Part 2 - The Chesapeake Bay

Pocomoke lies on the peninsula that forms the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay. It is shaped like a hand in profile with the index finger pointing toward Virginia Beach and Norfolk. The peninsula is divided among three states -Virginia occupies the southern tip (Accomack and Northampton Counties), while Maryland and Delaware share the northern part.
The Chesapeake Bay was a center of early Colonial development. Jamestown, considered the first permanent English settlement (1607), lay just south of Williamsburg and west of Yorktown. The three made up what is called the Historic Triangle. Washington D.C. and Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate, are on the Potomac River which flows into the bay.

Jamestown was established as a business adventure not forty years before Mark Manlove moved onto the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia Company financed the passage of 144 men and boys to the New World. The area was hostile wilderness, and the settlement nearly failed during its first years. Forty died on the voyage and many more from starvation and disease that winter. More colonists were brought in each year, but life was tough, and the colony’s survival was tenuous for several years. They were on the verge of abandoning the settlement in 1610 when supply ships saved it.

I find it curious that Mark Manlove would bring his whole family over. He was definitely not alone. Migration had been heavy in the years since Jamestown, and the population had grown. He no doubt came over with associates, a group that could share the work. Like most, he was most certainly a farmer. The group probably built small shelters that first year. They cleared fields and planted crops - hoping to survive till the following spring.
Marks’s sons, William and Thomas, moved 90 miles north, settling in Kent County Delaware, near present day Dover. William died there in 1694. The next three generations of Manlove’s were born and died in Kent County. The family was there for nearly a hundred years, and then William L. Manlove, of the 6th generation, and his adult son, George, left sometime after 1782.

They made the move after Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at Yorktown in October of 1781. That was the decisive event of the American Revolution, and hostilities ended by the spring of 1783. George Manlove was 29 years old at the end of the war so he might very well have participated in the Revolution. He was listed as having served in the War of 1812, so he very likely fought in the Revolution too. I’m guessing they left Delaware in the summer of 1783.

I don’t know why they left a place that had been home so long. There seemed to have been only one male child to survive in each of the preceding generations, so George was going to inherit the farm - if they had one. But, for what ever reason, they pulled up stakes and headed south. William L Manlove’s wife, Hannah (Robinson), had died fifteen years before, so there were only five in the family group: William L, his son George, George’s wife Rachel (Dunning), their daughter Hannah (2 or 3 years) and son William (1 or 2 years). It is likely that other families accompanied them. That was common practice in those days - extended families and neighbors migrated together.
GO TO: Part 3

The Will of Mark Manlove, September 1666

Somerset County, Maryland

In the name of God, Amen. I Mark Manlove of Pocomoke in the County of Somerset in the Province of Maryland, Planter, being weak in body but of good memory, blessed be God, do make this my last will & testament. My soul I commit to God who gave it and my body to be buried according as my executors think fit. As for my outward estate, my debts being first paid, I give and bequeath at followeth: first, to my loving wife Elizabeth and to the children I have lawfully begotten of her and to their heirs forever, five hundred acres of land lying upon the north side of Pocomoke River, beginning at a little branch on the south side of my new dwelling house, being at my first bounder and so running northerly up the river. All the rest of my land I give and bequeath to my sons Mark, William, and Christopher and to their heirs forever to be equally divided as they come of age, each child to have his portion. To Hannah Gilley, Richard Hackworth, and to his next son born, being three of my grandchildren, each of them a cow calf. I bequeath unto my sons John and Thomas one hundred pounds of tobacco, a piece.. The rest of my estate, after my debts are paid, besides the legacies already given and bequeathed, I give one third to my wife and two thirds to be equally divided unto my sons Mark, William, Christopher, George, and Luke and to my daughters Hannah, Abia, and Persey Manlove, and I do appoint my wife Eliz and my son in law Richard Hackworth to be the executors of my last will and testament, and William Stevens Horsey and Wm. Jarnes Meedon overseers of the sane, and this I publish and declare to be my last will and testament the 14tth day of September anno Domini 1666.


Mark Manlove made his mark. MM


Witnesses: William Green --- Will.


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Mark Manlove's two Families

Mark Manlove___husband____b.1620 England____d.1666 MD

Hannah Williams___wife____b.1617or1625 Eng___d.1658 VA

John Manlove___son___b.1639 England____d.1694 MD

Mary Manlove__daughter_b.1641 England____d.1666 MD

Christopher Manlove_son__b.1642 England____d.1680 MD

Ann Manlove__daughter__b. 1645 England___n.d.

Thomas Manlove__son__b.1648 England___d.1709 DE

Hannah Manlove__daughter__b.1649 Eng or CT__d.1675 MD

Abijah Abia Manlove_daughter_ b.1653 MA or VA___n.d.

William Manlove__son__b.1655 VA or MD___d.1694 DE

Elizabeth Roberts__wife__ b.1632 England_______n.d.

George Manlove__son___b.1660 MD___________n.d.

Persey Manlove__daughter__b.1663 MD_____n.d.

Luke Manlove__son ___b.1666 MD__________ n.d.

Am=America, MA=Massachusetts, VA=Virginia,

MD=Maryland, DE=Delaware, CT=Connecticut

GO TO: Part 2

Manlove Origins, Part 1 - The Patriarch

My paternal grandmother‘s maiden name was Manlove. Twelve generations ago a guy named Mark Manlove got off a boat in America. I know only a few facts about Mark Manlove, enough to draw the sketchiest outline of his life. He was born in the English county of Shropshire in the vicinity of the villages of Wem and Aston around 1620. He married Hannah Williams, also of Shropshire, in 1637. I don’t know what he looked like, how he made a living, or when and why he came to America.

I hadn’t planned to put much time on the Manlove patriarch in America, but got obsessed with the family - a bit of an irony as Mark, Hannah and family have been dead and forgotten for more than three hundred years. The obsession started when I discovered Mark Manlove’s Last Will and Testament on a USGenWeb site. That web site gave names to his children, his son-in-laws, witnesses, etc. I had scanned hundreds of “Public Family Trees” in Ancestry.com trying to make sense of conflicting entries, but his Last Will made it possible to hazard some educated guesses.

I think Mark and Hannah probably arrived in the Chesapeake Bay area in about 1650. There is some evidence the family landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and spent some time in Stamford, Connecticut, before moving on to the lower Eastern Shore of present day Northampton County, Virginia (#1 on map).
The couple had eight or nine children - five sons and four daughters, but two of the daughters may be the same person. Their first child, John, was born in England, as were several others. The public trees differed as to where the children were born, most favored England on the older ones, but the youngest two were likely born in America. It seems possible that Mark and Hannah, along with their several children, left England in the late 1640’s to sail for the New World. I’ve always thought that immigrants in those days were single men, either adventurers or indentured poor. Mark Manlove must have been a man of some means to be able to bring his family over.

The English Civil War was raging through the 1640’s. Shropshire seems to have been a mix of loyalties between Royalist and Parliamentarians, but Wem/Aston favored the latter. The Royalists lost the war, and King Charles I lost his head in 1649. I can’t help to wonder if Mark Manlove’s migration to America was related to the Civil War. Was he a Royalist? I notice many of his associates on the Eastern Shore were also from Shropshire. Did they come over in the same boat? Why so many in one place?

Mark’s wife, Hannah, died in 1658 in Northampton County, Virginia. Most public trees put her age at 28 years, but she might have been as old as 37 - too young at either age. Mark Manlove remarried the year after Hannah’s death. His new wife, Elizabeth Roberts (also from Shropshire), had two sons and a daughter by him.

Somerset County, Maryland was opened for settlement in 1661 and Mark Manlove moved near Pocomoke (#2 on map), but died five years later at 46 years. Mark left the “new” house and five hundred acres to Elizabeth and her three children, and an unspecified amount to his three youngest sons by Hannah.

Elizabeth remarried a few months later to William Greene, who happened to be the witness to Mark’s Last Will and Testament. Many of Mark’s 11 (or 12) children lived their lives around Pocomoke, but two of them, Thomas and William, moved about 90 miles north into Delaware.
GO TO: The Will of Mark Manlove\
GO TO: Part 2

Origins

I never thought about where I came from while I was growing up. I lived in a cozy microcosm, unconcerned with why I happen to be born in Kokomo, Indiana, or how my parents got there, or where they might have come from.

My world had little definition. We were on the East Coast for a while during World War II, and I remember taking rides in our 1936 Ford, but I was too young to know our whereabouts or the why of things. I looked out the car window at the passing scenery and accepted it with the ignorance and innocence of youth.

I have difficulty distinguishing between things I remember and remembering things I was told. Do I remember the 1936 Ford or do I remember being told about it? For a while my world was a street in Kokomo, but that eventually expanded to encompass towns to the south, family reunions, graveyards on Memorial Days, and a ghost town in Kentucky. I met people and heard stories of others who I‘d never met - people I discovered to be relatives - relatives with surnames different from my own - Frank, Jacobs, Manlove, and Muir. How could they all be related to me? The jumble of names, places, and stories made no sense - fit no pattern.

I was born in 1939 and things were very different from what they have become. The United States counted 132 million people - half of today’s population. Transportation was not so dynamic as now - radio was popular, but there was no television. Computers and the Internet were inconceivable. Many of the families in the Midwest had been there for generations, and some of mine were among the original settlers.

Most of my ancestors came into the Kentucky-Indiana-Ohio region in the early 1800’s - some before that. They came over roads no wider than narrow paths through a wilderness of old growth forest with trees reaching five to six feet in diameter.

Natives, “Indians”, as the European settlers mistakenly called them, were hostile. A book by Alan Eckert does a great job of describing those early days. The Friontiersman is a well documented chronicle depicting the adventures of Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone, and other early settlers into Kentucky. Eckert tells of the Shawnees who lived north of the Ohio River, of their hunting grounds in Kentucky, and the resulting conflict between them and the encroaching settlers.

I got interested in genealogy later in life. By then many people I would liked to have talked to were long dead. My research added more names to my ancestry list. Five generations back and a person can count sixteen Great-Great-Grandparents - sixteen surnames. I know fourteen of them. The number of ancestral names doubles with each succeeding generation - from 16 to 32, 64, 128... etc. There are over two thousand surnames possible in the twelfth generation. That reaches back in time to when the Pilgrims stepped into America by way of Plymouth Rock. I have traced a few back to colonial times, but am not yet able to brag about any being on the Mayflower.

But my interest is not in discovering Mayflower relatives or famous ancestors. It is in putting a personal face on history; on fitting those historical events and trends I studied in school into my own family history. My quest is to follow the threads of those disparate people, ancestors of mine, as they wove the fabric of my background. I hope to retrace the random paths they traveled which eventually converged to produce me.