I found the following news item in the News-Palladium of Benton Harbour Michigan, dated December 31, 1959 which mentions Jacob Aumack.

Click and Zoom for larger version

From Aumack in the Michigan newspapers

Conductor on Underground Railroad

It appears Jacob had a very courageous and dangerous role as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

According to Wikipedia:

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists, both black and white, free and enslaved, who aided the fugitives. Other various routes led to Mexico or overseas. Created in the early 19th century, the Underground Railroad was at its height between 1850 and 1860. One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the “Railroad”. British North America, where slavery was prohibited, was a popular destination, as its long border gave many points of access. More than 30,000 people were said to have escaped there via the network at its peak, although US Census figures account for only 6,000. The Underground Railroad fugitives’ stories are documented in the Underground Railroad Records.

The caption on the photo of the house reads:

“WAS THIS A SLAVE STATION?:  Amos Green, president of the Southwestern Michigan Archeological society stands before farm that is believed to have been an underground railroad station for runaway slaves before the Civil War.  The farm, located on M-140 just south of Eau Claire is now the Walter Sommers farm.  Papers show that the farm was bought in 1855 by Jacob Aumack.  It is believed that he was a conductor in the underground system.”

The Headline of the article reads: “Slave Iron Curtain’ Broken Here In 1860 Negro Fugitives From South Helped Toward Freedom By Farmer”

Excerpted from the article:
“A station was any home that would hide slaves for a short time. Persons helping the slaves were called conductors. Jacob Aumack was a conductor and operated a station on the underground railroad north of Eau Claire near M-140, according to information unearthed by Green.”

Continued on page 15 mid-page, mention of Jacob Aumack:

“That Jacob Aumack operated a station and was a conductor on the underground railroad is well established by his grandchildren and a son-in-law.”

“Miss Reva Runnels, daughter of Mrs. Emma Aumack Runnels, recalls her mother telling her the following:  Emma and her mother were at home alone one night when a knock came at the door.  When Mrs. Aumack opened the door, a very large runaway slave stood outside.  The size and appearance of the slave frightened Emma so much she remembered it clearly through all her life”.

“The slaves always came at night.  Sometimes a white man would be with them.  They would rap on the door and when the door was opened, there would be no one outside. 

“Aumack would say, “You are among friends,” and the slaves would come from where they were hiding.

“They were then given food and clothing and be hidden until it was safe to take them to the next station.

“The late Henry Tibbs said that Aumack worked for William Smythe Farmer with whom he had come to Michigan in 1848.  Occasionally Aumack would stop work and say, “I have to go to Dowagiac, and would not be at work the next day.  It was always all right with Farmer, no matter how busy they were.

“Two other grandchildren of Jacob Auamck, Jolly Tibbs, son of Mrs. Elizabeth Aumack Tibbs and Ferris Aumack, son of Jake Aumack, recall their father Jacob Auamck, hiding run away slaves and conducting them to the next station.

“On several occasions an effort was made to secure information from the the late Henry Tibbs, knowing that his first wife was Elizabeth Aumack.  One day while an incident was being related to him about runaway slaves, Tibbs interrupted with, “They used to help them through here.”

“Who helped them?” he was asked.

“Jacob Aumack helped a lot of them,” he replied.

Nothing further could be learned.

“This underground railroad station, located by Miss Runnels, was on what now is the Walter Tabor farm at Eau Claire, Green reports.  It is believed that he also operated the station after he moved to what is now the Walter Sommers place on M-140 north of Eau Claire which he bought in 1855.”

The article goes on to discuss the location of another station in  a cabin near Mud Lake and gives further details about how the slaves were hidden.  The article concludes with this statement.

“these things were whispered about, but never discussed, for hiding slaves was illegal.”

This is an incredible story of Jacob Aumack, our children’s ggg-grandfather and the courage he displayed to help the slaves escape to freedom.

Stories like this are why I do genealogy!

Other items to note in this article:

• photo of Jacob Aumack home purchased in 1855
• Jacob Aumack came to Michigan in 1848 with William Smythe Farmer (As an aside – Jacob named one of his children Smythe.  We also have a copy of the platte map showing the William Smythe Farmer farm was situated next door to Jacob Aumack’s farm.)
• Names of some of his descendants

SOURCE:

Newpaper: News-Palladium, The
Publication Date: Thursday, December 31, 1959, pages 1, 15.
Newspaper Location: Benton Harbor, Michigan, United States Of America
Advanced search for Jacob Aumack, USA, Michigan
Accessed on Ancestry.com April 10, 2011

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Updated: Found a good story and maps of the the Underground Railroad on the Shelby History webpage.

Gravestone Smith and Jane Aumack, Eau Claire, Michigan. Source - Findagrave.com (CLICK HERE)

AUMACK Gravestone

Smith Aumack 1852 to 1931
Jane Aumack 1856 to 1933

Burial: Caldwell Cemetery, Eau Claire, Michigan (also known as Eau Claire Cemetery).

Interactive map and GPS data: (approximate)
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 41.98610, Longitude: -86.28610

Parents of John Henry Aumack (born in Michigan, died and buried at Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan).   Smith and Jane Aumack are our children’s great, great grandparents on their father’s mother’s side.

Source: Findagrave.com

Caldwell Cemetery, Eau Claire, Michigan

Most of my genealogy research on my husband’s side of the family is the USA.

He has AUMACKS in Michigan and NJ and his MILLERS are into Maine and south.  His ancestors include Empire Loyalists and Salem witches.  His family also has Civil War and Revolutionary War Vets.  Needless to say I’ve had to find genealogy sources in the US of A.

There are several paid online resources that I use on a regular bases to find US records. These include  US Federal Census Records and Birth, Marriage and Death  records at Ancestry and I tend to use Fold3 (formerly Footnote)more for Civil War records and other historical documents.

This doesn’t replace legwork to the archives, libraries,  LDS Family history centers, perusing familysearch.org and writing away for records etc but it sure is convenient having access to the databases at home, even if they do cost.

Some features overlap between databases, including access to census records and other material….but I still maintain my subscriptions.  The database that works for researching one family may not have much material on another.

What is the Social Security Death Index?

Another great database is the Social Security Death Indexes (SSDI).   This is a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration’s Death Master File Extract.

GenealogyBank has a comprehensive database for searching the Free Social Security Death Index
You can find some of this info at RootsWeb SSDI but I happen to like how GenealogyBank does the search.   Their interface is cleaner and gives the user more search options.

There are millions of US social security numbers in the database and it is updated on a regular basis, as often as weekly.  You can search for free.

 What can you find?

• name
• birth date
• death date
• last known residence
• Searches from 1937 to today. 
• Free SSDI search can lead to obituary.

This gives recent research material not often available elsewhere and another valuable resource for us USA genealogy and family history researchers.  It also gives the option to find the actual obituary (this is where you start paying if you so choose).  It can save a lot of leg work.

To access the database go to the Free Social Security Death Index.

William Joseph CULLAIN was born about 1857 in the USA. Parents: Garret CULLAIN and Mary CULLEN. Both parents are deceased at the time of his marriage.

Married to Cathrine CLEARY on Aug 28, 1888 in Montreal, Quebec (St Mary of Good Counsel Parish).

Witnesses at the wedding are: Patrick KENNEDY (occupation “Chauffeur” which could be a stoker) and Catherine MADIGAN (married to each other). Both belong to the same parish as William CULLAIN.
Montreal Star newspaper announcement of the wedding states that the paper should inform Louisville, Kentucky and Chicago papers.

Children:
1.Leona May, born May 16, 1889. Godparents: Henry MCKEOWN and Bridget Agnes STAPLES (married to each other). Henry was born in the USA. His occupation was glassblower.

2. James William Andrew, born Dec 3, 1890. Godparents: William CASSIDY and Mary GREENE. William CASSIDY is a glassblower. Mary’s two brothers are glassblowers. I have no evidence that they were married to each other.

William Joseph Cullain’s Occupation: Glassblower

Major event: Abandoned his wife and two young children sometime between 1891 and 1901 and apparently returned to Louisville, Kentucky where he was from.

Family ties: Catherine CLEARY’s sister Mary Ellen was married to William REIDY from Steubenville, Ohio. It is quite possible that she, too was abandoned by her husband. His occupation is unknown.

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[Editor: If anyone has connections or more information for Carole about her mysterious glassblower, William Joseph Cullain, please contact  her at baldwin2 [AT] telus.net or leave a comment below]

Submitted by Terri O’Connell, we have our second entry in the contest to win two free tickets to the Arizona Family History Expo!

Hurt Family Cemetery, Raleigh County, WV
Photo taken October 2009

Photo credit:  Terri O’Connell

“This cemetery is on the side of a mountain and it is said to go all the way up the mountain,
the weeds were so high you could barely see the head stones in-front of you.”

—
[Editor: For your chance to win two free tickets to the Arizona Family History Expo, please go here. Entries will be accepted up to and including January 10, 2010.]

Best Publication, County or Local Category

Xenia Stanford, Professional Genealogist,  Author,  and Editor of the “Chinook”, the Alberta Family Histories Society’s (AFHS) newsletter was recently honoured with one of the genealogy world’s most coveted prizes – The U.S. National Genealogy Society Award for best publication, county or local category.

Winning the award meant Xenia and her colleague Rosemary Kry, chair to the Periodical Committee, made the trip to Raleigh, North Carolina to accept their certificate at the opening ceremonies of the American organization’s national conference.

The award winning newsletter ‘Chinook’ is published 4 times a year and is is free as part of the membership in the Alberta Family Histories Society. Annual membership costs $35 and includes access to AFHS’s library of resources of books and subscriptions to online databases to help you research your genealogy.

AFHS Membership

712 – 16 Avenue NW
Calgary, AB T2M 0J8
(403) 214-1447 (voice mail)

http://www.afhs.ab.ca/society/memship.html

The AFHS was founded in 1980 as a non-profit organization with the purpose of encouraging and promoting an interest in family history research in Calgary and district.

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex counties of colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned, with even more accused but not formally pursued by the authorities. The two courts convicted twenty-nine people of the capital felony of witchcraft. Nineteen of the accused, fourteen women and five men, were hanged.*

One of those women, Mary EASTEY was my husband’s 7th Great Grandmother.

Mary Towne Eastey (also spelled Esty, Easty, Estey, or Estye) (August 24, 1634—September 22, 1692) was a victim of the Salem witch trials of 1692. Mary’s sisters, Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Cloyce, were also accused of witchcraft; Rebecca was executed, but Sarah was not.**

Mary gave an impassioned appeal to the judge that brought tears to the eyes of the spectators but to no avail.  She was tried and condemned to death on September 9, 1642.  She was hanged, along with 7 others on September 22, 1642.  To read more check out the references at the end of this post.

Our connection, partially shown on the left, leads to New Brunswick  to our Ira MILLER who married Salome Estey HARTLEY.

Are you related to any of the Salem witches?  Are you related to our Salem Witch Mary Eastey?

Comments are welcomed.

References: 

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials

**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Eastey

A Family Tree is an ongoing process…but you can only go back so far until you reach a dead end (no pun intended!. )  You may be searching for your ancestors by looking up vital records like birth, marriage, divorce, and death records. It might also be helpful to know where your relatives are buried.

Verification is very important and with common surname misspellings,  often the only way to verify the right person is through the dates on vital records.  Tombstones can provide useful information such as the birth and death date….but be wary of errors.  Our KERR grave markers in Quebec say “Keer”!

There are great online resources if you know where to look. Instead of guessing, start with the obvious.  Check out the genealogy sites on line and look for cemetery records. You should be able to search by name to see what comes up along with whatever information was found on each tombstone.   To verify further I suggest purchasing a comprehensive online service that gives access to vital records…and not just for death records.  One can find birth, marriage, passenger records and a wealth of other information.  It can save a person a lot of time.

I’ve found two such services.  One is Genealogy Archives and the other is Government Records.  Both are primarily USA based.  Genealogy Archives has a search window you can try before signing up.

To Search Death Records on line click here.

Theunis Van Amach came to North America in 1673 as part of the Dutch fleet sent to save New Amsterdam (NY) from the British.  He married Jannetie Brouwer in 1677 and was the progenitor of this line, of which the name variations are many.  They include Aumack, Aumick, Omick, Amak, and Aumock among others.  Theunis and Jannetje had 9 children.  The children eventually married and had equally large families. We have many Aumack cousins all over the USA. The Aumack family tree has been extensively researched by Trevor Kirkpatrick of New Jersey.

A fourth generation Canadian Aumack named Liam was born in the Saskatchewan the summer of 2008.  The name is alive and well.

Aumack Connections?  Please use the contact page to send me a note or comment below.  Thanks.

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