Ives Family History Blog

Update on Ives Family History Blog: July 2016

I started this blog on February 15, 2007 with this post Ives Family Blog Overview. I first did this summary on October 4, 2007 and this is just an update. I have put up a total of 258 posts so far. I am still getting many comments and have 499 so far. As I said then, I am writing about the descendents of William Ives, one of the founders of New Haven CT. It is not like a regular blog that posts on current events and does not go back and makes changes to prior posts. Rather it is an online draft history that I hope to continue to improve. I intend to continue to modify this document on an ongoing basis and welcome all comments, additions, and corrections. This includes going back and correcting material already posted when new evidence arrives. Below is an Ives family gathering in Pinebluff North Carolina in the early 1900s. My great grandfather, Sumner Abraham Ives, is on the far right. My grand father, Sumner Albert Ives, is next two him. The two women are my great grandmothers, Alice Dunbar Ives and Eulalia Sharp.

  

I have now provided all the research that I have completed to date. This summer I finally visited New Haven and walked on the land owned by William Ives. It is now a parking lot for a medical building but there is a nice green hedge along one of the property lines. There have been over 150,901 page views since I started with an average of 44 a day, over a 100 on some days. I have met a number of new relatives and learned new information about the Ives family. I will continue to make periodic updates through new posts and corrections to existing material. There have been 499 comments on the 258 posts. Your suggestions are welcome.

Known Ives Lineages In The U.S. & Canada - David Ives

I recently received a a link to a document entitled, “Known Ives Lineages In The U.S. & Canada.” It can be downloaded from his web site at: http://ivescentral.com/genealogy/  This compilation covers the 18 separate Ives descent lines that are known to me in the U.S. & Canada, which have identified male progenitor individuals (Charles through William), as well as 2 additional, substantial, Ives descent lines (Jeremiah's and John's) for which the actual male progenitor still remains “at large.” It also contains DNA information for 5 of these known Ives lineages (with many thanks to John Wilder – coordinator of the Ives DNA Project – and to the DNA participants!).

Many thanks to David for all the hard work putting this document together and for sharing it with us. It is 153 pages in length. 

Update on Ives Family History Blog: July 2015

I started this blog on February 15, 2007 with this post Ives Family Blog Overview. I first did this summary on October 4, 2007 and this is just an update. I have put up a total of 250 posts so far. I am still getting many comments and have 379 so far. As I said then, I am writing about the descendents of William Ives, one of the founders of New Haven CT. It is not like a regular blog that posts on current events and does not go back and makes changes to prior posts. Rather it is an online draft history that I hope to continue to improve. I intend to continue to modify this document on an ongoing basis and welcome all comments, additions, and corrections. This includes going back and correcting material already posted when new evidence arrives. Below is an Ives family gathering in Pinebluff North Carolina in the early 1900s. My great grandfather, Sumner Abraham Ives, is on the far right. My grand father, Sumner Albert Ives, is next two him. The two women are my great grandmothers, Alice Dunbar Ives and Eulalia Sharp.

  

I have now provided all the research that I have completed to date. This summer I finally visited New Haven and walked on the land owned by William Ives. It is now a parking lot for a medical building but there is a nice green hedge along one of the property lines. There have been over 143,967 page views since I started with an average of 47 a day, over a 100 on some days. I have met a number of new relatives and learned new information about the Ives family. I will continue to make periodic updates through new posts and corrections to existing material. There have been 479 comments on the 257 posts. Your suggestions are welcome.

DNA signature of William Ives Now Available

I heard from David Ives that for the first time, the DNA signature of William Ives (1607-1648) has been made publicly available. It is the result of the Y chromosome testing of 4 male known direct descendants, none of whom are closely related, of William. This is not only the signature of William Ives; it also is the DNA signature of every one of the thousands of direct male descendants of William Ives. This document, "William Ives DNA Signature," can be downloaded from: http://ivescentral.com/genealogy/

Our thanks to John Wilder ( [email protected] ) for being THE driving force behind the Ives progenitor DNA project. Anyone wishing to find out further information about this project should contact John directly (above); or may contact David at: [email protected].

DNA tests from direct male descendants of any of the progenitors of the various Ives lineages, other than that of William (e.g., the lineages of Timothy, Franklin Alexander, Thomas, Eardley, etc.), are always actively being sought.

Update on the English Origins of William Ives

Richard Ives just returned England where he was conducting more research for his book about his branch of the Ives family in America. He was kind to share his latest discoveries and conclusions. The text that follows is by Richard with only a few minor edits. After a careful examination of the evidence that has recently come to light about the William Ives who was baptized in Langham, Rutland County, England on March 21, 1607, Richard has become convinced that he and our ancestor, William Ives, who arrived in Boston in 1635, are the same person. The evidence to support this view is, admittedly, scanty but extremely compelling.

The first bit of evidence resides in the fact that on the day Will Ives, the immigrant to Boston, boarded the "Truelove" in England, he was asked to swear his allegiance to King Charles - which he did. He was no doubt asked other questions by the ever-suspicious Royal customs and immigrations inspector, but the only answer the inspector was required to write down was William's age, which Will Ives gave as "28." This age accords perfectly with the date of birth of William Ives of Langham. To grasp the significance of this fact, one ought to ask just how men named  William Ives were living in England in the early decades of the 17th century? We know of at least half a dozen and there may have been twice that many. How many of the William Ives men we know about were born in 1607? Answer? Only one.

The second bit of evidence is somewhat more tangential but nevertheless extremely telling. When William Ives of New Haven died in about May 1648, his wife (We will call her Hannah for the same of convenience) understood that in a matter of months she must find a husband (At her age, she would not have been allowed to live without a husband in New Haven.). Now, consider the fact that she might have found a man from anywhere in New England to marry, or she might have chosen an immigrant from any of the 10,000 towns and villages in England itself. Whom did she choose in the end? Dr. William Bassett, scion the Bassett clan of North Luffenham (pronounced "Luff-Num") a village located just 9 miles from Langham, where the only English William Ives we know of from that period who was born in 1607 was born and raised. What, then, are the chances then that William Ives of Rutland and William Ives of New Haven are not the same person?

For some time now, our cousin David Ives and Richard have been in contact with the Langham Village History Group, based in Will Ives' home village, which has produced a magnificent volume entitled The Life and Families of 17th Century Langham. In it there is a considerable amount of information in it that pertains to Will Ives' youth, his family, and his ancestors. Richard would urge any Ives person who is interested in knowing about the background of our ancestor, Will  Ives, to purchase a copy. A careful examination of the book and of the website that the Langham History Group maintains on the internet will open vistas that Ives researchers have been seeking for hundreds of years. Richard believes the that the book may be purchased directly from the Langham History Group, which can be contacted at  [email protected]  The Langham Village History Group Home Page can be accessed simply by entering the name at Google Search or any search engine.   

Last month, Richard traveled to England and met with members of the Langham Village History Group. They could not have been more obliging and generous in their hospitality. He laid the evidence before them that indicates that Will Ives of Langham and Will Ives of New Haven were one in the same person, and they agreed that the evidence is extremely persuasive. Attached below are a few photos by Richard of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul at Langham - the church where Will Ives was baptized in 1607. Also included is a photo of the font - original to the church, and dating from the 16th century of before - at which Will Ives was baptized.

Finally, Richard it is time to clear the air about a few details relating to Will Ives, both before he arrived in America, and after. Three years ago, he procured copies of the records of church membership for St. Stephen Coleman, London for the years 1630 to 1635 from the LDS genealogical center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since 17th century English cannot be read by anyone not trained to read that script, he paid several experts to decipher the rolls. What they revealed was that Will Ives was never enrolled as a tithing member of St. Stephen Coleman during the period 1630-1635, nor is there a record of any person named Ives having been enrolled during that time. The legend, perpetrated by well-meaning scholar Isabel Calder that Will Ives was a member of Reverend Davenport's congregation is, simply, false. This is not meant to suggest that Will did not attend St. Stephen - he may have - only that the records indicate clearly that he was never a member.

There is a second bit of William Ives lore in need of correction. It is been stated in the past that on arriving at Boston in 1635, Will resided in Cambridge/Watertown Massachusetts, near Boston, presumably to be near or live with his supposed kinsman, Miles Ives. As far as I have been able to discover, there is not the slightest bit of evidence to support this claim. Because the Ives name is relatively rare, they were probably related, and in view of the fact that Boston and Cambridge were mere villages at the time, the two men probably did meet, but that is really all that can be said about it.

Update on Ives Family History Blog: September 2013

I started this blog on February 15, 2007 with this post Ives Family Blog Overview. I first did this summary on October 4, 2007 and this is just an update. I have put up a total of 250 posts so far. I am still getting many comments and have 379 so far. As I said then, I am writing about the descendents of William Ives, one of the founders of New Haven CT. It is not like a regular blog that posts on current events and does not go back and makes changes to prior posts. Rather it is an online draft history that I hope to continue to improve. I intend to continue to modify this document on an ongoing basis and welcome all comments, additions, and corrections. This includes going back and correcting material already posted when new evidence arrives. Below is an Ives family gathering in Pinebluff North Carolina in the early 1900s. My great grandfather, Sumner Abraham Ives, is on the far right. My grand father, Sumner Albert Ives, is next two him. The two women are my great grandmothers, Alice Dunbar Ives and Eulalia Sharp.

 

I have now provided all the research that I have completed to date. This summer I finally visited New Haven and walked on the land owned by William Ives. It is now a parking lot for a medical building but there is a nice green hedge along one of the property lines. There have been over 127,315 page views since I started with an average of 52 a day, over a 100 on some days. I have met a number of new relatives and learned new information about the Ives family. I will continue to make periodic updates through new posts and corrections to existing material. There have been 429 comments on the 263 posts. Your suggestions are welcome.

Grace Ives

The following interesting Ives family story was provided by Jeanita Strong. Her husband is Donald Ives Strang.  His grandmother was Grace M. Ives who married Herbert T. Strang.  Grace's father was Charles Augustus Ives, born 1841 in Racine, Wisconsin.  Charles's father was Stephen N. Ives.  His father was Roland Ives, Sr.  

Grace Ives, born in 1885 in Davenport, Iowa, was the seventh of eight children of Charles Augustus Ives and Rosebelle Bullock Ives.  Grace was born into a railroad family.  Her father Charles was a conductor.  Her brothers, Robert S. Ives and William G. Ives also worked for the railroad.  In September 1902 Grace married Herbert T. Strang of Lake County, Illinois, who worked for the North Shore Electric Railroad.  They had 5 children.  

On May 15, 1919, Herbert died suddenly at his home in Highwood, Illinois.  The coroner determined there was strychnine in Herbert Strang's stomach.  Grace was then charged with poisoning her husband.  There were almost daily articles on the case from May 16, 1919 thru June 19, 1919 with a concluding article Oct 29, 1919 in the Waukegan Sun and the Waukegan Daily Gazette (Waukegan, Illinois). Grace was arrested at her home and taken to the jail in Waukegan, Illinois, leaving her children unattended.  Kenneth was 15, Donald was 13, Lenore was 9 and Thomas was 4.  

The newspaper articles at first hinted that Grace was having an affair with another man.  It appears from the newspaper articles that no poison was found at the home nor did Grace purchase any poison from any drugstore in the area. The states attorney James G. Welch was sure he could prove Grace poisoned Herbert.  R.J. Dady was the attorney for Grace.  On June 12, 1919, the judge denied the motion for a special grand jury as the grand jury was not in session.  By June 16, 1919 Grace Ives Strang was released on $25,000 bond.  Grace's brother, Will Ives (supervisor of the North Shore Electric R.R.) had spent most of his time working on her case since she was arrested.  

The bond was signed by a large number of business and professional men of Highland Park and Deerfield, Illinois.  The June 17, 1919 Waukegan Daily Gazette listed those who signed the bond.  Besides the businessmen, they included her brothers, Charles A. Ives of Erie, Pennsylvania and William G. Ives, R.L. Bullock, a cousin on her mother, Rosebelle Bullock Ives' side, and E.L. Terry, a brother-in-law.  On June 24, 1919, Grace took her children to live with her brother Charles A. Ives in Erie, Pennsylvania until the October grand jury.  

The last article that I have found thus far is Oct 29, 1919.  The grand jury did not indict Grace.  "Donald, the thirteen year old son of Mrs. Strang was one of the chief witnesses before the grand jury.  Although called by the prosecution, his testimony, more than that of anyone else, is said to have influenced the grand jury in failing to return an indictment.  The boy testified that on the night his father was taken ill, that he helped his father to place the food on the table, the father having returned home after the others had eaten.  He said he and his father ate the same food."  

Donald was called to testify before the grand jury every day for two weeks.  The article further stated that several witnesses testified that Mr. Strang had talk of suicide.   The grand stated that the evidence for murder also could point to suicide.  The grand jury left it open for the prosecution to further pursue the investigation.  She was told by my husband's aunt, Lenore, that the family had eaten supper together.  Her father had gotten up to get something for a migraine headache and had mistakenly taken the wrong thing.  She founnd that if that had been true why the poison was not found in the house and why this did not come out in the hearing.      

Jeanita said that can see why Grace's son Donald Robert Strang named his son Donald Ives Strang, in tribute of his mother. Grace's brother, Robert (Bob) Ives.  He was crushed between 2 railroad cars in Kansas City in 1918.  Robert was the superintendent of the electric railroad.

Need for Ives Male DNA Samples

I received this note from David Ives who publishes the IvesCentral genealogy page. I am posting it here to reach more people. “John Wilder  ([email protected] ) has been maintaining data on Ives DNA tests and information.  Thanks to his efforts, we now have a solid DNA profile and "signature" for the descendants of William Ives of New Haven.  BUT -- John needs male descendants of other Ives lines (who can provide their DNA data/information) to participate in this effort.  This includes Ives males who are descended from the southern Timothy Ives line, from the Massachusetts Thomas Ives line, and from the New York Franklin Alexander Ives line, among others.  If you fit into one of these categories, or know someone who does, please contact John at the noted e-mail address above. I do not. 

 

The Military Treason Trial of Sarah Hutchins

Ken Ives recently sent me this material through a comment and I wanted to elevate it to a post so it would be more accessible. It is much appreciated. What follows came from Ken.

There's an article in the spring edition of the National Archives' "Prologue" magazine that Ives researchers may find interesting. It is titled "All for a Sword: The Military Treason Trial of Sarah Hutchins". There's an on-line version of the article at the above link While the article focuses on the treason trial of

Sarah Hutchins, a Baltimore woman, near the end of the Civil War, it also discusses briefly the closely-related treason trial a New York stock broker named William Ives. This was William Jay Ives, b. abt 1833, son of Ansel Wilmot Ives. Though he was from New York, his family straddled the line during the war. His brother, Joseph, was a Colonel in the Confederate army, and an aide to Confederate president Jeff Davis.

He had another brother, Leonard, also in the Confederate army, who was mortally wounded at Gettysburg (and figures in the article). A third brother, David, served in the Union army. And finally, his brother Malcolm Ives was a war correspondent for the New York Herald, who was at one point charged with spying and imprisoned for several months, then released without a trial.

Ken also posted this on Ancestry, but your site may reach a somewhat different audience. He thinks it should be publicized because it is, as far as he knows, a completely unknown chapter in our family history. The research backing the article is quite good, done using primary sources, by a professor of history at Christopher Newport College in Virginia, and it fits perfectly with other information my own research has found on William Jay Ives and his siblings. He closed by thanking me ever so much for hosting this site, and especially for bringing Richard Ives' great work on the early Ives family to the rest of us.

 

 

Some More Information on William Ives in England

Richard Ives continues do some great work on the origins of our William Ives in England. We know for sure he boarded the True Love at age 28 to sail to the New World.  There are various theories on what happen before then. Here is one post on it - New Clues on the Parents of William Ives (1607 – 1648).

Richard wrote me recently, “In a will made drawn up in 1628, Thomas Ives, a well to do inhabitant of Langham, Rutland, dispossessed his eldest son, Wiliam Ives, making a big deal of leaving him precisely one shilling in his will. To his other sons, Thomas left £15 a piece. This was seven years before "our" William Ives left England, but I think it is interesting to note that in 1628, the year William Ives of Rutland was dispossessed, "our" William was 21 years old - a fact that may have impelled to Thomas Ives of Rutland to make his intentions in regard to his estate clear. Are William Ives of Rutland and William Ives, Boston immigrant the same person?”  He added in, "The Parish Map of 1624," you will find the Thomas Ives ("Iues") residence smack in the middle of Langham, the location of which can still be pinpointed in the town today see below.

 

In a second message Richard found the baptismal records of Langham Parish and he was able to locate William's baptismal record. He was born March 21, 1607, which would make him 28 years old in 1635, the age of our William Ives.

The then picture clouds a bit as Richard added in a third message - David Ives, an expert genealogist, discovered in the Langham Parish Burial Records a record of a "William Ives" being buried at Rutland on September 10, 1639.  No age or family connection of the deceased is provided.

Although this certainly does complicate matters, David and I agree that, far from discarding the notion that William Ives of Rutland is "our" William Ives, we ought to continue looking into the case. There are several reasons why we have come to this conclusion.

The first is, simply, that as far as we know, after a century and a half of numerous American members of the Ives family examining original documents in England, William Ives of Rutland is (as far as we know) the first whose date of birth exactly matches the age given by "our" William Ives to the King's agent the day he boarded the "Truelove." It is, of course, entirely possible that there were two William Ives of the same age living in England at the time, but the fact that the date of birth of William Ives of Rutland perfectly matches that of  "our" William remains powerfully suggestive.

The second is that if the "William Ives" who was buried in Langham on September 10, 1639, is the son of Thomas Ives of Langham, then a curious picture emerges. Born in 1607, William Ives of Rutland is disinherited at age 21, left with only a shilling in his father's will. Despite this, he either goes on living in Langham (or returns there later in life) and dies in the village in 1639 at age 32. For us, this scenario is little short of bizarre. It is nearly impossible to imagine a disinherited and shamed son continuing to live in Langham for 11 years after his stunning disinheritance. For one thing, with no property or money inherited from his father, how would he have made a living? As for the possibility of William leaving Langham and returning later, the idea that William, the prodigal son, left Langham after his disinheritance at age 21, only to return later and die at age 32 (death bed reconciliations notwithstanding), seems pretty unlikely as well.

Our conclusion is that the September, 1639, William Ives burial record for Langham may well refer to a child (baptized because he has a name) who was a nephew or cousin of the William Ives of Langham, born in 1607. The problematic bit of this theory, of course, is that there is no surviving baptismal record from Langham that we have been able to find so far for any such  child.

Richard concluded - So, there you have it. Unfortunately, "our" William Ives still refuses to reveal his origins in a conclusive way and remains, as they say down South, "as slippery as an eel in a barrel of oil."

Thanks to Richard for this great work and I wanted to share it with you in this post.