I have been working frantically on the genealogy information for Mark’s family presents. For the first time I am trying to see what I can get back from the National Archives on immigration records. The person that I am requesting information on is John Wendel. From information found on Census records it seems that he came over from Germany when he was 9 years old in 1830. We don’t know who his parents were or his siblings, so this is a real shot in the dark.
Information on Ancestry’s immigration records shows that a John Wendel was on a ship that landed in Baltimore, Maryland in 1830. Unfortunately for me it doesn’t show a copy of the ships record or passenger lists. It does note that John was 9 at the time of arrival. I included the file information on the request that displayed on ancestry in hopes that helps the research find what I am looking for. Now it is back to waiting.
Some of the other lines have turned up interesting information. Most of Mark’s ancestors came from the North Carolina area, moved across Tennessee and then into Missouri and Arkansas. His family was definitely a group of southerners, a large contrast to my family that immigrated into Maine and Massachusetts and then moved into New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania to live. We have truly become North meets South in this family.
The Yates family was one of the branches that started out in North Carolina; I can pick up their trail in Tennessee where they remained for several years. Nancy Catherine Yates Click Modrall descended from this group of people. There wasn’t a lot of information or research done on her. She only had one child, Albert Sydney Click and her husband George Click would die at a very young age, leaving her to marry again. Even her headstone leads to confusion because it refers to her as “Aunt Katie.” More digging around turned up that she went by her middle name to reduce confusion because of another Nancy in the family. Her family is colorful, several fought in the Civil War on the confederate side. Nancy’s grandfather would end up blowing himself up in the gunpowder mill where he worked. The speculation was that his corncob pipe, when lit, turned over as it frequently did, causing the explosion. He was 75 at the time.
They lived about 35 minutes west of Nashville, heading towards Memphis. We drive right past the exit on our way to and from Pennsylvania. We may have to plan a side trip one of these days and see what we can find in Nails Creek, Tennessee.