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James Meginley Elizabeth Fisher Martin Eckert Maria Terpenning
b c1807 b c1800 bp 4 Dec 1791 b 2 Dec 1797
d 10 May 1872 d 11 May 1872 d 5 Dec 1849 d 1 Oct 1868
:.....................: :...............:
.........:.................. :
: : : Melinda Eckert
George Mary Samuel b 13 June 1832
b c1832 b July 1834 b c1836 d 11 Nov 1910
d 20 Nov 1864 d 10 Feb 1915 d 28 May 1913 :
:...24 Jan 1858...:
:
James M. Meginley Maggie Choate
b 22 Mar 1859 b 30 June 1867
d 13 May 1929 d 13 June 1961
:.....2 May 1886.....:
:
Caroline Noeldner Leo J. Meginley
b 15 Feb 1884 b 15 Dec 1887
d 19 Jan 1960 d 11 Sept 1962
:.....30 June 1910.....:
Jump to the names: Choate, Eckert, Meginley, Noeldner, Terpenning.
John Miller Christina Conrad Fix Cressentia Broghammer
b Baden b ? b 4 Nov 1809 b 10 April 1811
d ? d ? d 14 Aug 1897 d Aug 1852
:................: :....26 Nov 1832....:
: :
John P. Miller Josephine Fix
b c1826 b 26 Feb 1836
d 9 Feb 1879 d 9 Dec 1893
:..............................:
:
Josephine Miller William August Noeldner
bp 29 Jan 1857 b c1845
d 19 April 1941 d 11 Dec 1888
:....20 Oct 1878....:
:
Leo J. Meginley Caroline Noeldner
b 15 Dec 1887 b 15 Feb 1884
d 11 Sept 1962 d 19 Jan 1960
:.........30 June 1910.........:
Jump to the names: Fix, Meginley, Noeldner.
The ancestry of the Choate family, at least those that descend from John Choate, an early (c1640) settler of Massachussetts, is traced in detail in O. E. Jameson's book The Choate Family in America. The heads of the two Ionia Co. Choate lines are mentioned, although their immediate ancestry in Middlesex Co., Ontario is lacking sufficient detail. For that reason, their history begins with their common father. The half-brothers came at different times, Nathan first and Hiram later. Hiram first emigrated to Flushing in Gneessee Co., before coming to Ionia Co. the year my great grandmother Maggie was born.It might be of interest that their father was a "late loyalist," whose family was cheated of their lands by speculators racing ahead of news of rapidly deflating Continental currency. James emigrated to Canada, and two of his sons then returned to United States citizenship. Seeing that one of his grandsons was named George Washington Choate, family British loyalties cannot have been too strong.
JAMES CHOATE
b c1776 (Enfield, NH) d 28 Mar 1832 (Middlesex Co., ONT, CAN)
m Miss McCleary, c1800
issue:
D) Nathan Choate
b 14 Feb 1815 (near London, ONT, CAN) d 7 June 1875 (Smyrna)
m Caroline Gibbs
b 7 Aug 1875 (Three Rivers, QUE, CAN) d 13 July 1858 (Smyrna)
Nathan first settled in Kiddville, before moving to Smyrna.
Sons George Washington and Alonzo Freeman served in the Union
Army, the latter became a popular lay preacher in the Belding
area, before moving to North Dakota.
issue:
a) James Edwin Choate
b c1838 d c1843
b) William David Choate
b 26 April 1840 d 1 April 1870
c) George Washington Choate
b 12 June 1842 (London, ONT CAN) d 15 Feb 1902
m Ella Garth Mitchell, 14 Oct 1856
d) Hannah Melissa Choate
b 24 Mar 1844 d 19 July 1935 (Smyrna, Ionia co., MI)
m Americ Joslyn, 17 Feb 1859
d 14 Nov 1862 (Louisville, KY)
2m Oren Purdy, 28 April 1866
b 14 Nov 1842 (Potsdam, NY) d 25 Mar 1910
e) Alonzo Freeman Choate
b 2 Mar 1846 (Ingersoll, ONT) d 15 Feb 1906
m Esther Baker, 30 Dec 1866
b 22 Aug 1845 (Oakland Co., MI)
2m ELIZABETH HOFFMANN, c1819
issue:
F) HIRAM CHOATE
b 23 April 1821 (Middlesex Co, ONT, CAN) d 30 Mar 1903
m MARGARET WARD, 19 Mar 1844 (Brock Co., ONT, CAN)
While it is possible to trace Hiram's ancestry, nothing is
known of the origins of his wife, except for the names of her
parents, which are given in the Jameson book.
issue:
a) William E. Choate
b 11 Jan 1845 d 8 Jan 1917 (Belding, Ionia Co., MI)
m Viola Witt
b) James Choate
b 13 May 1847 d 2 Mar 1864 (Flushing, Genessee Co., MI)
c) Christopher Choate
b 14 May 1849 d 5 Sept 1936 (Belding, Ionia Co., MI)
m Lucy Hanks, 4 Sept 1871
d) Maria J. Choate
b 24 Oct 1851
m William Anderson, 25 April 1872 (Grand Rapids, MI)
e) Zaccheus ("Zach") Choate
b 24 Jan 1854
m Carrie Seeley, 22 Aug 1876 (Woods Corner, Ionia Co.)
f) John F. Choate
b 16 April 1856 (Flushing, Gennesse Co., MI)
g) Agnes E. Choate
b 22 Sept 1858 d 10 Jan 1863 (Flushing, Gennesee Co., MI)
h) Adelia E. Choate
b 9 Aug 1862 (Flushing, Gennessee Co., MI)
m Freeman Wood, 30 May 1880
i) Carrie E. Choate
b 1 Mar 1865 (Flushing, MI) d 23 Mar 1867 (Flushing)
j) MAGGIE E. CHOATE
b 30 June 1867 (Belding, MI) d 13 June 1961 (Belding, MI)
m JAMES MEGINLEY, 2 May 1886
b 22 Mar 1859 (Ionia Co.) d 13 May 1929 (Belding, MI)
see Meginley for descent.
It is possible to trace the ancestry of MARTIN ECKERT by using Hank Z. Jones' excellent books on New York's 1710 Palatine immigrants, records from various Dutch Reformed churches around Kingston, NY and Anjou's book of Ulster Co., NY Probate records. But, shortly after they married the couple disappears from these sources and only reappears in the 1849 Mortality Schedule for Ionia Co., MI, recording the death of Martin. Perhaps the explanation is as simple as their reverting to Lutheran Protestantism (until then not very common in the Hudson River valley) at a church for which records have not survived, or perhaps they moved. A history of Ionia Co. states that they arrived in 1843, having passed through Washtenaw Co., where Jeremiah Eckert (below) must have found his bride-to-be. But we don't know where the offsping of Martin were born.
The Eckerts of Belding are all gone now, but may have cousins in central or northern Michigan. If so, I hope to hear from you!
MARTIN ECKERT
bp 4 Dec 1791 (Kingston, NY) d 5 Dec 1848 (Ionia Co., MI)
m MARIA E. TERPENNING
b 2 dec 1798 (Ulster Co., NY) d 1 Oct 1868 (Ionia Co., MI)
issue:
B) Abram Eckert
b c1819 (Ulster Co., NY) d 1914 (Gratiot Co., MI)
m Amanda Carter, 1 Jan 1846 (Ionia, Ionia Co., MI)
b 1831 d 1917
C) Jeremiah Eckert
b c1820 (Ulster Co., NY) d 21 Aug 1897 (Ionia Co., MI)
m Sabina P. Thornton, 1 Dec 1845 (Washtenaw Co., MI)
b 20 May 1827 (Washtenaw Co., MI) d 20 Oct 1902 (Ionia Co.)
D) Hiram Eckert
b c1825 (Ulster Co., NY) d 9 April 1859 (Ionia Co., MI)
m Mary Meginley, 25 Dec 1853 (Ionia Co., MI)
b July 1834 d 10 Feb 1915 (Grand Rapids, MI)
E) Hannah Margaret Eckert
b May 1826 (Ulster Co., NY) d 9 June 1877 (Ionia Co., MI)
F) James E. Eckert
b c1829 Ulster Co., NY) d 20 Dec 1874 (Ionia Co., MI)
m Lucy
b April 1840 d 25 May 1910
G) MELINDA ECKERT
b 13 June 1832 (Ulster Co., NY) d 11 Nov 1910 (Belding, MI)
m SAMUEL MEGINLEY, 24 Jan 1858 (Orleans Twp., Ionia Co., MI)
b c1836 (Pennsylvania) d 28 May 1913 (Ionia Co.?, MI)
see Meginley for descent.
CONRAD FIX brought his small family (leaving several infants in the soil of his native Wuerttemberg) to Richland Co., OH in 1852. There his wife died, although I have found no trace of her demise or burial. About 1856 they then came to Kalamazoo, a city with a large and growing German population. Whether daughter Josephine Fix married before or after the move has not been learned, because while Miller families existed in both places, traces of them are now lost. Conrad's life was not a happy one. His son Rupert remained in Ohio, and was killed in the Civil War. He tried running a grocery store in Allegan Co., MI, but claimed to have failed (this is somewhat suspect, because at the time he was applying for a father's pension based on the death of Rupert, who would have been a source of support in his old age). He died in Dowagiac, Cass Co., MI, living alone but in the same city as a grand-daughter-in-law named Miller, who I have not been able to trace. A second son, Conrad, also served in the Civil War, and was wounded.
CONRAD FIX
b 4 Nov 1809 (Kirnbach, Wuerttemberg, GER) d 14 Aug 1897 (Dowagiac, MI)
m CRESSENZIA BROGHAMMER, 26 Nov 1832 (Scharmberg, Wuerttemberg, GER)
b 10 April 1811 (Kirnbach, Wuerttemberg, GER) d Aug 1852 (Ohio)
issue:
C) MARIA JOSEPHA (JOSEPHINE) FIX
b 26 Feb 1836 (Kirnbach, GER) d 9 Dec 1893 (Kalamazoo, MI)
m JOHN P. MILLER
b c1826 d 9 Feb 1879 (Kalamazoo, MI)
see Miller for descent.
D) Rupert Fix
b 27 Mar 1838 (Kirnbach, GER) d 10 June 1864 (Marietta, GA)
E) Matilda Fix
b 10 Dec 1839 (Kirnbach) d 5 Feb 1904 (Dorr, Allegan Co. MI)
m James Taylor, c1856
2m Lyman C. Eastman, 10 June 1863 (Ionia, Ionia Co., MI)
d 20 May 1865 (Nashville, TN)
3m Daniel Cogswell, 23 Mar 1867 (ionia, Ionia Co., MI)
b c1826 (Marion, Wayne Co., NY)
d 6 June 1892 (Cass City, Tuscola Co., MI)
H) Cresentia Fix
b 4 June 1845 (Heiligenbron, GEER) d 10 July 1929 (Gr. Rapids)
m Newton Young, 19 Mar 1872 (Dorr, Allegan Co., MI)
J) Conrad Fix
b 28 Jan 1847 (Heiligenbronn, GER) d 9 May 1925
We know very little about the origins of my Meginley ancestor. JAMES MEGINLEY left Ireland bearing the name of either McGinley or Maginley (a variant that may have been used in English-speaking areas), and his descendants settled on the final version only in this century, often known by the Maginley spelling during the 19th century. Of his wife's Scottish parentage we know nothing. Presumably it is him mentioned in a history Tioga Co., PA, and them in the 1840 census. He travelled to the wilds of Montcalm Co. in 1849, leaving his family in Oakland Co., MI (above Detroit). Their first son, George, enlisted for Civil War service at Greenville and died in a prisoner or war camp. His descendants still live in the Grand Rapids vicinity. The second, son, my ancestor, farmed near Orleans in Iona Co. and eventually retired to Belding. His son, James, after living elsewhere, returned to Belding, where he served as Parks Commissioner and City Marshall. My grandfather took a job in a relative's brick yard in Kalamazoo, moving to Detroit in 1914, where he became a construction supervisor, all the while retaining his membership in the Bricklayer's Union, which he would have joined just after the turn of the century.
JAMES McGINLEY/MAGINLEY/MEGINLEY
b c1807 (Ireland) d 10 May 1872 (Montcalm Co.; bur. Oakhill Cem., Ionia)
m ELIZABETH FISHER
b c1800 d 11 May 1872 (Montcalm Co.; bur. Oakhill Cem., Ionia, MI)
issue:
A) George Meginley
b c1832 (Pennsylvania) d 20 Nov 1864 (Florence, NC)
m Susan Taylor, 7 May 1853 (Orleans Twp., Ionia Co., MI)
2m Priscilla Thompson, 10 Dec 1854 (Fairplains, Montcalm Co.)
b c1838 9 Feb 1892
issue:
a) Ruth Meginley
b 15 Feb 1857
m Andrew Cooper, 1886?
b) Bob Meginley
B and d June 1859 (Montcalm Co., MI)
c) James G. Meginley
b 13 Sept 1860 d 2 Sept 1924 (Greenville, Montaclm Co.)
m Rosetta Permelia Sperry, 3 Nov 1886
B) Mary Meginley
b July 1834 d 10 Feb 1915 (Grand Rapids, MI)
m Hiram Eckert, 25 Dec 1853 (Orleans Twp., Iona Co., MI)
b c1825 (Ulster Co., NY) d 9 April 1859
2m DeWitt Grover, 18 July 1860 (Fairplains, Montcalm Co., MI)
d 16 June 1862
3m Mr. Butler
C) SAMUEL MEGINLEY
b c1836 (Pennsylvania) d 28 May 1913 (Ionia Co.?)
m MELINDA ECKERT, 24 Jan 1858 (Ionia Co., MI)
b 13 June 1832 (Ulster Co., NY) d 11 Nov 1910 (Belding, MI)
issue:
a) JAMES M. MEGINLEY
b 22 Mar 1859 Orleans Twp.) d 13 May 1929 (Belding, MI)
m MAGGIE CHOATE
b 30 June 1867 d 13 June 1961 (Belding, MI)
issue:
a] LEO J. MEGINLEY
b 15 Dec 1887 d 11 Sept 1962 (Royal Oak, MI)
m CAROLINE NOELDENER, 30 June 1910 (Kalamazoo, MI)
b 15 Feb 1884 (Ishpeming, MI) d 19 Jan 1960
b] Olen Meginley
m Lea
2m Bessy
3m Esther
b 1 July 1897 d 16 Feb 1975 (Farmington, MI)
b) Mary E ("Mate") Meginley
b c1861
m William R. Kahler
c) Ella S. Meginley
b c1866
d) Addie F. Meginley
m Thomas Foy
e) Sabina Meginley
b 1868 d 10 May 1881 (Ionia Co., MI)
We know nothing of the origins of JOHN P. MILLER, not even what the "P" stands for. No survivng descendants seem to live in the Kalamzoo area. He was a stone cutter, who worked for a monument company. A family memory suggests that he came to the U.S. as a child, but this is uconfirmed. I suspect that he married in or near Richalnd Co., OH, but information on Miller families there is likewise lacking.
JOHN P. MILLER
b c1826 (Baden) d 9 Feb 1879 (Kalamazoo, MI)
m JOSEPHINE FIX
b 26 Feb 1836 (Kirnbach, GER) d 9 Dec 1893 (Kalamazoo, MI)
issue:
A) JOSEPHINE MILLER
bp 29 Jan 1857 (Kalamazoo, MI) d 19 April 1941 (Kalamazoo, MI)
m WILLIAM NOELDNER, 20 Oct 1878 (Negaunee, MI)
b c1845 (Berlin, Prussia) d 11 Dec 1888 (Ishpeming, MI)
see Noeldner for descent.
B) John M. Miller
bp 10 June 1859 (Kalamazoo, MI) d 1923 (Kalamazoo, MI)
m Ella Allen, 22 Dec 1892 (Kalamazoo, MI)
C) Joseph W. Miller
bp 14 April 1861 (Kalamazoo, MI) d before 1896 (Lowell, MI)
m Mary Ann
D) (Christina) Mary Miller
bp 22 Mar 1863 (Kalamazoo, MI) d 19 Jam 1946 (Kalamazoo, MI)
m Franz Christian Stehele
E) George W. Miller
bp 3 April 1866 (Kalamazoo, MI
m Ellen Blanche Scott, 27 Nov 1886 (Kalamazoo, MI)
F) Henry Miller
b 18 April 1876
d ?
If any part of my mother's ancestry can be classified as a genuine mystery, it has to be the origins of WILLIAM AUGUST NOELDNER. The only time he appears in a census record (1880), the tantalysing information that he was born in Berlin is offered. Eight years later, when my grandmother was four and still to young to ask questions, his death is reproted in two newspapers, which give no further clues, nor does anybody in the family know where he might have come from. Needless to say, no trace has been found in surviving church records in Berlin. Perhaps the most frustrating bit of data is that a fair number of living people with the surname Noeldner reside in Wisconsin and Minnesota, but they all seem to descend from a family that emigrated from Schlotau in Germany in 1880, after the marriage of William.
WILLIAM AUGUST NOELDNER
b c1845 (Berlin, GER)
d 11 Dec 1888 (Ishpeming, MI)
m JOSEPHINE MILLER, 20 Oct 1878 (Negaunee, MI)
bp 29 Jan 1957 (Kalamazoo, MI)
d 19 April 1941 (Kalamazoo, MI)
issue:
C) (ANNA) CAROLINE NOELDNER
b 15 Feb 1884 (Ishpeming, MI)
d 19 Jan 1960 (Royal Oak, MI)
m LEO J. MEGINLEY, 30 June 1910 (Kalamazoo, MI)
b 15 Dec 1887 (Ionia Co., MI)
d 11 Sept 1962 (Royal Oak, MI)
While I don't have any direct Terpenning ancestors who lived in Michigan, when Hannah Eckert died in 1877, one of the beneficiaries named in her will was her uncle Andrew Terpenning. I would be happy to correspond with his descendants, who may be scattered across the lower tier of Michigan's counties, if current phone books are any indication.
For those interested, my main source of information on Terpenning ancestry is "A Terpenning Workbook" by Don Terpenning. I'm not sure if it was published or not.
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