Searching for a Book

There is a book that was written in 1988 that is a collection of history and biographies for the area just south of Evans, Colorado, including the Big Bend where the John McAfee and Majorie Stevenson McAfee ranch was located. I tried to get a copy on Inter-Library Loan through the Mesa Public Library. They were unable to locate a copy where the holder was willing to loan it out. I believe that there is a copy in the Family History Library at Salt Lake City, Utah. If anyone near there would like to review the book to see if there is any genealogical information pertinent to our McAfee family, I would greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, I will look it up the next time I am in Salt Lake. The book is titled, "Around and About La Salle: Beebe Draw - Big Bend, Peckham, Colorado" and was written by Carol Frances Connell. (www.worldcat.org says that there are also copies in Colorado Springs, Boulder, and Greeley, Colorado.)

July Updates

28 June 2010 Evans City Offices and Evans Cemetery Talked with Kim Betz at the Evans City offices. There are no records of burials in Block 1 Lot 1 Graves 1 thru 8 or Block 1 Lot 2 Graves 4 thru 8. There is a record that James McAfee bought the eight Lot 1 graves in 1892, but with a question mark by the date. There is a record that John McAfee bought the eight Lot 2 graves in 1888, but again with a question mark by the date. There is a record of the burials of Samuel J. McAfee and Sarah M. McAfee and S. Blair McAfee in Lot 2 graves 1, 2, and 3 and there are headstones standing there today. There is a question mark in the records for grave 6. There is also a question mark on grave 1 in Lot 1. The book Tombstone Inscriptions of Weld County Colorado Volume 1 says that part of the cemetery records were burned in 1937 and the above information was reconstructed from other town records. There was also some reported vandalism and some headstones were destroyed. I feel like the graves were purchased much earlier that 1888 and 1892 because they are choice lots at the front of the cemetery by the entrance and would have sold in the 1870s. I think James McAfee is buried in Lot 1 grave 1 and probably Sarah McCloy McAfee is buried there also. I believe that John McAfee and Marjorie McAfee are buried in Lot 2 and possibly some of their children, especially Elizabeth.

11 July 2010 Results from the NARA Request I got the files from the homestead application by John McAfee for the SW ¼ of Section 12 (160 acres) in T4N R66W, just south of Evans, Colorado, near the area called the “Big Bend.” There are no answers to the where in Ireland question, but there are some useful pieces of information. 1) John McAfee always considered himself a citizen of the United States because he came here as a minor and his father told him that he (his father) was naturalized. Since he couldn’t produce any proof of his father’s naturalization, he had to get a Final Certification of Naturalization – Minor. This is why we could never find a Declaration of Intent. 2) At the time of the final entries for the homestead, he filed an affidavit saying that the occupants of the homestead were himself, his wife, and five children. This was 1883. [I think the five children were Samuel Joseph, Alice Mary, Katherine Wilson, and John James, plus one more. The one more could be Lida McAfee Higgins who was just married a year earlier or it could be Edwin John McKinley, Maggie McAfee McKinley’s surviving son who would be John McAfee’s grandson.] 3) John McAfee filed an affidavit saying that he had settled on the SW ¼ of Section 12 on the 21st day of May in 1877. 4) Two people filed affidavits entitle Homestead Proof – Testimony of Witness. One was Moses Lovelady and the other was James McAfee. 5) In the Homestead Proof – Testimony of Witness by John McAfee, he states that “My father came to this country when I was about 2 years old.” [This is inconsistent with the statement by Samuel Joseph McAfee that his father came to this country when he was 8 years old as recorded in the biographical sketch published by Chapman Publishing Company in 1898.] 6) On the 27th of March 1883 he filed a statement that he was 66 years old. [This age is inconsistent with all of the entries on the federal and state censuses. I would have expected 67 or 68.]

Recent Background

2 Sep 2007 Telephone call to Doug Jones Doug has gathered what information he was able to find in Evans and Greeley, Colorado. He thinks he got everything. He believes we should search the other children of John McAfee and Marjory Stevenson in hopes of finding family records passed down to living relatives, especially from the older children. He talked to Roger McAfee and was told by Roger that his dad (Douglas Leonard McAfee) told him that John James McAfee was actually born in Mannasa, Conejos, Colorado rather than Evans, Weld, Colorado.

 

27 Sep 2007 Colorado State Archives, Denver, Colorado Case 245, Estate of John Mcafee. Petition to Sell Real Estate 2/7/1890. Decree of Discharge 9/24/1897, Alice Higgins, formerly McAfee. Note to Judge from Alice McAfee dated May 6, 1889, saying she was going to Syracuse, Kansas, for two months to care for her sister who is in poor health. (Another note says Lida Higgins lives in Syracuse, Kansas.) Notice of Final Settlement in the Evans Courier. Settlement date to be 14 April 1890. Farm to be sold on 5 April 1890 (north half of southwest quarter of section 12) to Ferdinand H. Cook for $2150. Guardian paperwork for John James McAfee and Ed McKinley was executed by E. M. Martin. Case 287, Regarding Guardianship for John James McAfee. Alice McAfee appointed. Request for guardianship 20 Mar 1890. Guardian Bond 5 April 1890, with Alice McAfee, principal, and James McAfee, surety. Petition for Discharge because John McAfee estate was insolvent, 18 September 1897, before Judge E. V. Higgins.

 

1 October 2007 Evans Historical Museum, Evans, Colorado Schoolhouse built in 1874 at 3720 South Golden Street. McAfee home (later Kohler) was at 3502 South Empire Street. Old map shows landowner for the N ½ of SW ¼ of section 12 as H. J. Blake. Some records are now kept in the missile silo.

1 October 2007 City of Greeley Museum, Greeley, Colorado Biography of Sam McAfee contains information on John McAfee. I made a photocopy. It is filed under McAfee Holdings. Also found information on Ila McAfee, daughter of George McAfee, born 21 October 1897. She married Elmer Page Turner on 17 Oct 1926. She grew up in Gunnison, Colorado, I think. I have not found a tie between her or her father and our McAfees. Looked in Greeley Tribune for Marjory McAfee death Nov 1884. NIL. Looked in Colorado Sun for Margaret McKinley. Found death listed as Mrs. James McKinley on 15 Apr 1880. Found birth of her son listed as 31 Mar 1880. Looked in Greeley Tribune for obituary for John McAfee. NIL.

 

2 October 2007 Centennial Park Branch Library, Greeley, Colorado Looking at the Weld County Genealogical Society Quarterlies. Vol. 9, #4, May 1983, page 25: 1912 telephone directory Greeley and Evans; two entries: (1) McAfee, S. J., residence, 918 9th (Street), and (2) McAfee and Bovard, ranch, East of Kersey. Vol. 3, #1, Feb 1977, page 6: Weld County Marriage Records 1871-1881; Higgins, W. C. of Osborn, MO, Amanda J. McAfee of Evans, 3 May 1880 (Todd). Vol. 3, #2, Aug 1977, page 10: Weld County Marriage Records 1871-1881; Amanda J. McAfee – W. C. Higgins, 3 May 1880. Vol. 18, #1, Aug 1991, page 21: School Census Records District #6 – 1886 (Source: Microfilm located in the office of the Weld County Clerk and Recorder, Greeley, CO.) Annie M__fe (W/N) age 18, Lizzie M___fe (W/N) age 14, Eliza McAfee age 17, Nannie McAfee age 11. Vol. 18, #2, Nov 1991, page 101: District #6 Corrections: Annie M___fe corrected to Annie McFie (also McAfee) and Lizzie M___fe corrected to Lizzie McFie (also McAfee). Vol. 8, #3, Feb 1982, page 9: Greeley Directory, 1871: McAfee, J., farmer. (My note – is this James or John.) Vol. 10, #2, Nov 1983, page 20: 1885 Weld County CO State Census, Schedule 2, Production of Agriculture in County of Weld, Enumeration District 2: McAfee, John owns 80 ac, 6 ac permanent meadow, orchards, pasture or vineyard, 8 ac unimproved. Vol. 33, #4, May 2007, page 176: Extraction from Wed, Oct 8, 1890, Greeley Tribune: Evans: Katie McAfee, sister of S. J. Mc____ died in Salt Lake City Oct 4 ____. Vol. 26, #3, Feb 2000, page 113, 114: January 29, 1884 Lida McAfee present and member of the Greeley High School Literary Society. Vol. 7, #1, Aug 1980, page 13: Sallie McAfee sells land 18 Feb 1873 to John Payton, Book 6, page 274. Vol. 11, #1, Aug 1984, page 19: Bounty paid to Ed Higgins for 7 coyotes on July 1, 1892. PO Address listed as Windsor. Vol. 12, #3, Feb 1986, page 26: James McKinley sat on a jury. Helper at Centennial Park Branch Library, Linda, has researched in Illinois. Suggested cyberdriveillinois.com and/or ilsos.gov/Genealogy. Weld County Colorado Marriages 1864 – 1930, published by the WCGS. GenRef 929.3788, Weld County shows Amanda J. McAfee WC Higgins May 3 1880 and SS McAfee & Sallie M. Bovard Oct 21 1884. Weld County Colorado Tombstone Inscriptions, Vol. I, published by the Genealogical Society of Weld County, Colorado, 1982: page 140, Evans: McAfee, James – 1892? Lot 1 Block 1 and McAfee, John – Oct 1888 Lot 2 Block 1. Linda called City of Evans town clerk, Janice, 1100 37th St, Evans, CO 80620-2036, 970-475-1100. She said no one is buried in Lot 1. It is still owned by the original purchaser. Only three burials in Lot 2, Sam, Sallie, and Blair McAfee.

15 Dec 2009 Letter Wrote Washington County Circuit Clerk, 101 E. St. Louis Street, Nashville, IL 62263 asking for naturalization records or probate records for James McAfee or any of his family members. They responded that, “we have no records of any naturalization or probate records.” They also said that, “Per Washington County Clerk’s Office death certificate records start in 1877.”

15 Jan 2010 Phonecall Called the Randolph County Circuit Clerk’s office, Chester, IL, 618-826-3116. They can search for $4.00 per year (I think). They suggested contacting the Randolph County Genealogical Society at 618-826-3807.

31 Jan 2010 New FamilySearch Looking in the New FamilySearch (NFS), there is a marriage for James McAfee with a wife’s name of Margaret Todd. The birth year listed, 1784, is the same that I have from the 1860 Census in Washington County Illinois. The descendants in NFS go through Mary McAfee, married to Robert Ramsey. I found one contributor entry with an email address. I sent him a request. The email address is jbcowley@rmci.net. There are two clues that support this name. One is a daughter of Mary McAfee Ramsey named Margaret Todd Ramsey. The other is the surname of the minister, A. C. Todd. Sister Cowley responded that she has only limited information. She gave me information on Lillie McAfee and Nan McAfee in southern Illinois. I registered at the Irish Family History Foundation, http://ifhf.brsgenealogy.com/index.php. I registered with my email address and my usual password. I did not find anything for James McAfee or for Margaret Todd.

15 Feb 2010 Reading the Ireland Research Outline I should look at 941.5 K27rj Ryan, James G , 1950-. (Added Author) Irish church records : their history, availability and use in family and local history research. Mesa RFHC has a copy. Also 941.5 D4m Matheson, Sir Robert E. (Robert Edwin), 1845-1926. (Main Author) Special report on surnames in Ireland : together with varieties and synonymes of surnames and Christian names in Ireland. Also 941.5 D4mc MacLysaght, Edward , 1887-1986. (Main Author) The surnames of Ireland. Also 941.5 E7m Mitchell, Brian (Main Author) A new genealogical atlas of Ireland. This includes parish boundaries for each county. Also 941.5 D27gj Grenham, John (Main Author) Tracing your Irish ancestors : the complete guide.

24 Feb 2010 At Mesa Regional Family History Centere 941.5 K27rj: This book has a good section talking about the records that exist for the Presbyterians in Northern Ireland. I need to reread it a few times. I looked at several surname books. It looks like the McAfees are known as M’Afee, McAfee, MacAfee, MacAffee, McHaffey, and Mahaffey. They are largely in County Antrim with some in County Donegal. I looked in the Ireland Census of 1659 (a book) and found no McAfees. I started to look at the book Heads and Hearths from 1669 (941.61 R4hh) and did not find any McAfees. I need to finish looking at this book. Perhaps this says that the McAfees came to Ireland between 1659 and 1780. I printed out the Householder List of McAfees in County Antrim from Ancestry.com. There are 28 families. One of them is George McAfee who could be James McAfee Sr.’s father if you believe the un-sourced information in New FamilySearch. The place name is listed as Turnarobert. Google says Turnarobert is in Armoy, Cary, Antrim, Ireland. http://www.logainm.ie/Do.aspx?parentID=61250&typeID=BF&placeID=61764

25 Feb 2010 At home Sent an email to Jerry McAfee, mcafee_clan@hotmail.com, since he is listed in Pedigree Resource File as having submitted information on John McAfee, born 12 June 1814, in West Park, Dunluce Parish, County Antrim, Ireland. He replied and said that the Ohio McAfees and the Illinois McAfees are different branches of the family. I worked with Erwin Berry, eeberry1@msn.com, to undo some of the confusion he had created in New Family Search by connecting the Ohio and Illinois McAfees.

3 Mar 2010 At Mesa Regional Family History Center Started working through the “Patron Class Handout for Ireland Immigration.” This included www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname, www.seanruad.com, et.al. The MRFHC had film 994098, so I searched Item 4, “A Roll of Graduates of the University of Glascow from 31st December 1727 to 31st December 1897,” looking for Reverend Todd, either A.C. Todd or someone who could be his father. NIL.

 

17 Mar 2010 At Denver Stake Family History Center,  Found two useful books: A Guide to IRISH Parish Registers, by Brian Mitchell, Genealogical Publishing Co Inc, Baltimore, 1988; and Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research, by Margaret Dickson Falley, B.S., privately published. The first has a good description of what Presbyterian churches were in northern Ireland with starting dates for each one. The second is a very extensive textbook on searching Irish and Scotch-Irish records.

 

4 Jun 2010 NARA Land Records I ordered the homestead record file for John McAfee in Weld County Colorado. They say it takes 60 to 90 days to get me the information.

 

10 Jun 2010 Mesa Family History Center,  Rita McAfee Conley, Nannie Jane McAfee’s granddaughter, said she found an article that listed James McAfee Jr. as James W. McAfee. I asked her to let me know where she had found it. She also found a death notice for James McAfee in the Denver Post, 23 Feb 1893, saying he had died in Denver the previous Sunday and that his body was being sent to Greeley for burial. I now believe that John McAfee, Marjorie McAfee, and several of their children must be buried in or near Evans. The children might include Nancy Jane, Margaret T., S. A., and Elizabeth. I found out that there was an 1865 State Census for Illinois. The Mesa FHC has the microfilm for Washington County. I searched the film, but could not find our family. The microfilm was so light that is was almost totally unreadable. When in SLC, I will see if their copy is as bad. The film number is 972768. There are 105 pages for Washington County. Pages 1,2, & 2A are summary pages. Pages 3 thru 58 do not list a precinct within Washington County. Pages 59, 64-66, and 69 show a precinct of Lively Grove. Page 60 is something like Venity. Pages 61-63, 70, 80, 86, 88-93, and 99-101 show Nashville. Page 67-68 and 97-98 show Elkton. Pages 71-79, 81-83, and 87 show Bridgeport. Page 84 and 85 show Covington (possibly Casington). Pages 94-96 show Pilot Knob. Pages 102-105 do not list a precinct.