The Journal Of Jacob Fowler

The journal of Jacob Fowler: narrating an adventure from Arkansas through the Indian Territory, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico, to the sources of Rio Grande del Norte, 1821-22 (Google eBook) [also here]:

Major Jacob Fowler's great-granddaughter (on her maternal side) was Mrs. Ida Symmes Coates (of Louisville, Kentucky), daughter of Americus Symmes, who was named in the introduction to the diary.  Her mother was Frances Scott [daughter of Major Chasteen Scott] and Ida's grandmother was Abigail Fowler, Jacob Fowler's only daughter.

Major Fowler was born in New York [or New Jersey in 1764] in 1765, and came to Kentucky early in life.  He was an accomplished surveyor.

About 1821 Fowler went further west from the Fort Smith, Arkansas, area.

...we arrive at the following approximately correct roster of the party : 

1. Colonel Hugh Glenn, in command. 

2. Major Jacob Fowler, the journalist, second in command. 

3. Robert Fowler, brother of Jacob Fowler. 

4. Baptiste Roy, interpreter. 

5. Baptiste Peno. (French name, no doubt misspelled.) 

6. George Douglas. 

7. Nathaniel Pryor, ex-Sergeant of Lewis and Clark's Expedition. 

8. Bono. (French name, no doubt misspelled, possibly Bonhomme.) 

9. Barbo. (French name, no doubt misspelled, possibly Barbu.) 

10. Lewis Dawson. (Fatally injured by a bear, Nov. 13, 1831; died Nov. 16.)

11. Taylor. 

12. Richard Walters. 

13. Eli Ward. 

14. Jesse Van Bieer. 

15. Slover. 

16. Simpson. 

17. Dudley Maxwell. 

18. Findley. 

19. Baptiste Moran. 

20. Paul, a negro belonging to Jacob Fowler.

The most interesting of the above names is that of Nathaniel Pryor, of whose identity with the sergeant of Lewis and Clark I have no doubt: see L. and C, ed. of 1893, p. 254, delete the query there, and add: Nathaniel Pryor of Kentucky became an Ensign of the U. S. Army Feb. 27, 1807; Second Lieutenant May 3, 1808; resigned April 1, 1810 ; was appointed First Lieutenant of the 44th Inf. Aug. 30, 1813; promoted to be Captain Oct. 1, 1814; and honorably discharged June 15, 1815. 

Arthur Stringer And The Gibson Girl

A search for an unrelated "Howland" in the Saginaw County, Michigan, Library's Obituary Index revealed the following entry:

Obituary Index

Index: SAGINAW DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, May 21, 1912 (9)

Name: STRINGER, ARTHUR

Spouse's Name: JOBYNA HOWLAND

Married: 00/00/1900

Death Date: 05/20/1912 [sic]*

Death Place: NIAGARA FALLS, NY

Misc: FORMER SAGINAW RESIDENT/AUTHOR

*September 14, 1950

Now who was author Arthur Stringer (1874-1950) and his wife, Jobyna Howland?  Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada.  They were married in 1900 in New York City.

New York, Marriages, 1686-1980

groom's name: Arthur John Arbuthnott Stinger

bride's name: Jobyna Lulu Bird Howland

marriage date: 02 Oct 1900

marriage place: Manhattan, New York, New York

groom's father's name: Hugh A. Stinger

groom's mother's name: Sarah Dehuzes

bride's father's name: Job Howland

bride's mother's name: Mary Benstiry

Several photographs of Jobyna Howland (1880-1936) can be seen at the photo gallery of the NYPL's Billy Rose Theatre Collection.  She was an actress and a Gibson Girl model.  Jobyna can be seen here at YouTube.  Ms. Howland's brother, Olin, was an actor.  Jobyna Howland's father, Joby, was "the drummer boy of Shiloh," the youngest enlisted drummer boy in the Civil War at age 11.

Jobyna and Arthur Stringer were divorced.  She was single and living in California in 1930:

United States Census, 1930

event place: Los Angeles (Districts 0001-0250), Los Angeles, California

marital status: Single

birthplace: Indiana

estimated birth year: 1882

relationship to head of household: Head

father's birthplace: New York

mother's birthplace: Illinois

Household Gender Age

  Jobyna Howland F 48

Germaine Gerard F 32

Arthur was remarried and living in New Jersey:

United States Census, 1930

event place: Mountain Lakes, Morris, New Jersey

Household Gender Age

  Arthur Stringer M 55

spouse Margaret Stringer F 36

child Robert Stringer M 12

child Hugh Stringer M 11

child Arthur John Stringer M 2

Ethel Terry F 24

A picture of Arthur Stringer as well as a partial list of his books can be found here.

The Family Tree Of The Author Frances Parkinson Keyes

The autobiography of Frances Parkinson (Wheeler) Keyes, Roses in December, is not only an interesting account of the author's life, but also provides a glimpse of the lives of some of the wealthy and influential people in New England.

This blog post has excerpts from the book; Ms. Keyes was her great-grandmother's first cousin.  How nice to have such a detailed account of one's relatives!

Mrs. Keyes' father, John Henry Wheeler, was an intelligent and accomplished man who died  at the age of 36 when Frances Parkinson Wheeler was 2 years old.

From "The Wheeler Family In America..":

11254. JOHN HENRY WHEELER, born Sept. 25, 1851; d. Oct. 10, 1887;
m. [Mrs.] Louise Underhill. Ch: 1. Frances Parkinson W , b. July
21, 1885; m. at Newbury, Vt., June 8, 1904, Henry Wilder Keyes.

From the Harvard Register: 

Dr John H Wheeler now holding one of the Parker fellowships abroad has given occasional instruction since graduation.

The last line in this excerpt of the Annual Report of the President (Johns Hopkins University) lists John Henry Wheeler, Phd, Professor of Greek, University of Virginia, 1882-1887 (with an asterisk denoting that he was deceased):  

In 1900 Frances and her mother, Louise (Johnson) Underhill Wheeler Pillsbury, were living in Newbury, Orange Co., Vermont.  Louise was divorced from her 3rd husband (Albert E. Pillsbury).  Roses In December told how one of Frances' ancestors, Thomas Johnson*, a Revolutionary War hero. was a founder of Newbury and built the house where they lived.

*Thomas Johnson married Abigail Carleton, a relative of Canadian's Governor General, Guy Carleton.  A photograph of Abigail's purse can be seen here.

 Edward Carleton JOHNSON, (Louise Johnson Underhill Wheeler Pillsbury's father) of Montpelier, son of David and Lucy (TOWNE) JOHNSON, was born at Newbury, September 30, 1816, graduated at Dartmouth 1840, read law with L. B. PECK from 1841 to April 25, 1843, when he was undoubtedly admitted to the bar in this county, but as it was in the day of Mr. CHURCHILL's clerkship it did not happen to get recorded. He formed a partnership with Lucas M. MILLER and began practice in Montpelier. He removed to New York city in 1845 and went into mercantile pursuits, and has been trustee of several estates that required business management. He married Delia Maria SMITH, of Hamilton, N. Y., August 31, 1847.

A lawsuit in the Smith family exhibited a truncated family tree, which included Delia and Louise (Frances Parkinson Keyes' grandmother and mother):

Frances Parkinson Keyes' beloved half-brother, James Underhill, became a mining engineer in Colorado.  The home where James and his wife, Lucy, lived is now the Underhill Museum in Idaho Springs, Colorado.

Mrs. Keyes owned the Beauregard-Keyes house in New Orleans.  Many of her novels are set in Louisiana.  The house itself is key (no pun intended!) to her novel, Madame Castel's Lodger.  In Roses In December Mrs. Keyes described the floor plans and other features of various houses where Mrs. Keyes spent time.