There's someone I'd like you to meet and his name is John.
He may look familiar to some of you, but I'm guessing that even those who might have seen his photograph before will only have a vague notion of who he was. You might be thinking, Where have I seen that picture before? All I can say is, "Hold that thought."
While his name was John, he is called many different things by many people. In fact, just the other day I had a fantastic conversation with his great-grandaughter. She and I live far away from each other and time always seems to get away from us. (She's also a good deal younger than me but I can still see her bright-eyed ten-year-old face in my mind's eye!) We like to laugh a lot and do plenty of "remember whens." It's just what good cousins do, right?
We share a set of ancestors on her daddy's side, and "Old John" is relative through adoption on her mother's. Seeing as I have roped her into reading some of my stories and research projects here on the blog, I figured I'd better get busy and talk a little bit about Old John.
Now John's great-granddaughter is pretty darn amazing, and she's been facing a rough time these days. She's even asked me if maybe I wouldn't write up a story for her someday. Well, after I hung up from talking with her I thought, To Hell with "someday." I don't much believe in chasing after "someday" when we've already got a perfectly good "today."
So I figured I'd sit down and get Tonya that story or tale she'd asked me for. I wasn't exactly sure what I'd write about, or what I could research or find. However, they say that you are supposed to write about what you know, and while I surely don't know much this seemed like a good place to start. I am certainly honored to give it a try.
I guess it was about then that I wondered about, well, you guessed it, John. I'd seen him before but hadn't paid a lot of attention to the old boy. Shame on me. So I went back to Old John and looked him up. (He and I don't talk much lately as well he's been busy over the last few years doing other things in the Great Beyond.)
By the way - his name is John J. VanVickle (1857-1929)
That's cool though, because you see the more I studied him the more I figured he just might be the one to help me tell my tale for his adopted great-granddaughter. I could see that there were a whole lot of rumors floating around on John's family tree - some pretty grand that linked him to a lot of the founding families. I did warn Old John a bit; I asked him if he was sure he wanted me poking around in the old family tree???
(We all know the nuts that might fall outta any family tree, right?)
However, Old John just laughed at me and said to dig around all I wanted. He said that his great-grandaughter deserved something amazing and special and that if I could find it he had no objections. I told him I'd do my best, but after all, it was just our family history so not to be expecting any miracles.
Wait a minute - did I just say "our" family history?
Yes, I did.
You see without going into too many boring details suffice it to say that while I am related to John's great-granddaughter through her dad - there are plenty of ancestral folks in her momma's tree that show up in mine too - making it highly likely that we are double cousins of sorts.
It was about then that I noticed something of a bit of a hornet's nest going in in Old John's family tree. Seeing as this was also Tonya's tree (and distantly mine too) - I needed to take a closer look. The hornet's nest seemed to involve John's parents.
I could see that Old John's parents were Enoch Van Vickle and Nancy (White) Van Vickle - no big deal, right?
Now to carry it just a bit further...
Enoch Van Vickle's mother was a woman rumored to have been named Sarah White. Enoch's wife Nancy's father was a man named William White. I don't know about you, but that is one heck of a lot of White in one family tree. I soon came to see that if submitted family trees are to be believed Enoch Van Vickle and his wife Nancy White were - wait for it - first cousins - making Old John a "cousin to himself."
Hey, it happens, believe me.
This was all well and good. However, I could tell that there was more to this story than met the eye. And as much as I enjoyed learning about Old John and his branch of the family, I couldn't help feeling like there was something more. It was about then that Old John yelled at me, and pointed to this article below -
It's a biographical expose on John's dad Enoch.
In truth, it is pretty interesting...
Above images: Portrait and Biographical Album of Vermilion and Edgar Counties, Illinois, 1889 p. 337
I reminded Old John that it wasn't all about him, that the story and tale I was putting together wasn't for him but for his great-granddaughter Tonya. He grudgingly admitted that he'd wanted to tell his half of the story first but told me that I should continue looking around. I finally got him to admit that there was, no doubt, so much more to find.
I reminded Old John that his son Andrew Van Vickle had married pretty well when he'd married Esther Wilmoth. I reminded him that if he looked pretty closely, he would see that Esther's great-grandmother was a woman named Susanna (Riggs) Burton and a descendant of at least two Revolutionary War patriots that would qualify Tonya, her daughters, sisters, and granddaughters to join the Daughters of the American Revolution should they ever choose to do so.
(Oh, and the boys to join "Sons of the American Revolution") lol. :)
BELOW: DAR PATRIOT # AO96642
BELOW: DAR PATRIOT # 056997
A blue dot is placed by the patriot's name in the pedigree chart from Esther (Wilmoth) Van Vickle
I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but I wanted to show Old John and anyone else who might be "looking on" a couple of the really cool people in Tonya's branch of "our" family tree.
Believe me, there are no Revolutionary War patriots on our Record side of the family tree. Heck, we didn't even have a decent hero until we got to Uncle Harley. Mostly there are just a lot of Quakers and Moonshiners so finding a couple of General Washington's bona fide patriots is a pretty cool thing.
However, I figured I'd let Old John have the last word here. I told him the only reason I let him tell his side of the story first was because I expected him to take good care of and look after Tonya and help get here through this rough patch.
And just so Old John knows it - she married pretty damn well when she married Mr. David Ely.
I think he comes from the same folks who navigated the Mayflower here.
You see it won't be long before we'll all be laughing and talking about our "remember whens" once again.
It's just what good cousins do.
Love, Jeff
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