Amos Miner 1776 - 1842

Only known drawing of Amos Miner's Spinning Wheel Head invention
(Source: http://www.spwhsl.com/ISS_29/DETAIL29.HTM)

Amos Miner (also spelled as Minor in certain records) is my 4th-great grandfather. According to genealogical records he was born on November 10, 1776, in Bethlehem, Litchfield Co., Conn. His father was John Miner IV, a Norfolk, Conn. physician, and his mother was Sarah Dutton. Amos was the 3rd-great grandson of Thomas Minor, an early settler of Massachusetts and Connecticut (I'll do a separate post on him later).

According to the family history, Thomas Minor--Descendants 1608-1981, Amos married Phebe (or Phoebe) Hamlin on December 21, 1796. Amos and Phebe moved to Skaneateles, N.Y. about 1800 , where Amos built a shop where he manufactured "accelerating wheel heads." This was a device he invented that attached to spinning wheels to make them more efficient. Here are links to information about the invention:

Amos' invention at Spinning Wheel Sleuth.

Text from A History of American Manufactures from 1608 - 1860 at Google Books

In 1805 Amos moved to Stafford, N.Y., where he founded a firm called Miner, Denning, and Sessions, and he built a factory to make the wheel heads and other items he invented. These items included "pails, half bushels, bowls, grooved window sash, and wooden pumps." The family history states that a few years later he sold his interest in the business and moved to another location where he built a grist mill and another factory. Amos was certainly a rolling stone because he apparently moved several more times before ending up in central Illinois in about 1830. He settled at Little York, a town that was about five miles north of Waverly, Ill.

Amos and Phebe had fifteen children, eight who survived to adulthood. One of these children was Amos Jr., who was born in 1817 in New York and died at age twenty-one in 1839 in Illinois. Amos Jr. had married Delilah Corey in 1837 and had one son, George Amos in 1839 (look for a future posting on him). I imagine it had to be very tough on both of them to have so many children die in infancy, but even harder to have a child die who had just recently been married and had a child.

Phebe died on October 28, 1838, but is not buried in the Waverly Cemetery along with Amos. According to the Illinois State Marriage Index, Amos apparently remarried an Abigail Corey on January 17, 1839. Amos lived until June 2, 1842, and Abigail lived until October 23, 1860. They are both buried in Waverly East Cemetery, Waverly, Ill. Here are photos of their gravestones.

Amos certainly led an eventful life. Born in the same year our great country was also born, he experienced the westward expansion from New England. He also participated in the Industrial Revolution as an inventor and entrepreneur. He died at the beginnings of the next great westward surge.

Evaline Whitlock Gotschall

Here is a scan of a very old newspaper clipping featuring Eva Whitlock Gotschall at a spinning wheel. The clipping is from the 9/3/1931 issue of the Illinois State Journal (Spingfield, Ill.). Eva was the sister of Alexander Whitlock. She was born in Morgan County after the Whitlock's moved from Tennessee. The clipping says her family came from Virginia, which is partially true. The Whitlock ancestors moved to Tennessee in the late 1700's from Virginia.

Missing

Have you ever wondered what became of blood relatives? Great-great uncle Jim Whitlock married a woman in the early 1900's, but she left him. I have a short letter to him from, Teda, one of the daughter's from the marriage. At that time Teda, her mother, and sister were living in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. The letter really has a sad tone of estrangement. I found Teda and her family on an old U.S. Census, but they disappeared after that. It is sad when we lose touch with family.

Here's an undated photo of Teda, her sister, and mother.

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization that was made up of the Union veterans of the American Civil War. My great-great-grandfather Alexander was a member of this organization. No doubt other ancestor were as well, but he is the only one I have proof of his membership. Here is a photograph of his GAR Medal.


According to a Wikipedia article the organization was founded in Decatur, Ill. on April 6, 1866. The main purpose of the GAR at the time of its foundation was to allow the veterans to keep in contact with each other. Their motto was “Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty.” During the organization’s initial years, political infighting among the departments almost resulted in the organizations collapse. The organization almost collapsed in the early 1870s; however, by the 1880s the organization had been reinvigorated and continued to thrive until the 1940s. Annual encampments of veterans were held from 1866 until 1949. The last Union veteran, Albert Woolson, died in 1956. The GAR was disbanded at this time, but their legacy lived on.

Several organizations sought to become the legitimate heir of the GAR, with the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) selected as the organization that would continue with the traditions and pledges established by the GAR. Any male descendant of a Union Civil War veteran can claim membership by proving his ancestry. This is fairly simple given the wide availability of genealogical and military records. If any of my kin would like information on how to join, please contact me and I’ll be glad to help you out.

I think it is more important than ever to protect our heritage and history. Too many people ignore their heritage and dismiss what our ancestors achieved. There is too much revisionism that occurs that does not seek the truth, only a specific political agenda. Our ancestors, not only the war veterans but every ancestor, endured many privations that we can only imagine. They did amazing things and they did horrible things. We owe these people and to our descendants to remember so mistakes of the past will not be repeated.