On the way to my husband's family reunion in Iowa last week, I suggested to my husband that we make a pit stop. At a cemetery. What convinced him to stop, I think, was the fact that it was "just" off the freeway. And it was. But there are 3 exits for the town of Cameron located in Clinton County, MO. And it wasn't until the 3rd exit that we found the cemetery. [Backtracking, of course.] But found it we did. With my husband, 2 kids, and I canvassing the small-ish Graceland Memorial Cemetery, it didn't take long to find my Blacketer's. My mother's father's family. Our family that we knew nothing about thanks to a tight-lipped grandfather with secrets. [I know I don't have the corner on grandfather's with secrets. But, seriously? Both of mine? Oh well. It makes the research much more interesting.]
Anywho, my son was the one to find them. Beckoned with a "Mom. I found them." [Words a genealogist loves to hear, yes?], I hurried to see my great-grandfather's tombstone along with my great-grandmother's and a great-uncle and his family. [Sigh.] The tombstone featured below is my great-grandfather's Civil War tombstone, which is located near the tombstone he shares with his wife, which I'll share next week. [No sense in sharing everything all at once. There are many more Tombstone Tuesday's to go. You know?] Harrison Blacketer served for the Union side in Company H and was a part of the 12th Mounted Cavalry for the state of Missouri along with his brother, Samuel Blacketer, who also served in the 12th Mounted Cavalry. Their father, Howell Blacketer (my 2nd great grandfather), also served in the Civil War for the Union side for the state of Missouri. I have no idea where Samuel is buried, but I do know that my 2nd great-grandfather, Howell, is buried a couple of counties over and a little further north in Missouri. However, it's not "just" off the freeway, and I didn't want to push my luck. I had a ton of cemeteries
I don't know much about Harrison except that in one census he was married to an Estella Cordelia (Davis) Smith. Then the next census he was married to her daughter, Martha Jane Smith, who is my great-grandmother. I've found his marriage record to Martha, but not to Estella. But Martha Jane was only about 10yo in the census he is listed as being married to her mother. There's a story there. Probably a really good one. Oh, and seriously? Martha? Jane? Smith? Davis? [Sigh.] I guess I shouldn't complain. At least there's not a Mary in there. [Snort.]
I wonder if you might have any idea where your Blacketers came from. My grandmother was a Blacketter (note the spelling) in Pike and/or Greene County in Illinois. As I understand it, there was a falling out somewhere along the line between two Blacketter brothers and one changed the spelling to Blacketer and subsequently refused to have anything to do with his brother ever again. I learned this some years ago from a Blacketer then living in Pike County.
ReplyDeleteHarrison Blacketer's father was Howell Blacketer [b.12 Mar 1812 Boydton, Mecklenburg, VA & d. Mar 1887 Maryville, Nodaway, MO] and his parents were David and Mary (Cox) Blacketer. David's parents were William & Rachel (?) Blacketer. In researching the Blacketer's, I've run across several different spellings of the Blacketer family. Mine did migrate from Boydton, Virginia to Mercer Co, KY then on to Indiana before settling in Missouri. I know that several of David and Mary's children died in Indiana, James, Samuel (Parke Co), and Norman (Marion Co), as did their brother's (my Howell's) first wife, Martha.
ReplyDeleteI am familiar with the Blacketer/Blacketter disagreement in Indiana. The way I heard it though is that the more current Blacketter's and Blacketer's were convinced that they were not related. However, since there was no standardization of the spelling of names until the advent of Social Security, I don't see how they can make that claim. It certainly would make sense if the discord was based upon a family feud. It wouldn't be the first spelling change due to a family feud. In fact, I have another in my family.
Based upon my Blacketer (all spelling variations) migration and given name pattern research, they are related. The further you go back in time, the less Blacketer's there are. At the time they were in Kentucky, I did find another Blacketer from England, but it was easy to keep him separate from my Blacketer's.
From which Blacketer/Blacketter do you descend from? If you want, feel free to click the gold "Contact" button on the left upper side of the screen. This will allow you to email me directly if you like.
~Caroline Pointer
I will be attending my first family reunion next month. I'm looking forward to poking around the graveyards while I'm in the area.
ReplyDeleteFind-A-Grave has a Samuel Blacketer buried at Heath Cemetery in McFall, MO. Judging by the information in the obituary, this might be your Samuel.