The Van Bibber Pioneers newsletter reached another milestone this month by adding it's 600^th subscriber. He is Robert "Bob" Lowell Howton who lives in Portland, Oregon, and is the 5^th great grandson of George Yoakum, Sr. and Martha Van Bebber.

Bob was born October 19, 1947 in Portland. He was the third child of three, by Robert Wayne Howton and Velma Lenore Knight. He was raised in a military family, as his dad was career Air Force. He attended many different schools all over the U.S., graduating in 1965 from Bolton High School in Alexandria, Louisiana. After graduation, Bob joined the Air Force, and after tech school was stationed in Othello, Washington. From there he went to Vietnam as a combat air controller, was wounded, and finished out his tour as a radio repair/operator in a medical evacuation unit. When he returned home, he stayed in the military for two more years, ending his enlistment in Thule, Greenland.

After his enlistment in the Air Force, Bob moved to where his sister was living in Grand Ledge, Michigan. He trained for and became a police officer. After two years, he had formed an ambulance service with another paramedic, and decided to stay in that profession. He moved to South Carolina where he met his wife, Mary Frances Baker, who was an RN in the emergency room at the hospital he worked in. They have two sons by her previous marriage, Joel and Eric. Her genealogy goes back to the family of Napoleon Bonaparte in France. They later moved to Florida and remained there from 1973 to 1982, when they moved to Oregon. Bob went to work for Bonneville Power Administration, as a radio technician. He remained there until 1994, when he was placed on disability retirement from the Veterans Administration.

Bob and Mary are very proud to have discovered that Bob's ancestors were fundamental in the structuring of the United States, from the Van Bibbers being invited to the new lands by William Penn down to the Yoakums and Howtons being early transversers of the Oregon Trail and settling the new frontier. Bob is planning to travel soon to the Yoakum homesteads in Nolin, Umatilla County, Oregon, where his great-great grandfather Hughy Graham Yoakum, was the first judge in the county. His great grandfather, Henry Clay Yoakum, and his brother, Daniel Jack Yoakum, settled the New Meadows Valley and Genessee, Idaho in what was then Yoakum Hot Springs, and now is Zims Hot Springs. His great grandmother, Hermione Foss Yoakum, died a couple of weeks after the premature birth of her child. Hughy died shortly thereafter reportedly of a broken heart.

Bob has an almost complete genealogy of the Howton-Greer-Nelson family back to England and hopes to make as complete a lineage of the Yoakum family as possible.

John VanBibber and Chloe Staniford
   Hannah VanBibber and Goodrich Lightfoot Slaughter
      Catherine Grizzage Slaughter and Levi Welch

The name of Welch is one of the earliest encountered in the annals of the upper Kanawha Valley. It was Alexander Welch, County Surveyor of Greenbrier, who came over the mountains from Lewisburg to lay off the little town at the mouth of Elk for Colonel Clendenin. On the plat which he made in 1794, or earlier, his name appears as owner of lost eleven and twelve. Facing the river at the corner of Third Street, now Court, they were in the center of "Charlestown." He did not become a resident, however, as the first of the Welch family to settle in Charleston was the merchant, George Welch, who arrived about 1811. His two sons, Levi (1784-5 -- 1849), and John (1789 -- 1856), possessed many similar characteristics. They were men of extreme accuracy, and excelled as reliable bookkeepers and accountants, John serving as deputy clerk for several years. Both were salt producers and merchants--occupations so frequently combined that one wonders, with such competition, how storekeeping could have remained profitable.

About 1825 John Welch married Julia, sister of the Charleston merchant, James C. McFarland, and of their four children to reach maturity, two were daughters, Cornelia H. and Eliza. James, the eldest son, was killed in the Battle of Scary Creek on July 17, 1861. His brother, George Lewis, born 1833, also served in the Civil War, and was twice wounded. From 1862 to 1865 he was on the staff of General Seth Barton. In 1872 George Lewis married Caroline Donnally Kenna, daughter of Edward Kenna and Marjorie Lewis Kenna, and a sister of the Honorable John S. Kenna, member of the United States Senate.

Levi, brother of John Welch, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania. He is described in George W. Atkinson's History of Kanawha County as possessing "a mind of extraordinary strength, quickness and vigor, whose accuracy in all transactions, fidelity, and promptitude were proverbial." Mr. Welch was for many years proprietor of a store in Charleston, where the early homestead of the Welch family stood on Summers Street in a deep and shaded lot adjoining the alley beside the present Capitol Theatre building. In the heyday of the salt boom, Levi left the slower growing town on the Elk, and moved to the crowded and busy Salines, where money flowed out of pockets and into stores with far less persuasion on the part of the storekeeper. He became owner of a salt well, and an associate with other operators. He also acted as manager for different companies, and was invaluable as their accountant and bookkeeper.

One of his partnerships was with Colonel Andrew Donnally in two salt wells. Another was with Dickinson, Armstrong and Company. This firm had purchased a large area of the river front land at The Salines which, according to the "Saltsborough" plat, dated March 4, 1830, comprised eleven lots, Numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 15 and 16, secured from David Ruffner and his wife, Ann, in 1831, and Lot 14 obtained from another source the year following. The only two buildings then on this land were a tailor shop and a tavern which Mr. Ruffner was to remove within three years. There was a partnership agreement that provided in the event of the death of any of its members, those surviving became owners of the jointly-held property. Thus Levi Welch, the last survivor, came into possession of the various lots as sole owner of September 1, 1844. Lots 7 and 8 were at the upper end of the tract, and faced the river, with Lots 15 and 16 adjoining in the front and rear, and an "alley" on the lower side. Upon the upper corner -- Lot Number 8 -- Mr. Welch erected a brick residence, and beside it, on Lot Number 7, a large store building. Construction, no doubt, was begun soon after Mr. Welch became owner of the lots, and was possibly completed in 1845.

The store building is long since gone, but the house remains. Large and comfortable, it is well built and pleasantly situated on a tree-filled lawn surrounded by a hedge. It faces the river -- once the salt-makers' highway -- but the road that passed its door and led to the old ferry has been partially undermined by the wash of floods, and since abandoned, the present highway now being located some distance away, at the base of the hill. The brick walls of this house are eighteen inches thick, giving winter warmth and summer coolness to its occupants. It is two stories in height, with an ell extending toward the rear, the doors of which originally opened on a long double veranda running its length. Another porch shelters the front entrance, the doorway surrounded by glass panels overhead and on the sides. The heavy door, unlike those usually seen, with panels arranged horizontally, has a single very wide vertical panel down its entire length.

The exterior of the house is in excellent condition, with few changes and its original interior is still intact. It is a dwelling of many doors, all wide and put together with wooden pegs, those between the high ceilinged double parlors being long folding doors. Carefully executed workmanship is apparent in the paneled inside casings of the deep-set windows, and in other details. The parlors open into the wide entrance hallway, whose proportions are those of a long room. The graceful stair against the outer wall, crosses at the end of the hall to the opposite wall, and terminates in a circular well. The seven-and-a-half-inch boards of the fine ash flooring at once attract attention, and are one of the pleasing features of the interior. A door at the end of the hallway opens into a small cross-hall from which a second stair leads to the floor above.

The kitchen was originally a separate building, near which was a large cistern that furnished water for the household. On the grounds still stands a two-story brick building containing four rooms, built as quarters for the house servants.

Levi Welch was married about 1821 to Catherine G., daughter of Goodrich and Hannah Slaughter, and they were the parents of one son, John S. Welch, and several daughters: Julia, who married James H. Fry; Miriam, who in 1859 became the second wife of Lewis Fry Donnally; C. Amelia, who married John B. Smith, of Louisville; Lolla V. Welch, Camillia Welch, and, strangely enough, there seems to have been another daughter named Camillia. The author does not attempt to explain it, but on a legal paper signed by the Welch sisters, their brother, and their husbands, the name "Camillia Welch" appears alone, indicating she was unmarried, while opposite the name of Charles Hedrick, who presumably was a son-in-law, appears the name of "Camellia Hedrick," and, moreover, opposite that of John B. Smith is "C. Amelia Smith." Perhaps the simplest explanation is that some clerk was not quite up to par that day he recorded this document.

In the summer of 1849 the Kanawha Valley was visited by its second epidemic of cholera. A frightening terror! Some of the victims, seized when at work in the fields, succumbed before they could reach their homes. Levi Welch was one of those stricken by this dread disease, from which he died on August 23, at sixty-five years of age. Leaving no will, his estate was handled through the courts, and in the distribution of property, the brick homestead was assigned to the widow. The appraisal of the estate indicates the Welch home was well furnished. The list of personal property enumerates a number of interesting items, among them 96 yards of Brussels carpet, 90 yards of "ingrain" carpet, stair carpet, three pairs of embroidered curtains, a gilt mirror, sofa, secretary, 50 yards turkey red chintz, 10 windsor chairs, and six beds -- one of which was described as "a truckle bed, bedding, and bedstead." He had two horses, a carriage, wagon, dray, and three cows. There were twelve slaves listed, several of whom were infants and children. A memorandum states Mr. Welch had given his piano to Mrs. Charles Hedrick during his lifetime, and after his death her husband returned it to the four Welch daughters, then unmarried.

The Welch house was later occupied for a number of years by the William D. Shrewsbury family, Mrs. Welch having apparently joined her daughter, Mrs. John B. Smith, in Louisville, Kentucky. On August 13, 1878, Mrs. Welch and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, who had previously become joint owners of the property, sold The Salines "Homestead" to Anastasia M. Hubbard, of Malden, for one thousand dollars -- for four lots, a large brick dwelling, store building, two-story brick quarters, and other outbuildings, the amount seems so low as to appear ludicrous and unbelievable in comparison with present day prices of real estate.

Pioneers and Their Homes on Upper Kanawha, By Ruth Woods Dayton, Charleston, West Virginia, 1947. Pages #190-195.

George Edgar Black was born at Platteville, Wis., on September 28, 1859, and died on February 3, 1936, in Seaside Hospital at Long Beach, Cal.

George Edgar Black lived in Platteville till 1881, when he moved to North Dakota after the death of his mother, Amanda Evaline McWilliams (Black). He took up a claim in North Dakota and lived there for two years. The snow was so deep on his farm that he had to use a rope to guide him when he went from the house to the barn.

In 1883 he moved into Grand Forks, N.D., where he was engaged as a boilermaker for the railroad until 1924. He was active in the Congregational Church, in which on an Easter Sunday he met his future wife, Mary Emeline Houge. She visited Grand Forks in 1893, where she was selling volumes of the Poems of William Cullen Bryant, and sold one to George Edgar Black. They were married on January 23, 1895.

In 1934, George Edgar Black and his wife Mary went to New York to meet their son Richard Blackburn Black on his return from the South Pole. In 1935, George Edgar Black and his wife drove to California. The following year he died in Seaside Hospital at Long Beach. Richard Blackburn Black and his young son Douglas were with George Edgar Black when he died.

George Edgar Black was the son of John Thomas Clellan Black, who was born in Bond Co., Ill., on September 16, 1833, and died of fever on October 22, 1864, at Atlanta, Ga., in Sherman’s "March to the Sea" during the Civil War. He was a Private in Company E, 25^th Wisconsin Infantry. He was originally buried in Grave No. 7056, Sect. G, in the U.S. National Cemetery at Marietta, Ga.

George Edgar Black’s mother was Amanda Evaline McWilliams (Black), who was born on August 12, 1839, at Edwardsville, Ill., and died on February 2, 1880, at Platteville, Wis. Her other children were Mary Ellen Black (Casselman), b March 18, 1861; and John Edward Black, b March 16, 1863 and d in February, 1938.

Amanda Evaline McWilliams (Black) was one of twelve children of Alexander McWilliams and Martha Patsy Yoakum (McWilliams). Alexander McWilliams was born in Madison Co., Ky., on October 16, 1813. He was the son of Andrew McWilliams and Mary Kincaid (McWilliams), who died in 1816. The McWilliams came from Scotland, and the Kincaids from Ireland. Alexander McWilliams died at Ellenboro, Wis., on September 27, 1870, and is buried at Union Cemetery, Lima Township, Grant Co., Wis. He and Martha Patsy Yoakum were married in Madison Co., Ill., on August 24, 1837. Martha was born in Madison Co., Ill., on December 11, 1816, and died in Harrison Township on September 20, 1902. She is buried in Union Cemetery, Lima Township, Grant Co., Wis. She was the daughter of John Yoakum of Tennessee and Rachel Weaver (Yoakum) of Virginia, who resided in Madison Co., Ill.

The Baylis Family of Virginia, Compiled by Mrs. Willetta Baylis Blum and Dr. William Blum Sr., Washington D.C., 1958. Pages #294 & 295.

Morrison Boal Orr, a director of the Orr Felt & Blanket Company at Piqua, and one of that city's energetic and progressive business men, was born at Piqua, March 11, 1894, a son of Aaron Morrison and Eliza VanBibber (Boal) Orr. The late A. Morrison Orr was one of Piqua's most successful business men. He was born September 7, 1856, in Darke county, Ohio, a son of Gen. W. P. Orr, and was educated there and at Piqua. His first business venture was in the grain and linseed oil line in partnership with a Mr. Leonard, but the name of the firm was later changed to the W. P. Orr Linseed Oil Company. This concern subsequently sold out to the American Linseed Oil Company, and when this change was effected Mr. Orr remained with the new concern as manager of the sales department, at Cincinnati. He severed his connection with that business in February, 1897, at which time he became interested in a paper mill and stove works, and in 1900 bought out the F. Gray Felt & Blanket Company and founded the Orr Felt & Blanket Company, which has become one of Miami county's largest manufacturing concerns and a history of which will be found in the industrial part of this work. Mr. Orr was a devout member of the Presbyterian church, an Elk and a member of the Piqua Business Men's Club. In his death his community lost a capable, greatly respected and public-spirited man. Mr. Orr married Eliza Van Bibber Boal, a native of Kentucky, and they became the parents of two children: Martha Louise, the wife of W. R. Casparis of Columbus, and Morrison Boal. Morrison Boal Orr was educated in the Piqua public schools and after his graduation from high school, in 1912, pursued a course at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N. H. Graduated in 1914, he entered Yale University, as a student of Sheffield Scientific School, and was attending his studies there when the United States entered the World war. He enlisted in the navy at Newport, R. I., in April, 1917, and in June of the same year received his commission as ensign. Subsequently he served on board the United States Ship Chattanooga from June until December, when he was transferred to the United States Destroyer McDonough, serving thereon until August, 1918, and being then transferred to the United States Naval Railway Battery. He received his honorable discharge March 1, 1919, and returned to Piqua, where he became a director of the Orr Felt & Blanket Company. Mr. Orr is well thought of in business circles and is highly popular with all who know him. He holds membership in the Masons and Elks and has a number of civic and social connections of importance.

1. William P. Howard (Isaac2, Robert1) was born April 15, 1816 in White Co., TN, and died July 25, 1859 in TN. He married Malinda Haston September 05, 1839 in White Co., TN. She was born December 26, 1815 in TN, and died January 25, 1892 in Yell Co., AR.

Children of William Howard and Malinda Haston are:

Isaac VanBibber and Sarah Davis
   James VanBebber, Sr. and Hannah Hoover
      James VanBebber, Jr. and Nancy Ann Ferrill
         George Noah VanBebber and Mary G. Jackson
            Frances Marion VanBebber and Ila Jeffery
              Harriet Mildred VanBebber and Horace Henry Tefteller
                 Lenora June Tefteller and William Wurtz, Sr.

Mrs. Wurtz was born on April 11, 1926, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Horace and Harriet Tefteller and the granddaughter of F.M. and Ila Van Bebber, pioneers of the Cherokee Strip. She graduated from Perry High School in 1943 where she was football queen that year, and a member of the school marching band. Mrs. Wurtz attended Oklahoma A&M University. She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church and volunteered in numerous youth groups.

Mrs. Wurtz is survived by her daughter, Sandra Sue Wurtz, of Alexandria, Virginia; her son William Wurtz, of Issaquah; an uncle, Earl Van Bebber, of Tracy, California; cousins, Joan Bamberger, of Reno, Nevada; Wynona Passow and Gene Van Bebber, both of Perry; Karen Bode, of Orlando, Oklahoma; Charles Van Bebber, of Frisco, Texas; Vern Van Bebber, of Chandler, Oklahoma; Richard Van Bebber, of Stockton, California; Jack Van Bebber, of Pacific Grove, California; Earl Schallenberg, of Plano, Texas; and Van Schallenberg, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. William Wurtz Sr., her former husband, lives in Joplin, Missouri.

Family and friends are invited to sign the family's on-line guest book and photo memorial at www.flintofts.com.

Arrangements are under the direction of Flintoft’s Issaquah Funeral Home.

Isaac VanBibber and Sarah Davis
   James VanBebber, Sr. and Hannah Hoover
      Isaac VanBebber and Hannah Long
         George VanBeber and Mary Elizabeth Tinsley
             James VanBever and Mary A. Robbins
               William VanBever and Eliza Jane Carmony
                  Carrie Lee VanBever and Grant Ingram

PAGE CUT OFF — Carrie Ingram, 85, passed away Saturday, July 13, 2002, at Tri-State Comprehensive Care Center, Harrogate, Tenn. She was born May 5, 1917, at Colmar, a daughter of the late William and Lisa Carmony Vanbeber. She was a lifelong resident of this area, and a member of Ferndale Baptist Church.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Rev. Grant Ingram in 1987; a daughter, Helen Bunch; sister, Edna Houstead; three brothers, Fred, Clifford, and Roy Vanbeber; and a granddaughter, Sissy Hurst. Survivors include her children, Earl Ingram, Pineville, Nadine Webb, Pineville, Geraldine Prater, Arnold Ingram, Ewing, Va., Janice Hurst, Pineville; Mike Ingram, Middlesboro; 22 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren, she raised two grandchildren, Dennis Wright and Jackie Nunez; sisters, Evelyn (Tip) Moore, Middlesboro, Morie Arnett, Hamilton, Ohio, Jeanette Tucker, Henderson, N.C., Eva Thacker, Arthur, Tenn.; brother, Harold Vanbeber, Middlesboro; and a host of family, friends, and special granddaughter, Tammy Mason.

Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Shumate Funeral Home with the Revs. Randy Wilson and Clarence Mason presiding. Music will be provided by the Ferndale Baptist Church choir and Billy Ray Hoskins. Burial will be in Hurst Cemetery on Page Cut Off.

Grandsons will serve as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be Don Mason, Perry Mason, Dr. Charles Moore, Lynn Miracle, Charles Prater, Wade Hurst, Hugh Lane, and Rev. Tip Moore. Arrangements by Shumate Funeral Home, Middlesboro.

The Middlesboro Daily News -- Middlesboro, Bell County, Kentucky -- July 15, 2002

John VanBibber and Chloe Staniford
   James VanBibber and Lois Reynolds
      Cyrus VanBibber, Sr. and Mary S. Rachel Timberlake
          James Timberlake VanBibber and Evaline Raison
             Charles VanBibber

Sacramento City Cemetery 1875 - 1885

Van Bibber, C. died 18 Oct 1885 age 18 yrs, 8 mths, 18 days.

Rest in Peace, Early Records from Cemeteries in the City and County of Sacramento, California, Vol. #7, Page #122, by Dorothy M. Bayless.

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Peter VanBibber and Marguery Bounds
   Olive VanBibber and Nathan Boone
      Sarah Wilcoxin Boone and Winfield Scott Mullen Wright
         Mahala Olive Wright and James C. Robertson

Robertson, James C. - Wright, Olive M. married Nov. 9, 1875 - Book E, Page #62.

Sonoma County Marriages 1847 - 1902, Sonoma County Genealogical Society, Inc., Santa Rosa, California, March 1990, First Edition. Page #103.

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Isaac VanBibber and Sarah Davis
   Nancy VanBebber and Robert Howard
      Isaac Howard and Sarah Moore
         William P. Howard and Malinda Haston
             Joseph Haston Howard and Samantha J. Campbell
                William Isaac Howard

Louvenia Cemetery, Yell County, Arkansas

Howard, Wm. Isaac, son of J. H. and S. J. -- b. 6 Oct 1874 d. 24 Aug 1875

Cemeteries of Yell County, Arkansas Volume 2, by Doyle Traxler and Mary V. Humphrey, 1980, Page #29.

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Peter VanBibber and Marguery Bounds
   John Jesse VanBibber and Rachel Greenlee
      Elizabeth VanBibber and Joseph Smith
         VanBibber Smith and Louisa Hart
            Sarah Jane Smith and Nelson Everett Slocum
               Earl Slocum

Kirby Cemetery

Slocum, Earl son of N. E. & S. J. Slocum, Died Apr. 27, 1895 age 8 yr. 7 m. 19 d.

Wayne County, Iowa Cemeteries, by Wayne County Genealogical Society, 1979. Page #290.

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Isaac VanBibber and Sarah Davis
   Isaac VanBibber, Jr. and Elizabeth Hays
      Susannah VanBibber and Thomas Hickerson
         Melissa Hickerson and Fountain Baker Sampson
            Lucy J. Sampson and Perry J. Wright

Mrs. Lucy WRIGHT died at her home southwest of LaPlata, Mo. 16 January 1907 from blood poison in her hand. She was the widow of the late Perry Wright and the mother of five surviving sons and one daughter.

The Macon Republican 1907.

Macon County Missouri Obituaries 1904 - 1920, Compiled by Phyllis E. Mears, Page #73.

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Isaac VanBibber and Sarah Davis
   John VanBebber and Margaret Chrisman
      Peter VanBebber and Martha Hunt
         Martha E. VanBebber and Joseph Moad
            Mary Jane Moad and Nicholas H. Schooler

SCHOOLER, Lucy J., et al minors. Filed 1 Mar 1893. Heirs of Nicholas H. Schooler, their father: Schooler, Lucy J., age 16 - Oct. 17, 1892; Thurcy L., age 13 - Mar. 30, 1892; Fletcher M., age 9 - July 7, 1892; William D., age 5 - June 2, 1892. Mary J. Schooler, widow of Nicholas Schooler made petition to be named gdn. 1 Mar. 1893. Appt. 15 Mar. 1893. She states they have interest in estate of James M. Schooler, the father of Nicholas H. SUR: Joseph E. Schooler & W.D. Hunt.

Wilson County, Kansas Estate Records From Probate Judge's Files 1866 through 1912, Volume II, 1981. Page #137.

Deposition in support of his application

for his Union Army pension.

My name is Canada H. Rogers, my age is 59 years, my Post Office is Tazewell, Claiborne County, Tenn. I am a farmer. I was a 2^nd Lieut in Company C, 1^st Regiment Tenn Infantry. In December 1861 while at London, Ky I was taken sick with fever and went to the house of George Miller, a citizen. I was treated by Dr. Rogers, assistant surgeon of my regiment and afterwards by Dr. Doak, a civilian. I remained at Miller's house about 8 weeks when I joined my company at Summersette, Ky. just before the battle of Mill Springs. I did not go upon duty until Feby 1862. In November 1862 while on detached service I was captured by a rebel command under Major Montgomery and placed in prison in Knoxville, Tenn. where I remained until Jun 1863 when I escaped by jumping from a window 15 feet from the ground. I again joined my regiment at Lancaster, Ky about the last of June 1863 and went on duty.

In the winter of 1863-4 while with my company in Meigs County, Tenn I was attacked with rheumatism which I believe was caused by exposure while a prisoner in Knoxville. I went to the house of a man named Gaddis and remained there about 3 weeks. I was treated by a citizen physician whose name I have now forgotten. I was troubled with rheumatism more or less from that time until I was discharged from the service on the 17^th day of September 1864 and from then until the present time.

In 1869 I became ruptured. My physician Dr. Lewis informed me that it was caused by weakness. I know of no other cause for it. After my discharge from the service Drs. Crank and Lewis treated me. Since my discharge from the service I have followed farming, having it carried on for me. I have never since my discharge been able to do any heavy or fatiguing labor. When I enlisted I was a healthy, able-bodied man and was entirely free from rupture or rheumatism. I have lived in Claiborne County for 47 years last past except about 12 years I lived in Campbell County a few miles distance from my old home in this county. I think Dr. Mitchell is the doctor's name who treated at Gaddis' house.

Subscribed and sworn to before me and I certify that I have no interest in this matter; this 8 day of July 1885.