Finding Reason! (1-2-2-2-5-12)

In these times of so many nonsensical things it is so great to bring in some Reason!

I’m talking about Reason Smith Babb, who’s ancestry was lost. Thanks to a query by one of our members and some detailed research it has now been found and verified!

I’ve never been able to sort out the ancestry of Reason Smith Babb, because I only had the name Rees from the early records. One of his descendants provided me with his full name and the context that he went by Rees. Having his full name allowed me to compare and add context to his life.

I found that he married twice, first to Achsah C. Dye in 1856 and next in 1876 to Hattie Marinda (McCowan) Preston, who was the widow of Peter H. Preston. Achsah had also passed by this time, so Reason found his new meaning with Hattie and they were married through the remainder of their long lives into their late 80s.

They were living together in the 1910 Census, which provided me with initial details about their proper age and birth locations.

Note: You can click on any one of the images to see it in full size.

I also came across a marriage record for his first wife Achsiah C. Dye, which gave me her last name. This led me to a FindaGrave entry for Achsiah, which mentions him on her headstone. The entry mentions that she went by the nickname Axie.

This set me off on a long string of updating descendants and eventually brought me to the members parents and back to Reason’s wife Harriet in a City Directory in 1916. This lead me to a variety of other census records for Reece (Reason) under spelling variations of his name. But nothing that connects me to his

I then turned my attention to other possible naming variations of Reece in my database. There are two possibilities, Reece B. Babb (1828-1903) that has easily identifiable paper trail and different birth/death dates. I quickly eliminate him.

The other possibility is Reese Babb (born 1841 in Hampshire, VA to Archibald Babb). I’ve lost track of him after the 1850 Census so he is a good possible match. His father’s birthplace in Virginia (in a portion of the state that was later to become West Virginia) is correct and his mother Margaret Stone has a limited paper trail as she died in 1851, shortly after the US started keeping an every name Census in 1850. That record states that she is from Virginia, which isn’t a match with the 1910 Census which shows her to be from Maryland, but is a match with the 1900 Census that shows she is from Virginia. The birthdate is a little different, but this is my only solid lead, so I pursue it.

As I push further into his records, I find an easily traceable paper trail of his move to Marion, Missouri which is where Archibald and Margaret died. In 1860 he is living with what is apparently Margaret’s family. So, he is not our match either.

We appear to have a brand new Reason on our hands. But while searching I notice something else. There are only 5 total Reese’s and the one Reason in all of the tree. Without exception, they all descend from one common ancestor (1-2-2-2-4) which is Abner Babb (1768-1815) of Winchester, Frederick, Virginia. Abner has 172 descendants listed in the tree and our Reason is a probable descendant of one of them.

Reasoning that Reason must be associated with this lineage I compare and for a variety of reasons I eventually eliminate all of Abner’s descendants from being the possible father. But our member noticed something that I hadn’t. Abner’s brother Peter Babb Jr. (1-2-2-2-5) had a son listed Rees listed in his will. I looked for the will, but did not find it in Jean A. Sargent’s records. There was mysteriously little information about him. I looked back and found that he was included in the 2nd and 3rd Editions of Jean’s book Babb Families of America. I had made an improper connection back in 2006 to a Presley Babb that accidentally obscured Rees from the tree. Fortunately, I keep notes on such things and was able to correct my mistake.

We found the Estate Records of Peter Babb in Belmont County, OH and located the entry that mentions Rees in the will. He is apparently the youngest son of Peter (1-2-2-2-5) and was a mere 4 year’s old at the time of Peter’s death. Reason moved to Washington County, OH and started a new life in his 20s. This is why the paper trail is so lacking. I’ve never been able to locate him in the 1850 Census which might have short circuited this whole process. In 1856 we find him in Marietta, Washington, Ohio with Achsah.

From there I can easily pickup the trail and come up with more interesting documentation such as his Civil War Veteran Census record in 1890 and his marriage documents for Harriett. But I’m still lacking that essential piece of information that draws a more permanent connection to the proper locations. Belmont County is about 70 miles from Washington County, but that in those times that is still somewhat of a distance.

Searching for that single document that helps me prove the link between Rees and Reason, I start searching up and down the members of the tree. I looked through records of Rees’ siblings and through the 100 or so pages of Peter’s estate records and found only scant evidence of his existence. It was a similar experience checking through Jean A. Sargent’s files and I found that even she doodled trying to figure out which Rees she was dealing with. She never figured it out and her books only contain a single note about him, that he is mentioned in his father’s will and disbursement records. After that he seemed to drop off the face of the earth and isn’t a match with the other 5 Rees/Reece Babbs listed in the tree.

With no luck finding that connection I start looking for more modern records of Reason’s children to see if one of those contains the needed information. For some reason, I started with his youngest son John Otis Babb and worked my way to the top of the list. I hadn’t found anything until I got to his first child Alonzo Reese Babb. Alonzo’s death certificate mentions his father, so I pulled it up and finally found what I had been searching for. It shows Alonzo’s father, Reese Babb as having been born in Bridgeport, Ohio. Not familiar with the city, I looked that up and found that it is in Belmont County, Ohio! I have finally found Reason at last and was able to fully prove his connection to Peter.

While repairing the tree, I came across another error of mine relating to an accidental crossover of records with Peter Babb (1-2-1-4) & Mary Beeson, which was cross referenced with Peter Babb (1-2-2-2) and Mary Bowen. I’ve untangled that and have also included an updated tree of Peter’s (1-2-2-2) descendants, this time with Reason!

Descendants of Peter Babb Jr.(1-2-2-2)

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Today I’ve been assisting one of our members in trying to unveil the mystery of her Ancestor Daisy Dell Babb who died in 1930. While researching her line I was able to connect her into the main tree of Phillip Babb of the Isles of Shoals. How I found and verified it was too complicated to try and explain here. But I wanted to share the line so that others could benefit from it’s inclusion.

Daisy is one of 6 children of George Francis & Alice (Searcy) Babb. George’s lineage is actually the one that was cut short in the tree, having only been identified as George Babb (a name which was too common to match as he aged and moved from the family home. But as I always say, climbing a tree is a very different task that coming down from one. With the pieces of her history that were known I am now able to describe a new branch.

George Francis Babb was the son of William Alfred & Julia Ann (McKeg) Babb and marks the second child of William’s known to have born children. There are likely others, but for today I wanted to share the descendants of William Alfred Babb (1825-1909) for all to see.

The full tree is available for your viewing here:

Descendants of William Alfred Babb

My Brave Little Boy 

Caesar (2001-2017)

My Brave little boy, Caesar, passed from this earth this morning.

It was just on Monday that we learned that his recent weight gain was being fueled by a fast growing baseball sized tumor in his abdomen. It had appeared, as if out of nowhere over the last few weeks and seemed to grow in appearance daily. It had reached sufficient size that it was pressing on his stomach and was keeping him from being able to eat.

Eating was one of his favorite things in life. When he first found us leaving a News Year’s Eve party held by his now God Parents (Sean & Leslie), he was homeless and cold. David likes to say, Caesar wrapped me around his paw and said, let’s go! I unzipped my leather jacket and put this tiny 4 pound/4 month old kitten inside. He purred so loudly and we were immediately bound together.

He rode, in my jacket, most of the way home from Justin, TX to our place in North Dallas which is about an hour with only his head sticking out of the front. Just as in that first night, he has always been sweet, gentle and loving, with the most cheerful of dispositions, especially when he was getting fed.

Initially we had thought he was a girl pussycat and selected the name Josie. But the vet quickly corrected us and we moved on to the name Caesar. About a year later we named Caesar’s adopted little sister Josie in tribute to this moment.

This picture was taken a few months ago of Caesar laying on my desk and inside the picture is one from about 15 years ago of him laying on my 17″ monitor (remember those) at my desk.

Early on we realized that he was going to be a big cat as his paws started to grow and he quickly rocketed up to 20 pounds before we started controlling his portion sizes. He then settled back to about 17 pounds which he held for most of his life.

We put him on a limited diet of just 3 meals a day, which were administered at 8am, Noon and 5pm. He quickly learned this schedule and started to remind me when I was about to miss it. Every day as Noon and 5pm came, he would stand on my desk and start meowing so excitedly. When I’d look over at the clock it was almost always right on time, so we joked that he had learned to tell time.

At any time of day you could ask him “Are you hungry?” and he was sit up at attention and scream in excitement, then meow all the way to the bowl and until you put the food down in front of him. He never seemed to tire of hearing those words.

He was my constant editor for my Genealogical pursuits and listened patiently as I practiced all my presentations over these 16 years. He has been with me for roughly 1/3 of my life thus far and I don’t know how I’ll begin to live without him.

Caesar is preceded in death by his sister Josie who passed about 2.5 years ago and his brother Aristotle, who died in 2007. He is survived by his much younger adoptive brother Evan and his loving daddies. He would sleep on my desk all day and cuddle all day and slept on my pillow next to me most every night. That will be the hardest part for me. Going to bed without him and not having him there to wake me up by licking my forehead when I’m oversleeping.

I’ll miss you sweet kitty!

Your Daddy Dan

I’ve donated a complete set (all 15 volumes) of Babb Unabridged to the Stewart Bell, Jr. Archives of the Handley Library in Winchester, VA. This is the permanent home of Jean A. Sargent’s papers and the library was extremely instrumental in the digitization of those records. So, this was a natural place to have a complete set. They are currently being printed and should arrive at the library in the next couple of weeks.

I’m also having additional sets sent to the Allen County Public Library (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and the Family History Library (Salt Lake City, Utah) run by the LDS church.

My hope it to provide access to those who aren’t able to afford their own set.

Long time members will remember Carl and Norma Woods, who were regular attendees at the Reunions. They were last able to attend the 2007 Reunion in San Antonio. Norma passed not long afterwards, but Carl held in there to the ripe old age of 93. He would have been 94 next month. They were both some of my favorite people on this earth and made me feel very welcome as a new member at the 2001 Portsmouth, NH reunion. Carl was a descendant of Phillip Babb of the Isles of Shoals, through his second son Thomas. I don’t have an accurate birth order on his large family, but his grandmother was Mary Matilda Babb (1-2-2-1-5-1-5=4).

I distinctly remember them having come back to the bus a little early after touring one day, as did I. We sat on the bus and discussed so many things. Carl’s health prevented him from active participation in recent years. I’ll leave you with these two photos taken at the 2004 Reunion in Greeneville, TN. I’m so sad to hear of Carl’s loss, but know he will be so happy to be back with Norma at last. God Speed my friend!

His obituary follows:

LCDR Carl Woods, USN Retired, 93, of Corpus Christi, Texas went to his eternal patrol, on August 2, 2017 at his home in Corpus Christi. A Celebration of Life Service will be at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 12, 2017 at the Murray Church of Christ in Murray, IA. Rev. Roger Woods will officiate. Interment will be at the Murray Cemetery south of Murray with military graveside rites by the William Lochery American Legion Post # 405 of Murray. Open visitation with family receiving friends will be 5-8 p.m. Friday, August 11, 2017 at the Powers Funeral Home in Afton. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch 298 Middle Road, Riverhead, NY 11901, or USS City of Corpus Christi (SSN705) memorial Fund, US Submarine Veterans Corpus Christi 6537 S Staples St. Suite 1215 PMB 218 Corpus Christi, Texas 78413 or a charity of your choice.

Carl was born to Ray and Abigail “Abbie” (Roberts) Woods, September 25, 1923 on the family homestead, on the prairies of northeastern Montana, 9 miles from the Canadian Border, nearest town being Malta, in Phillips County, Montana.

Carl was raised in Iowa in Greene, Grand River, Union and Clarke Counties. Schooling was in one room schoolhouses, until he went to High School in Murray, Iowa where he graduated in 1941 – he was the Salutatorian, probably should have been the Valedictorian, but learning came easy for him and he didn’t have to study much to keep his grades up, and my mother, Norma did, so she was named Valedictorian.

Carl was number 8 in the Woods brood of 9 and worked with his father, brothers and sisters in working the family farm. When the war came in 1941, he had graduated from High School and had promised his father he would bring in 2 more harvests.

Carl joined the US Navy in December of 1942 and went to Great Lakes Naval Training Center, thus beginning his 30 year career in the Navy. Going from a lowly seaman, to the rank of 04 – Lieutenant Commander, before retiring in 1973. Carl was a Veteran of, World War II, the Korean War, Cold War and the Vietnam War. He was a Hospital Corpsman on Submarines (USS Ronquil SS-396, USS Queenfish SS393, USS Blackfin SS-322). He served as a Medical Corpsmen, attached to the Marine 1st Division in Korea, and was a recruiter in Denver, Colorado. The NAVY raised the age limit for Nuclear Power School, so in 1957 he applied and was accepted, and then stayed on to teach at the school, before returning to Submarines to serve as the “COB” Chief of the Boat (Gold Crew), on the USS George Washington SSBN598. He even made the cover of Life Magazine (background) in 1962.

As an officer, he was a Limited Duty, Admin officer at the Recruiting Center at Great Lake Naval Training Center, and then at the beginning of the Vietnam build up (1965), he was sent Danang, Chou Lai, Saigon and other back water places to set up offices, design buildings, set up protocols and other things. He then was transferred to Hawaii where he was the “Postal Officer of the Pacific” at Com Serv Pac. He did too good of a job and ended up being in charge of all branches of the military mail going into SE Asia. He ended his career in San Diego, Calif. designing tests for the Navy. His reward from the Navy, a job that was 7am – 4pm.
He spent his final 17 work years, working with his brother Edgar, at Computer Sciences Corporation – where he was a Programer, Analyst – going back to his first love submarines, and helped in designing the computer programs for the Aegis Missiles. Carl was an active member of his William Lochery American Post #405 in Murray, IA and of SubVets Sea Turtle Base here in Corpus Chriti, TX.
Carl married Norma Charlotte Phillips in 1944, and they were together till her death in 2008, a few weeks short of their 64th wedding anniversary. They used to joke that “we did okay for two farm kids from Iowa.” As a family they had four children, Philip E. Woods, Craig A. Woods, C. Elaine Woods and Roger B. Woods and moved as a family from coast to coast several times, Hawaii, Denver, Colorado, Great Lakes, IL, Murray, IA and finally retiring in Corpus Christi, TX in 1995. Carl was a member of Kings Crossing Church of Christ (formerly Windsor Park Church of Christ). Carl was a quiet man who loved the Lord, and will be remembered for laughter, love of anything outdoors, and his sense of humor. He had a deep voice, that could rattle the rafters, but was kind hearted and gentle, beneath the bark.
Carl is survived by his son Philip E. Woods (Vivian Woods) of Corpus Christi, TX; Craig A. Woods (Linda Woods) of Fleming, OH; Carol Elaine Woods of Corpus Christi, TX; Roger B. Woods (Glenda Woods) of Walled Lake, MI; Six Grandsons: Wilson Woods (Alicia Woods) of Fort Worth, TX; Clinton Woods (Catherine Woods) of Arnold, MD; Evan Woods of Denton, TX; Shawn Woods (Jessica Woods) of Belpre, OH; Trevor Woods of Detroit, MI and Ryan Woods of Walled Lake, MI. He was blessed with seven great grandchildren – Charlotte & Parker (Wilson Woods), Jonas, Maris Cate, Cullen & Emerson (Clinton Woods) and Claire (Shawn Woods). His sister in law, June Philiips Flaherty and brother in law, Pinky Wayne Phillip, both of Murray Iowa and numerous wonderful nieces and nephews, and cousins from all over the country that he cherished.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Norma Charlotte Phillips Woods, parents Ray and Abbie Woods; his sisters Beryl Woods Boles, Georgia Woods Timan, Mary Woods Payne, and Maxine Woods Kessler; and his brothers Raymond Woods, Clarke Woods, Dean Woods and Edgar Woods.

We have a fresh season of the DNA Waiting Game starting up. Yesterday I met a member of the Buckinghamshire Pedigree 01 lineage that has agreed to be tested. He currently lives in England and as he met the pre-requisite of me being able to track his lineage, the Babb Family Association has paid for his Y-DNA 37 test. This offer still stands for other Male Babbs who live in England. Please private message me or reply to this post to get qualified. Once we prove his lineage, I’ll be sending him the relevant Babb Unabridged volumes for his family as a thank you gift.

Buckinghamshire is just to the North and West of London and is often loosely referred to as Bucks or Buckingham. It is home to 3 pedigrees. Follow the links below to review the Descendants of each line:

• buckinghamshire-pedigree-01 (before 1774 in Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire)
• buckinghamshire-pedigree-02 (about 1813 in Penn, Buckinghamshire)
• buckinghamshire-pedigree-03 (about 1800 in Great & Little Hampden, Buckinghamshire)

You will notice that these families are likely related. The early cities mentioned are a mere 8 miles (13 Kilometers) apart and very close to Heathrow Airport. Proving them out is the long term goal of this project.

So, when we find the connection for one of these lines, we will likely be able to draw a conclusion as to where all 3 originate. Will they be a part of one of the 4 lines of Babbs already genetically proven in England, or will we finally prove a link to the US Babbs? Or will they become a new 8th lineage?

Only time will tell! Expect a 2-3 month total wait time on this due to the shipping and processing time involved.

While I have your attention, the sale on DNA tests lasts through the end of this month and I’d love to add 5-10 more candidates to the game. So, don’t delay!

This photo only came with the description “Grammie Carrie Babb”. It was a little hard to track down. Fortunately the attached card (called a cabinet card) had the location of Lynn. I know that to be Lynn, Massachusetts, which is a well known location for a branch of the Babbs.

I did a quick Bing Maps check on the address listed and found it was a valid street address in Lynn, MA. So, I knew she must be nearby. I didn’t have a Carrie in the database who lived in Lynn, so I broadened my search to include all of Massachusetts and she popped right up. I did have a little confusion separating her husband from her son, as they both have the same name.

She was born Carrie A. McLoud in Apr 1857, Maine. She married Charles W. Babb (1-3-1-1-1-6-7-1) 27 May 1877 in Kennebec, Maine. They were in Lynn by 1880 and this picture likely dates to about that timeframe. Charles is a descendant of Phillip Babb of the Isles of Shoals (1), through his son Philip (with one L)(1-3).