My Family Tree

father	mother

William Howard Taft McGaughey	Mary Joanna Durham

born March 28, 1912	born Aug. 25, 1911
died Nov. 24, 2004	died April 6, 2001
Married in New York City on Nov. 18, 1939.
Lived in Indiana, Michigan, New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania

His father was Robert Lytle McGaughey (born Jan. 13, 1794). His mother was Mary Ann Clark (born April 1, 1807), daughter of Ezekiel Clark. They were married at Indian Hill, Ohio, around 1823. They soon moved to a farm near Brookville, IN; and then to Franklin Co., IN, in 1857. Robert was a school teacher. He and his wife are buried at New Bethel Baptist church.

Robert Lytle McGaughey’s father was David McGaughey, born in Northern Ireland, around 1762. He was descended from Scottish Covenanters. It is alleged that he served in the American Revolutionary war, possibly as an aide-de-camp to George Washington. One of the first settlers in Hamilton County, Ohio. Married Mary Lytle of New Jersey. The Battle of Monmouth was fought on her parents’ farm. They had nine children. David McGaughey died at the age of 88 in January 1850 in Sycamore, Ohio. Perhaps referring to his unmarked grave in a cemetery at the Presbyterian church of Pleasant Ridge, OH, the Pictorial Cincinnati Enquirer dated March 4, 1951, shows a picture of the church and cemetery, identified with these words: “Legend says ‘George Washington’s bodyguard in there.’”

Little is known about her family although she and her father were born in Pennsylvania. Her mother was born in Ireland. In 1850, when she was 17 years of age, she lived in the household of a young farmer from Ireland named Robert Porterfield in Hendricks, Shelby County, Indiana. A John Boal, aged 16, also born in Pennsylvania, lived on a nearby farm owned by Samuel Murphy. This would suggest that the Boal parents were no longer providing a household for their children. However, a family letter refers to “the Boal’s down by the Mill”. Mary S. Boal married Dr. Samuel McGaughey in Shelby County in May 1858. It was his second marriage.

The names of Calvin’s parents are unknown. He was born in Maysville, Kentucky. His parents were also born in that state. The 1860 Census lists Calvin Elliott (aged 9) in a household in the seventh ward of Indianapolis, IN, with four other children older than himself. The only adult is Melville Elliott, a woman who was born in Kentucky in 1799. Then 61 years old, she was probably not Calvin’s mother - perhaps the mother of Calvin’s father. The 1870 Census in ward 4 of Indianapolis, IN, which does not list Calvin R. Elliott. It does also list Melville (or Mellville or also Milly) Elliott, born in Kentucky in 1799. This household is headed by Calvin A. Elliott, a wealthy grocer who was born in Kentucky about 1822. Then 48 years of age, he was the right age to be Calvin R. Elliott’s father. There is a woman named Martha Elliott, born in Indiana around 1838, in this household but she might have been too young to be Calvin R.’s mother (around 16 in 1854).

Why was Calvin R. Elliott not listed in the 1870 Census? A family letter says that Calvin R’s “mother on the death of her husband married a ‘Brown’. This was the reason for Cal leaving home - first to be a drummer boy and then he went into railroading.” The same letter mentions that Calvin R. Elliott’s mother was “(Robert E.) Lee’s first cousin.” The likely age disparity raises questions about this claim. The 1910 Census at Tucson, Arizona, does list a boarder named Calvin A. Elliott, who was born in Kentucky around 1822, whose occupation is given as a miner. This man says his father was born in Arizona. Did Calvin R. Elliott’s father not die but instead move west to Arizona? Calvin R. himself was “one of the pioneers into the Oklahoma territory on one of the first trains sent thru there. He was also a master mechanic of the round house.”

She came from Cork County, Ireland, and, while in her late teens (or early twenties), married Calvin R. Elliott. A family letter mentions that her father was in the clothing import business and, while in France, met her mother whose name was Lambert. They spent much time in the Alps since her mother’s health was delicate. Both of Mary’s parents died, either of smallpox or cholera. Her uncle, who was dean of the College of Mallah and later archbishop of Ireland, put Mary Agnes, sister Kate, and brother Jerry (both red-heads) in a convent after their parents’ death. Then, with an epidemic raging in Ireland, he sent them to Memphis, Tennessee, where Jerry later became a contractor and builder. (Or perhaps Kate O’Ragen came to America first and then Mary went to join her.) The children were disinherited when Mary Agnes married outside the church. (But her daughter, Martha, was a Catholic and Martha's children were also raised in that faith.)

His father was Jacob Durham, who was born in January 31, 1805, in Kentucky. Jacob married Hannah Spears on January 18, 1826. The family moved to Indiana in 1829. James V. Durham was their third child (of six). After Hannah died in 1840, Jacob married Rachel G. Hawkins Vanschoick later in the year but there no children born of that marriage.

Jacob Durham’s father was Benjamin Durham, who was born on April 3, 1778 and died on June 5, 1847. He married Margarett Roberson on December 16, 1802. She was born on June 25, 1782 and died on February 26, 1855. They had eleven children of whom Jacob was second oldest.

Jacob Durham’s mother, Margarett Roberson, was the daughter of James Roberson (died Jan. 13, 1808) and Elizabeth Huberry (died Aug. 13, 1821) who were married in 1778.

James V. Durham’s mother, Hannah Spears, was the daughter (and fifth child) of David Spears, who was born on Feb. 4, 1779 and died on Oct. 13, 1835, and of Barberry Bovier, who died on March 8, 1812. David Spears later married Nancy Hill and Hanna Bigham, but there were no children from either marriage.

From Benjamin Durham, the Durham family line in America goes back to the 17th Century.

Benjamin Durham’s father was John Durham, who was born on October 20, 1742 and who died on May 22, 1817. His mother was Martha Bugg, who was born on July 17, 1747 in Kentucky. They were married on December 28, 1765. Benjamin was the seventh of thirteen children.

John Durham’s father was also named John Durham. He had one son (John) by his first wife. The earlier John Durham came to America (along with James and Samuel Durham) from Teasewater, Durhamshire, in England, between 1690 and 1720. John first settled in Farquier County, Virginia, and then in Perrysville, Kentucky, where he died. He was one of the organizers of the first Methodist Church in Kentucky along with George Rogers Clark.

An earlier ancestor, William Durham (1611-1684), took his degree in Divinity at Oxford in 1635 and later became a preacher at Polks Chapel.
The second John Durham’s son, Col.. Jesse Bugg Durham, was one of the commissioners who located the capital of Indiana at Indianapolis. Samuel Wallace Durham settled in Muscatine, Iowa.

Census evidence suggests that her father was Andrew Black, a farmer who settled in Putnam County, Indiana, near Greencastle. Her mother's name was Margaret. The 1860 Census lists a daughter, Sarah, born in Kentucky, who was then 19. Sarah A. Black was married to James V. Durham on December 11, 1860. (The Census was conducted in June.) The 1850 Census lists Sarah, aged 8, in Andrew Black’s household. This time, however, the Census was done in District 2, Montgomery County, Kentucky, which is about 20 miles east of Lexington. From the reported ages of Andrew Black’s sons in 1860, it appears that the Black family moved to Indiana from Kentucky around 1852.

The 1860 census, taken in Putnam County, lists two other farmers named Black consecutively next to Andrew Black on the census sheet: Miller Black and Alexander Black. In 1850, Miller Black’s family was counted in the census taken in district 1, Montgomery County, Kentucky. This would suggest that Miller and Andrew Black (and possibly Alexander) were related. They may have been three brothers who moved from Kentucky to Indiana around the same time. Durham family records reveal that Miller Black’s daughter, Margaret M. Black, married George Spears Durham, who was the brother of James V. Durham, on February 5, 1861, which was less than two months after his brother married Sarah. Margaret M. Black was then 18. Curiously, Miller Black has a daughter named Sally (named Sarah A. Black in the 1850 census); but at the age of 13 in 1860 she may be too young for marriage. Her 19-year-old cousin would be a better candidate for this role.

Further information, supplied by Brenda Black Watson of Memphis, TN, indicates that Sarah Black's father, Andrew Black, was born on July 1, 1807, in Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky. Her mother, Margaret Lockridge, was born on August 2, 1811, in Mt. Sterling, Mongomery County, Kentucky. Sarah A. Black was also born in Mt. Sterling. A family Bible inherited by Laura Moore Black, may be the source of this information.

Frank Sawyer’s father is Stephen Payson Sawyer, who was born on Jan. 12, 1832, in West Amesbury, Massachusetts, and who died on March 23, 1911, perhaps in Iowa. He was a hardware merchant. He married Frances Phoebe Gillett on June 21, 1853. She was born on September 1, 1832, and died on March 18, 1897. Frank P. Sawyer was their second child and first son. There were seven children in all. Stephen P. Sawyer lived well into the 20th century. He had close ties with the Stein family of Muscatine, who were bankers. His daughter Clarissa married Simon A. Stein.

Stephen P. Sawyer’s father is Stephen Sawyer, who died on November 4, 1870, in Merrimack, Massachusetts. He married Sallie B. McQueston on December 6, 1824. She was born on July 10, 1791, and died on December 31, 1857. They had four children. Stephen P. Sawyer was the youngest.

Frances Phoebe Gillett was the daughter of David Paul Gillett, who was born on December 29, 1812 and died on September 20, 1840, and his wife, Lucinda Hall, who was born on July 5, 1813 and died on October 28, 1902. They were married on November 20, 1831.

Lucinda Hall was the daughter of Edward Hall and Eunice Brown, who was born on June 25, 1795. They were married in 1812.

Eunice Brown was the daughter of John Brown, who was the son of Richard Brown, who was born in 1742 and died in 1782 in New Hampshire, and of Maryon Toote. Richard Brown was a quartermaster under George Washington at White Plains, New York.

Sallie B. McQueston, who married Stephen Sawyer, was the daughter of David McQueston and Margaret Fisher. He was born on September 27, 1757, and died on July 29, 1829. She was born on April 18, 1760, and died in April, 1833.

David McQueston was the son of William McQueston, who was born in 1732 and died in 1802, and of Margaret Nahor, who lived between 1738 and 1796.

William McQueston was the son of another William McQueston, who was born in 1685 and died at Litchfield, New Hampshire in 1802, and of Margaret Arbuckle, who was born in 1688 and died in 1776.

The McQueston family came to America from Argylshire, Scotland, and Coleraine, Ireland, in 1735.

Joanna Wells was the daughter of Henry Barnes Wells, who was born on April 1, 1827, and died on June 24, 1906, in Milford, Pennsylvania. Her mother was Phoebe H. Dewitt, who was born on June 6, 1833 and died on January 17, 1894. They had ten children. Census reports list Henry's occupations in successive decades as "mechanic", "merchant", "builder", "manufacturer of fanning mills", and "capitalist". For years he operated a sawmill on the Sawkill Creek and built many houses in Milford. One report has the Wells mill producing wooden wheels.

Henry B. Wells was the son of Nathan Wells, who was born on March 4, 1796 and died on April 28, 1864, and of Ann Rockwell, who was born on March 13, 1798, and died on February 7, 1890. They were married on November 12, 1818.

Nathan Wells was the son of Israel Wells, who came to Milford, PA, from Connecticut before 1776 along with his two brothers, James and Jesse. The Wells brothers operated a ferry across the Delaware river at Milford. The town of Milford was originally called “Wells Ferry”.

Ann Rockwell was the daughter of Jabez Rockwell and Sarah Rundel, who were married on July 4, 1784. Jabez Rockwell was born on October 3, 1761, in Ridgefield, Connecticut, and died on January 18, 1847, in Leonardsville, PA. He served under George Washington in the American Revolutionary war. Sarah Rundel was born on November 20, 1759, in Danbury, Connecticut, and died in Milford, Pennsylvania, on May 24, 1798.

Jabez Rockwell was the son of Josiah Rockwell and Mary Scott, who were married on January 1, 1761.

Josiah Rockwell was the son of another Josiah Rockwell, who was born on September 14, 1714. He married Lucy Lathrop on September 19, 1737.

The elder Josiah Rockwell was the son of Samuel Rockwell, who was born on March 29, 1631. He married Elizabeth Gaylord on January 10, 1694.

Samuel Rockwell was the son of Deacon William Rockwell, who was born at Dorchester, England, in 1593. On March 30, 1630, he married Susannah Chapin, who was born on April 5, 1602, and died on November 14, 1666. They sailed from England on March 30, 1630, on the “Mary and John”, landing in America at Hull. They moved to Dorchester and then to Windsor, Connecticut. This couple had seven children, including Samuel.

David P. McGaughey and Andrew D. McGaughey are buried in the town cemetery at Milford, Pennsylvania.

William and Joanna McGaughey are buried in the same cemetery at Milford, Pennsylvania.

In adjacent plots at the Milford cemetery are the graves of Frank P. Sawyer, Joanna Wells Sawyer, and their son Henry Sawyer.

The family of Henry B. Wells is buried in a family plot at the Milford cemetery not far from the grave site of daughter Joanna Wells.

Aura May Sawyer Durham and husband, Andrew E. Durham, and several other of the Durham ancestors, including James V. Durham and Sarah Black Durham, are buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery at Greencastle, Indiana.

Dr. Samuel McGaughey and his wife, Martha Elliott McGaughey, their son Paul McGaughey and daughter Mary Jane McIlwaine are buried in the Memorial Park cemetery on Washington Avenue on the east side of Indianapolis, Indiana.

The original David McGaughey (born 1762) is buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery of the Presbyterian Church at Pleasant Ridge, Ohio, now part of Cincinnati. His wife is buried at Lebanon, Ohio.

Jabez Rockwell, soldier in the American Revolutionary War, lies in the Old Methodist burial ground in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

Robert E. Lee was commanding general of the Confederate Armies in the U.S. Civil War. Family legend has it that he was a relative through Martha Elliott McGaughey and, specifically, that he was the first cousin of her father’s mother.

Marjorie Main was the stage name of Mary Tomlinson who was born in Acton, Indiana, on February 24, 1890, and who died in California in 1975. She performed on Broadway in the 1930s and later was a film star with MGM who appeared in over 50 Hollywood films. Marjorie Main is best known for her role as “Ma Kettle” in the Ma & Pa Kettle series of the 1940s and 1950s. She was the daughter of Jennie L. McGaughey (the second Samuel McGaughey’s sister) and Samuel J. Tomlinson of Indiana. At the time of her death, William H.T. McGaughey, her first cousin, was her closest living relative.

Famous in his day around Honesdale, Pennsylvania, was Jabez Rockwell, veteran of the American Revolutionary War. His powder horn is exhibited in the museum at Valley Forge. Reputedly, he was in the boat with George Washington which crossed the Delaware river in the Christmas Day attack on Hessian troops. When the Marquis de Lafayette toured the United States in 1826, Jabez Rockwell and some friends walked from northeastern Pennsylvania to New York City to see their hero and friend. He was having dinner with Henry Clay. The doorman initially refused to let the visitors in to see Lafayette but did send a message to the general. The response was a warm invitation from Lafayette to come upstairs. They had a good visit.

Milton Jameson Durham, brother of Jacob Durham, was the first comptroller of the U.S. Treasury. He held office between March 20, 1885 and April 22, 1989.

Thomas McQueston was Ontario’s highway commissioner during the 1930s. His accomplishments in that role included electrification of the main highway between Toronto and Hamilton and the beautiful formal gardens at Niagara Falls, Ontario, where a plaque is erected in his memory. McQueston also chaired the commission which built the Rainbow Bridge to Niagara Falls, New York. McQueston is related to us through the Sawyer family. In the late 1950s, Joanna Durham McGaughey and her son visited the McQueston home in Hamilton, Ontario, where three elderly sisters of Thomas still lived.

Frank P. Sawyer was general manager of Friends Oats Company, a forerunner of the Quaker Oats Company, which had a plant in Muscatine, Iowa. As a young girl, his daughter Aura May, wearing a Quaker bonnet, was the model for a picture on a china pitcher given as a premium in the oatmeal box. The Sawyer family also founded the Massey-Harris farm implements company in Canada.

Andrew E. Durham, an attorney in Greencastle, Indiana, served several terms in the Indiana legislature. A Democrat in the Jeffersonian tradition, he was briefly the minority leader in the Indiana Senate. His best-known move was to defeat a Republican effort to gerrymander the legislative districts by arranging for Democrats in the Senate to travel secretly to Ohio so that the state senate would lack a quorum to enact this legislation. Promised that they would drop the gerrymandering proposal, the Democrats returned to Indiana in triumph. Durham, who briefly considered running for Congress, was a noted humorist and public speaker.

William Howard Taft McGaughey enjoyed several successful careers in journalism and business. Editor of his college newspaper at Depauw University, he became a reporter at the Wall Street Journal in the 1930s. Other Depauw graduates, notably Bernard Kilgore, were then leading this newspaper to national prominence. In 1940, McGaughey became public-relations director of the Automobile Manufacturing Association and of the Automotive Council for War Production at a time when the industry was converting from production of automobiles to planes and tanks for World War II. He followed his boss, George Romney, to Nash-Kelvinator, which later became American Motors Corporation. Success of its main product, the Rambler, inspired the Compact Car revolution of the late 1950s. As vice President of American Motors, he decided to sponsor a proposed television show, Disneyland, which became a national sensation and helped sell Ramblers. He and his wife attended the opening of the original Disneyland park at which American Motors had an exhibit. McGaughey was general chairman of the 1956 National Automobile Show in New York. He assisted George Romney in organizing a constitutional convention for Michigan and in Romney’s successful campaign for Governor of Michigan in 1962. Then William McGaughey became senior vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers, responsible for its annual “Congress of Industry”. President Richard Nixon was the featured speaker in 1970. After retiring from the NAM, McGaughey helped raise funds for Business-Industry Political Action Committee, the original PAC.

Footnote: William Howard Taft McGaughey is, of course, named after the 27th President of the United States. He was born in March 1912 when President Taft was seeking reelection. Dr. Samuel McGaughey, his father, was an ardent Republican. The 1912 presidential election is known for the “Bull Moose” candidacy of former President Theodore Roosevelt which split the Republican vote and threw the election to the Democrat, Woodrow Wilson. Ironically, Roosevelt became disenchanted with his successor, Taft, mainly because of conservation issues. His close political ally, Gifford Pinchot, who was head of the U.S. Forestry Service, had complained of Taft’s policies. Gifford Pinchot, a later two-time governor of Pennsylvania, lived in Milford, Pennsylvania, a small town to which William and Joan McGaughey retired after leaving Washington. They lived in a house built by Henry B. Wells for his newly wed daughter Joanna and her husband Frank P. Sawyer.

Samuel McGaughey	Martha Elliott	Andrew E. Durham	Aura May Sawyer

born 1876	born April 1879	born May 3, 1882	born Feb. 17, 1884
died 1931	died 1949	died July 24, 1954	died November 14, 1978
married April 4, 1904		married Nov. 24, 1910
lived in Indianapolis, IN		lived in Greencastle, IN

Samuel McGaughey	Mary S. Boal	Calvin R. Elliott	Mary A. O’Ragen

born July 22, 1828 (IN)	born 1834 (PA)	born April 1854 (KY)	born Nov 1859 (Ireland)
Married Shelby Co. IN on May 20, 1858		Married in late 1870s
Lived in Acton (Indianapolis) IN		Lived in Indianapolis, IN

James V. Durham	Sarah A. Black	Frank P. Sawyer	Joanna Wells

born June 15, 1833 (IN)	born August 11, 1839 (KY)	born November 30, 1856 (Canada)	born March 3, 1860 (PA)
died March 15, 1915	died July 20, 1924	died August 20, 1930	died November 21, 1938
Married Greencastle (IN) on December 11, 1860		Married on November 30, 1881
Lived in Greencastle, IN		Lived in Muscatine (IA) & Milford (PA)

Family of William Howard Taft McGaughey and Mary Joanna Durham:				lived in which state?

	William H. T. McGaughey, Jr.	born February 21, 1941		(MI, MN)
	Andrew Durham McGaughey	born June 30, 1942	died July 24, 1999	(MI, NY, DC, MN)
	David Payson McGaughey	born June 26, 1944	died March 31, 2005	(MI, GA, NY)
	Margaret D. McGaughey Isaacson	born May 29, 1948		(MI, ME)

Family of Samuel McGaughey and Martha Elliott:				lived in which state?

	Paul McGaughey	born 1907	died 1919	(IN)
	John McGaughey	born 1909	died 1973	(IN, CO)
	William McGaughey	born March 28, 1912	died November 24, 2004	(IN, NY, MI, DC,PA)
	Mary Jane McG. McIlwain	born 1917	died 1979	(IN)

Family of Andrew E. Durham and Aura May Sawyer:				lived in which state?

	Mary Joanna D. McGaughey	born August 25, 1911	died April 6, 2001	(IN, NY, MI, DC,PA)
	Sarah Jane D. Anderson	born October 16, 1912	died 1988	(IN, MA, NJ)
	Margaret Durham	born January 6, 1914	died 1994	(IN, PA)
	James Frank Durham	born October 3, 1915		(IN)
	Ann Drew D. Weinrichter	born April 11, 1922		(IN, CA)
	Aura May Durham	born June 30, 1924		(IN)

Family of Samuel McGaughey and Mary S. Boal:				lived in which state?

	Rachel McGaughey	born 1860
	Jennie McGaughey	born 1869
	Samuel McGaughey	born 1876	died 1931	(IN)
	Otto McGaughey	(born 1856)	(from Samuel’s previous marriage)

Family of Calvin R. Elliott and Mary Agnes O’Ragen:				lived in which state?

	Martha M. Elliott McGaughey (Mattie)	born April 1879	died 1949	(IN)
	Anna G. Elliott	born September 1881
	John C. Elliott	born July 1887
	Earl R. Elliott	born October 1895
	Warren F. Elliott	born May 1879
	Mary E. Elliott	born April 1885

Family of James V. Durham and Sarah A. Black:				lived in which state?

	Margaret Durham Bridges	born October 4, 1863	died October 16, 1957
	Jacob Ernest Durham	born June 1, 1865	died February 25, 1931
	Grace Spears Durham	born May 19, 1867	died December 31, 1872
	Robert Earl Durham	born October 6, 1874	died January 31. 1920
	Andrew Everett Durham	born May 3, 1882	died July 24, 1954	(IN)

Family of Frank P. Sawyer and Joanna Wells:				lived in which state?

	Henry Payson Sawyer	born November 19, 1882	died April 19, 1946	(IA, IN, PA)
	Aura May Sawyer Durham	born February 17, 1884	died Nov. 14, 1978	(IA, IN, PA)
	Maud	born May 3, 1892	married Daniel H. Ross (one son)	(OH, Canada)

Occupations of male heads of household:

William H. T. McGaughey	newspaper reporter, public relations, corporate and trade-association executive
Samuel McGaughey (b. 1876)	medical doctor
Andrew E. Durham	lawyer, politician
Samuel McGaughey	medical doctor
Calvin R. Elliott	railroad engineer
James V. Durham	farmer
Frank P. Sawyer	dealer in marble, Oats milling manager