A Cancelled Marriage in Oklahoma

It has been a while since we've mentioned Montville Harness.

A search for Montville Harness's marriage record on FamilySearch indicated there were two references to he and Ella Boyer marrying in Canadian County, Oklahoma.

Both of these references indicate there was a marriage date.

The problem is that there was no marriage in 1901.

 The 1901 reference, shown in the image below, indicates that the marriage was cancelled. That word is written across the entire page in the marriage record and the "certificate of marriage" section of the record (not included here) is entirely blank.The couple was not married in 1901.

However, 151 pages later, in the entries for 1902, there is another entry for Harness and Boyer. This time they actually completed the marriage ceremony. A Methodist minister married the couple in Quincy, Oklahoma, in June of 1902.

FamilySearch.com makes it difficult to determine the specific letter of the volume from which these marriage record entries are taken. These images are taken from either volumes 4,5,or 6 from Canadian County, Oklahoma.

Getting the Adams County, Illinois, Deeds for Montvill Harness

As mentioned in an earlier post, Montvill Harness sold $5000 worth of property in Adams County, Illinois in the 1880s. 

The question is "how did he obain it?"

It seems interesting that a child who lived with his adopted family in 1870 and 1880 has property worth $5000 to sell in the 1880s. I've made contact with a researcher in Adams County, Illinois who will get copies of the deeds of sale for me and who will search the indexes to determine (if possible) how Montvill obtained the property. 

Montvill married Jennie Meltabarger in Adams County in 1881. It is possible that the acquisition of the property revolved around Jennie and not Montvill.

The newspaper indicates the deeds of sale were recorded. There may be deeds of acquisition or there may not. If Montvill (or his wife) inherited the property in the 1880s, common practice Illinois at the time was not to record a deed, particularly if there was a will involved. Adams County has a tract index which allows searchers to search for deeds based upon location. I'm hoping that answers the question.

If not, we'll have to go from there. 

A Recorded Copy of the Patent

I'm at a crossroads of sorts on obtaining information on Montvill Harness' property in Santa Fe County, New Mexico.

Armed with the legal description of his homestead, I emailed the county office responsible for the recording of deeds in Santa Fe County to see what it would cost to obtain a copy of:

• the recorded copy of the deed of acquisition (the patent)
• the recorded copy of the deed (or land transaction) where the property left Montvill's possession.

The "deed of acquisition" in this case it the land patent from the federal government. What I'll probably get is simply a recorded copy of that patent. Given that the patent was probably recorded in the county in the late 1910s, it will most likely be typed. I'm not even certain why I requested it. 

I have a copy of the patent from the National Archives. I probably don't need a copy of the recorded copy of the patent. The patent from NARA is the original record of the patent. The recorded copy is a derivative copy and it's doubtful there's some notation on it that reveals some big detail. 

What I want is a copy of the land transaction where the property is transferred from Montvill's possession to another person's ownership. The clerk couldn't find it. Of course it was the document I really wanted that the clerk could not find. 

There are several possible reasons for this. Some are more possible than others. Those main reasons are:

• it was never recorded
• it was indexed wrong
• the clerk overlooked the entry in the index
• the property was transferred by a will and there is not a deed recorded
• the property was transferred by some other court action and no deed is recorded (doubtful that this transaction would generate some type of deed with the judge as grantor)

The copy of the record copy of the patent is only $1. I may request it simply to find out when it was recorded. I may ask the clerk to look at the following page to see if it also mentions the property in question in case the deed of acquisition and disposition were recorded one right after the other. 

Next Step On Montvill Harness

Searching for every piece of paper takes time and money and sometimes one needs to remember just exactly what the goal is.

I've been working here and there on Montvill Harness who "appears" as an adopted child in an ancestor's household. I've found where Montvill homesteaded in New Mexico and where he died in New Mexico as well. His life between the late 1880s and 1910 is something of a mystery. I have some unresolved research issues with his second wife and apparently Montvill and his second wife had unresolved issues as well. However, I need to think about what it is I really am trying to find and focus my exhaustive research efforts in that direction--not in the direction of any piece or paper or document that I can find.

Montvill was the adopted son of my great-great-great-grandparents James and Elizabeth (Cheney) Rampley of Hancock County, Illinois. He was in their household in at least the 1870 and 1880 census enumerations. The question is, did he know who his parents were and did they have any connection to the Rampley family?

Montvill's death certificate lists "unknown" for his parents and his marriage in Adams County, Illinois, did not provide any additional information on his origins. Montvill does not appear to have used the Rampley surname after the 1880 census--and of course since he was a youngster in the Rampley household in 1880 he really didn't provide the name on his own anyway.

Here's where reviewing previous research and clearing out old cobwebs is necessary. There are adopted children in the Rampley household in 1860, 1870, and 1880. I discovered the entries early in my research (translation nearly thirty years ago) and for some reason concentrated on the Lobb name and not the Harness name. After reviewing the entries I'm not even certain the three enumerations are referring to the same person--just that they have a similar first name.

For now, I'm operating under the premise that Lobb and Harness are different people. And, I'm focusing on Harness for the time being.

There won't be any adoption records for Harness--it's simply too early for that. But, there could be a guardianship for him, especially if his parents were deceased and had any estate at all or if he inherited something from his biological family while in the Rampley's care.

Harness apparently owned property in Adams County, Illinois. It's unclear how that property was obtained.

To refocus on Montvill, I've decided to work on obtaining the following materials:

• Adams County, Illinois, deeds to determine how Montvill obtained the property (my premise is that it was through his first wife, but I could be incorrect).
• Santa Fe, New Mexico, deeds to determine how Montvill "unobtained" his homestead (did he sell it, or was it transferred after his death).
• Probate for Montvill Harness in New Mexico (this should assist in tracking down descendants who may shed some light on Montvill's origins).

The New Mexico materials may provide details on Montvill's second marriage which may also be helpful in my search. 

Montvill's Resting Place

A closeup of Montvill's probable burial spot.

It's not often that I have pictures of burial locations where there is not tombstone.

Kerry Scott of ClueWagon discovered the location for Montvill's burial in the Mountain Valley Cemetery in Barton, New Mexico, using a list of burials from a 1968 issue of the New Mexico Genealogist and information on Montvill's death certificate.

Montvill had no stone when Kerry visited the cemetery the weekend of March 22. Based on the fact that Montvill's family did not live in the area at the time of his death, I am speculating that a permanent stone was never erected.

Montvill Harness' probable burial spot is between
the tombstone (on the left) and the brush to the right of it.

Kerry also include some panoramic shots to provide some area of the terrain in the area. The mountains made travel more difficult in 1925 when Montvill died than they do today.

Montvill died after falling from his horse near Venus and breaking his neck.Why he is buried in this cemetery is a mystery to me at this point. I also am currently unaware of any connection between Montvill and Earl Farmer who was the informant on the death certificate.

Cemetery entrance

A big thanks to Kerry for making the trip to the cemetery for me. Her two children went with her as a weekend educational experience.

Genealogy Lessons:

• Not everyone has a stone
• Remember local geography when thinking about where your ancestor went to church, did business, etc. 
• Plat out the relative location of places mentioned in documents when you are unfamiliar with them. There's a significant distance between Montvill's place of death and place of burial.

No Montvill in Mountain View, New Mexico

A big thanks to Kerry Scott of Cluewagon (http://www.cluewagon.com) for making the trip to the Mountain Valley Cemetery in Barton, New Mexico, this weekend (22 March 2014) There is no stone for Montvill Harness in this cemetery, but based upon a transcription done in the 1960s (and available at the Albuquerque Public Library), Kerry was able to determine where he's supposed to be buried and where the stone should be.

We'll have a more detailed post later, but I've never embedded video in a post. The clip below contains Kerry's panoramic view of the cemetery from where Montvill should be.

A Mountain of Spelling Variations for Montvill

Individuals whose names can be spelled a variety of ways are frustrating for the genealogist. 

Montvell is one of those names. 

Spelling variations, nicknames, and diminutives can make it difficult for a researcher to find individuals in indexes, finding aids, and original records. Those same variant renderings can also create problems in trying to determine whether two people with "similar names" are actually the same person. 

And there there is the dilemma of how to refer to the person when writing about them.

As I go through the blog posts on Montvell Harness, I realize that I have spelled his name in blog posts in a variety of ways. It is time to stop that and choose one spelling of his name to use when writing about him. Of course when transcribing records, I'll use the spelling that is in the actual record. There are several reasons for that:

• it is the best way to create an accurate rendering of the original
• it allows the researcher to be aware of other ways to locate the name in records
• it provides a glimpse into how the name was pronounced

But flipping around and using different spellings for his name when writing about him is confusing. I've decided to use Montvell as his "name" because that's what he signed on his homestead papers in New Mexico in 1917. 

So when I write about Montvell in the 1870 census in Hancock County, Illinois, I'll use "Montvell" when discussing him, even though it's not spelled that way in the census. I will use the census spelling of his name in the transcription--because that's what the census says.

But in my analysis of his 1870 census entry, I'll use Montvell. 

There's one last reason for using the same spelling. It makes it easier for me. Instead of remembering how his name is spelled in each and every record so that I can refer to it that exact way in my discussion of that record, I'll simply cite my sources and, if necessary, include my reasons for why I think I have the same person. 

Another reason to cite our sources. Imagine that. 

A Horse and a Harness in New Mexico in 1925

With a little help from Kerry Scott (www.cluewagon.com), I have the death certificate of Montville Harness from Santa Fe County, New Mexico.

Montville died in October of 1925 in (or probably near to) Venus, New Mexico. The locations on his death certificate were somewhat difficult to read, but they are:

• Venus--where Montville died and where the informant lived
• Moriarty[spelling corrected from my original post]--where the doctor lived
• Barton--where Montville was buried

The image was posted to Genealogy Tip of the Day on Facebook as a discussion prompt and several individuals submitted suggestions and ideas for these locations. I thought I could read them myself, but was unable to quickly find them in available online references.  Kerry Scott located a reference to The Place Names of New Mexico by Robert Julyan which confirmed the place names on the death certifcate and their locations. Julyan on page 372 refers to Venus as a "trading point ten miles northwest of Moriarity" which had its own post office during the time period when Montville died. Barton is a cemetery outside of modern Albuquerque.

Locations such as these aren't found on modern maps and may not even be easily located online. Difficult to read handwriting aggravates the problem. Sometimes "locals" (who already have the place names in their head) have an easier time interpreting words of this type than "non-locals."

The information on the death certificate is minimal in regards to Montville's origins. His parents unfortunately are not named. This is disappointing as Montville first "appears" in the household of his adopted parents James and Elizabeth Rampley in 1870 in Hancock County Illinois. The place of birth of Oklahoma City seems suspect considering that Montville was born in 1863 and Oklahoma City didn't exist as such during that time. The more realistic situation is that Montville lived in Oklahoma City before coming to New Mexico. The informant didn't know much about Montville, but apparently did know that he was divorced. We'll have an additional analysis in an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues.

As research moves forward on Montville, we'll incorporate the death certificate information with the fact that an attorney requested a copy of his homestead patent in 1924. At this point, it does not look like the attorney was settling up the estate as Montville was not dead. The more probable situation is that in 1924 Montville was selling the property he had obtained in 1917 as a homestead.

Montville died from a fall off a horse and it is possible that mention of his death made the local newspapers. I'm hoping that a 1925 editor avoided the temptation to make jokes about a Harness falling off a horse with a harness.

But we'll need to look at more local land and court records in New Mexico to determine that.

Stay tuned.

[Like most of our research on this blog....this work is in progress. This means that I don't know where this will lead--which is half the fun.]

He Could Not Find His New Mexico Patent

This letter from 1924 appears in the homestead application of Montevill Harness.

There is no indication of what prompted the need for a copy of Montevill's patent, but this letter was addressed to John F. Simms in Albuquerque, New Mexico, appears in the homestead file.

Apparent carbon copy of letter dated 26 March 1924 to John F. Simms,
Homestead application of Montville Harness, Santa Fe Land Office,
Bureau of Land Management, Serial Patent 653766

Simms was an attorney who served for a short time on the New Mexico Supreme Court. My guess is that either Montevill was selling the property and needed to document ownership or he had died and his estate was being settled and the ownership needed to be documented.

There's a potential fly in the ointment here and a reason to obtain land records even though typically they don't reveal a great amount of detail. Montevill indicated that he was parted from his wife in his 1917 homestead application. Given his marital status at the time of his homestead application (married and not divorced), it will be interesting to see how the transfer of his property is handled--regardless of whether he sold it himself or it was transferred after his death. It may provide clues as to whether Montevill was divorced or not

Next step in the research process is to obtain land and property records from the county in New Mexico where the property was located.

Stay tuned.

Homesteading Without the Wife in New Mexico

Research on Montville Harness continues. Little was known about him after he left Illinois in the 1890s until he was found living in New Mexico in 1910.

When I discovered Montville Harness was living on a farm in New Mexico in 1910, I knew that a search of homestead records should be conducted for him given the location, the time period, and his occupation as a farmer. When I found a reference to Montville in the homestead records, I knew that I should access those records in an attempt to learn more about Montville. While the details in homestead records are often sketchy, the little I knew about Montville indicated that the records of his homestead should be accessed.

Homesteaders were asked broad questions about the family that lived with them. In many cases those questions confirm what the researcher already knows. In other cases the questions may provide new information about the homesteader and their family.

Montville Harness was no different in that he was asked about his family in his New Mexico homestead application. And in this case, it confirmed what other records had implied--that Montville was not living with his wife.

Montvill's 1917 affidavit indicated that his family consisted of "one wife who has deserted me, not having lived with me for 8 years."

Homestead application of Montville Harness, Santa Fe Land Office, Bureau of Land Management, Serial Patent 653766.

Per the date of the affidavit, it would mean that the couple split sometime in probably 1911. His wife is not named.

I'm not really certain whether or not the statement can be used to conclude that Montvill did or did not have children. Given that his wife lived apart from him and that he was on the New Mexico frontier, it seems logical that, if he had children with the wife who deserted him, that they would have lived with her. What the document does state is that Montville had a wife and that she left him probably in 1911.

Something one typically does not find in a homestead application.

All of which makes the point that "exhaustive searches" sometimes require searching everything, period.

And going forward, the homestead application provided the location of Montville's property. A search of land records to see how ownership left his possession should provide additional insight into his time into New Mexico.

Monteville Harness Deeds in the 1880 Era Newspaper

One of the things American newspapers used to publish with regularity were deeds and other various "courthouse" news. As more newspapers come online in digital format, it becomes easier to locate these references.

Such is the case with Monteville Harness of Adams County, Illinois, for whom I was able to find two deeds and a "master's sale" notice in the Quincy [Illinois] Whig from the 1880s.

It also becomes necessary for the researcher to realize that what they find in the newspaper may be incomplete, in a variety of ways and that these references were merely to alert the public that there was a new owner to a piece of property or, in the case of the master's sale, that property was going to be sold. The newspaper should not be considered a complete index to these records, but merely a convenient finding aid.

Three references were located for Monteville.

All three beg for further research. The 1885 and 1887 deeds may contain additional information--at the very least a more specific legal description. It may be that the name of Harness's wife is included on the deed and was simply omitted from the newspaper. Additional follow up on these references would suggest determining how Harness came to own the land in question.

The 1886 court case potentially centers on the 1885 deed since the parties involved are the same. The women are not listed in the deed entry in the newspaper, but they were parties to the suit. It can be reasonably assumed that the women in question are the wives of the two men. They would have had an interest in the property and the proceedings given their marriage to their husband.

Deed work was on the list for completing an exhaustive search on Monteville Harness. The newspaper work was easier to do because it could be done online and the location of these references made the point that a search of land records would not be for not.

Monteville Harness Homesteads in New Mexico

An update of sorts on Montevill Harness. This man gets around.

Monteville Harness is living in Estancia, Torrance County, New Mexico, in 1910 (Enumeration District 274, page 12B). Farmer Monteville doesn't own the property he lived on in 1910 (the enumeration indicated the farm was rented), so I took a chance and looked for him in the online index to federal land records at the Bureau of Land Management website. My theory was that in 1910 the area was fairly unsettled and "free" land may have easily motivated a farmer to settle in the area.

For once I was right--there he was:

The farm he completed a homestead for was in Santa Fe County, but the name is so unusual that it almost has to be him. Of course, it is possible that there is another Monteville Harness living in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, but that seems unlikely.

I've got someone harnessing the homestead records for me and we'll have an update when the digital copies have been received. There may not be a vast quantity of genealogical information in the file, but one never knows.

A superficial search of post-1910 census records failed to locate Monteville in any census, but his wife apparently is enumerated in California in 1920. And there's a Monteville Harness living in Albequerque in the 1920s. I'm going to wait to do further research on him and his wife until I see what is in the homestead application.

Based upon what I've found on him and his wife in these later records, I'm wondering if the couple did not separate or divorce after 1910. At this point that is mere speculation based upon the information I have found thus far.

I'm also going to keep my goal in the forefront of my mind as well. I'm researching Monteville in hopes of determining who his biological parents are and if they were related to Monteville's adoptive parents in Hancock County, Illinois--James and Elizabeth (Chaney) Rampley.

Note: The Bureau of Land Management website does not (as of this writing) include every homestead ever granted--yet. Failure to find a name in that database does not mean the person did not receive a homestead.

------------------

I'm a strong believer in citations and in my work (and in Casefile Clues) I cite material in the spirit of Evidence Explained. Here on the Rootdig blog, I have a different philosophy. Posts made here have enough information that the reader could locate where the material was obtained.

Revisiting Montevelli and My Conclusions

An "adopted" son lived with my ancestors James and Elizabeth Rampley from 1860 through 1880. This was one of my early "discoveries" about the family and about someone no one knew anything about. In summary:

• 1860--a 14 year old, Montevelli (or something like that) Lobb is listed--no relationship
• 1870--a 13 year old Montevelli Harness is listed--no relationship.
• 1880--a 22 year old Montevelli Rampley is listed as an adopted son.

1860 US Census, Hancock County, Illinois, Walker Township, page 602,
entry for James Rampley household

1870 US Census, Hancock County, Illinois, Township 3-8 [Walker Township], page 10,
[James Rampley household is on two pages, this is last entry of interest on second page of entry.]

1880 US Census, Hancock County, Illinois, Walker Township, page 27,
James Rampley household

I first discovered "Montevelli" thirty years ago in the very early stages of my research. The entries for him did not seem all that consistent, but I decided they were after reading some research guide that discussed errors in the census, how things were inconsistent, etc. That had to explain the differences. After all, the research guide said there were many errors in the census.

But as I went back and looked at the entries, I realized that the 1860 entry was significantly different from the last two and there was not just one inconsistency. The 1860 person was aged 14 and born in Hanover and had the last name of "Lobb." The 1870 and 1880 Montevelli would have been 3 or 4 in 1860--listing him as 14 is quite a stretch. And the 1870 and 1880 Montevelli indicated he was born in Illinois. That is significantly different as well. It is always possible that the place of birth was given as Illinois to "make it fit," but the name difference and 1860 birthplace seemed off in a way that was more than reasonable.

And as I looked more at that first name in 1860, I began to wonder if it really was Montevelli at all. If it was a Germanic name, the English speaking census taker could easily have rendered it in a way that makes it difficult to interpret 150 years later. 

I decided to take a more detailed look at the 1865 census for James and Elizabeth. And I'm very glad I did. The 1865 Illinois state census (Walker Township) for James Rampley indicated the following numbers of household members:

• 1 male under 10
• 1 male 10-20
• 1 female 10-20
• 2 males 20-30
• 1 male 30-40
• 1 female 50-60
• 1 male 60-70
• 1 female 60-70

To be honest, I never really analyzed this entry as I didn't think I needed to. Originally located early in my research, it confirmed James was where he was supposed to be. But now I realize there are people in this entry who are unknown to me.

• 1 male under 10--??
• 1 male 10-20--probably James Rampley (the son)
• 1 female 10-20--??
• 2 males 20-30--Riley and John Rampley
• 1 male 30-40--probably Thomas Rampley
• 1 female 50-60--??
• 1 male 60-70-James Rampley
• 1 female 60-70--Elizabeth Rampley

I don't have an answer to the question marks at this point. However, I am inclined to believe that the Lobb person in 1860 is not living with the Rampleys later and that there are others living with the family in 1865 of whom I was unaware. The male under 10 could be Montevelli Harness Rampley. 

At this point, I know less than I did before. The 1870 and 1880 Montevelli has been traced to Oklahoma and New Mexico through 1910. The trail on him dries up after 1910 and I'm assuming he died. At this point, it is not known if he left any descendants or not.

Sometimes a researcher doesn't even realize they are confused until they go back and review everything.