NESBITOLOGY

Newsletters 6-9
Otis B. Nesbit
Nesbitt/Nisbet Society, United Kingdom
Publication No. 10

Cambridge
1995

NESBITOLOGY

Family Letter No. 6.

Jan. 1938.

Published personally by Otis B. Nesbit. M.D., 444 Jackson Street, Gary, Indiana, USA.

Mailed to those who acknowledge in some manner its receipt. News about your family and the clan desired. Copies sent on request. If you don't like this issue, send it back.

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THE VALUE OF A SMILE

Wilber B. Nesbit

The thing that goes the farthest
Towards making life worthwhile,
That costs the least, and does the most,
Is just a pleasant smile.
The smile that bubbles from the heart
That loves its fellow men
Will drive away the clouds of gloom
And coax the sun again.
It pays the higher interest,
For it is merely lent,
It's worth a million dollars ----
And it doesn't cost a cent.
There is no room for sadness
Where we see a cheery smile;
It always has the same good look;
It's never out of style;
It nerves us on to try again
When failure makes us blue;
The dimples of encouragement are good
For me and you.
So - smile away!
Folks understand by what a smile is meant;
It's worth a million dollars --
And it doesn't cost a cent.
A smile comes easily enough,
A twinkle in the eye
Is natural, and does more good
Than a long drawn sigh!
It touches on the heartstrings
Till they quiver blithe and long,
And always leaves an echo
That is very like a song.

(Copyright by Volland Co.)

SOME NOTES ABOUT MY FOLKS

Allegra Mary Nesbit received a Masters Degree in Education at the University of Chicago, June 11, 1937. She is head of the history department in Lew Wallace High School, Gary, Indiana.

Her thesis was on the Development of Citizenship through Student Participation in the Lew Wallace School, Gary. She and her mother attended the N.E.A. meeting at Detroit in July and spent a week-end at Ann Arbor.

Charley McCray of Albany, California and his son Earl were with us for breakfast on New Years Day. Earl finished high school in June. Thanks for an invitation.

Beatrice Oppenheim and Judith were afraid to trust a trip back to Singapore last fall and have an apartment in Chicago near the University where Judith attends the Nursery School. They will be home for Christmas.

John Young, son of George Young of Centralia, Kansas was at R.O.T.C. camp at Ft. Sheridan and came out to see us a couple of times. He is an engineering student at Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan. His brother is also at that college. Brother Edward was here on his last visit and I arranged for them to be taken through the steel mills.

Brother Edward T. and his wife, of Colusa, California, stopped en route upon their return to Ann Arbor, Michigan to visit their son Dr. Reed Nesbit and family in their new summer home on the Huron River about twenty miles from their home.

Reed brought his family down Nov. 12; he went on by train to speak at a medical meeting in Milwaukee that night. I met him in Chicago the next day, we took in the "Hobby Show" and "You Can't Take It with You", returning home for a good dinner. At night we had family motion pictures.

Cousin Sarah Reel and Edith Benn are at 421 Foothill Blvd., Glendora, California. Sarah had her two sons and daughter with her on her Century birthday celebration, Sept. 9th. She is the oldest known descendant of great grandfather Samuel Nisbet. She is a remarkable woman indeed.

Cousin Annie Mathews died March 3, 1937. Interment at Cypress View Mausoleum, San Diego, California. She was a daughter of Uncle John Thomas Nisbet. Her only child is L.W. Mathews of Encinitas, California.

Benj. F. McCray aged 94 died at Oakland, Calif., at the home of his daughter Ruth Usher; interment Jan. 25, 1937, Sunset Cemetery, Richmond, by the side of his wife, Mary Nesbit, my oldest sister. He was the father of ten children, thirteen grandchildren and six great grandchildren. His daughter Bell Chambers, died the week before. She and Ruth lived together.

Cousin Mallie Nesbit Scott, b. 1822 daughter of Uncle Nicholas Nesbit and last of that family died Jan. 22, 1937 (?115 years?) at Richmond, California, Christian Science Services, cremated.

Cousin Lucinda Elizabeth (Young) Cartmell, died August 30, 1937, 82 years 8 months, at her home on the farm near Stoutsville, Missouri. Her son Emery Otis and she lived together.

Joe Reister of Lexington, Kentucky is making good as a newspaper man. Thanks Joe for the feature stories sent. He is Mrs. Willie Reister's son. She has not been well. Hope she has recovered her usual good health.

THE NESBIT-ENDICOTT REUNION was attended by about one hundred at Cynthiana, Indiana, Sept. 5, 1937. A.J. Endicott is president.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

Otis B. Nesbit.

THE NESBIT ESTATE

John Nesbitt Dowling

In the year 547, the Saxons of Northumberland, led by Ida the Flamebearer, invaded and took possession of the territory north of the Tweed-- known as the Lothians. With the exception of the citadels Dunbar and Duns, they gave names familiar to themselves to all parts of it. About two miles south of Duns, from which it was separated by a marsh, and a barrier, or ridge, running from west to east, which by its form suggested to the Saxon imagination the familiar protuberance beneath the body of the sow, which they termed the Dilster--a compound word composed of Dil--soothing--and Ster--rising. The district then overrun by swine, still bears evidence of the fact by such names as Swinton and Swinburn.

The estate which included this remarkable mound was named with its manor - house "Dilster- halle". It is so named in the list of manors which Edgar--the son of Malcolm Canmore--about the year 1095 is alleged in a draft charter now at Durham to have intended for the endowment of the monks of St. Cuthbert.

About the year 1070 Malcolm had included this estate in the grant of lands he made to the deprived Earl of Northumberland - Gospatrick, his cousin - when he entrusted him with the defence of Dunbar and the Lothian province. About 1095 when Edgar succeeded his father, being on friendly terms with William Rufus, the Conqueror's son and successor, and the Earl Gospatrick having returned in favour of his son Gospatrick 'brother of Dolfin', the altered conditions in respect of the estate called for revision. In the first place, by reason of Edgar's upbringing at Norman Court, the vulgar name by which the estate was known displeased him, and he changed it to Nesebite which likened its distinctive feature to the familiar guard on the caps of the Norman man-at-arms. Further, inasmuch as peaceable conditions still existed, by which Gospatric's duties had been nominal, and by reason also of King Edgar's devotion to the church, the custodian of Dunbar before 1138 executed a deed by which Edrom and Aliam Villam quae dicitur Nesebite was assigned to the Monks of St. Cuthbert. The final arrangement agreed upon with Gospatrick III, was that his relation and acting steward of his household, Aldan the son of Crin, should enjoy the hereditary right of tenancy under the ownership of the Monks of St. Cuthbert.

In the course of time absolute possession became the family inheritance, and so remained until the 17th century when it was lost through Sir Alexander Nisbet's devotion to the cause of Charles the First.

July 12, 1937

John N. Dowling.

GENEALOGY OF THE NISBETS OF NISBET

KENNETH II, King of the Scots, cir. 971 had a son - Malcolm II who reigned 1005-1034. Not having a son, the latter was succeeded by his eldest daughter - BETHOC who had married CRINAN - the lay Abbot of Dunkeld. By this marriage she bore DUNCAN who reigned 1034-40. She also bore Maldred who married Elgitha, daughter of ETHELRED II, King of England, by whom he had GOSPATRICK who was the Earl of Northumberland 1067-72. A few years later his cousin Malcolm Canmore - King of Scots made him Governor of Dunbar - joining with several manors in Lothian, among which was Dilster-halle. The latter had been so named by the Saxon immigrants who likened a ridge on the estate to the udder of a sow. When Edgar, the son of Malcolm Canmore inherited the Lothian Province, he took exception to the vulgar name of the manor, and directed Gospatrick the Second to change it to Nesebite which signified the remarkable feature on the caps of the Norman men-at-arms. As Edgar was always on peaceful terms with England, and favoured the extension of religion, he directed Gospatrick to make a Will in favour of the monks of St. Cuthbert in respect of this manor of Nesebite. Gospatrick III raised an objection to this grant. But David the King insisted upon it. The final terms arranged were that Gospatrick's relative and steward ALDIN (sic) the son of CRIN, and grandson of the daughter of the first Gospatrick, should have the hereditary right of tenancy under the ownership of the monks of St. Cuthbert.

ALDAN had married a daughter of the Siward family, and had 3 sons, viz.: ADAM, who succeeded to the family estate at Prendregeste, William, who became tenant at NESEBITE, and GILBERT of Polworth. William's son Thomas, who succeeded at NESEBITE, afterwards became Prior of Coldingham. A second Thomas followed, after the estate was divided into East and West Nisbet, the latter portion being successively occupied by Adam, Alexander, William, Adam and Adam. During the lifetime of the two last named, warfare existed between England and Scotland. The younger Adam had an emporium at Berwick-on-Tweed, trading between France and Scotland, by which he amassed a fortune, and was able to establish his right to the paternal estate. During the years 1364 to 1372 he was Laird of West Nisbet, which in August 1355 had been the field of a battle between the English and the Scots. Adam was succeeded by his son Philip, who about 1388 assumed the arms of "Ar. Three Boars' heads erased, sable". He married a daughter of Walter Hamilton of Cadzow, by whom he had a son Robert who married the daughter of John Home of Wedderburn.

A second battle occurred 22nd June 1402 on Nisbet Muir, when it is probable Philip lost his life. His son Robert who had a large family, and succeeded to West Nisbet, was killed when fighting in France, at Verneuil 16 August, 1424. The lineal succession was carried on by his son Adam whose elder son, Philip left no legitimate issue. The line reverted to the second son, Adam, and was then followed lineally by Philip, who married Elene Rutherfurd: Adam, Philip, George and Sir Philip, then lastly by Sir Alexander Nisbet, Knt. With his sons and substance Sir Alexander supported the cause of King Charles I., but failing adequate royal recognition of his sacrifices, was unable to redeem his landed estate, which thus was lost to the Nisbet family.

John Nesbitt Dowling

Jan. 7, 1937.

THE ARMS OF NISBET OF NISBET

BERWICKSHIRE, SCOTLAND.

John Nesbitt Dowling

In 1385 Charles VI of France, who was planning an attack on England, sent into Scotland - according to a previous arrangement - a large sum of money and two hundred suits of armour, accompanied by a thousand men-at-arms, with their followers. As they were shared by the Scottish nobility, it is most probable that about the year 1385 Philip de Nisbet 'cominus e jusdem' assumed his distinctive Coat of Arms. In this year August 12 was fought the Battle of Otterburn (Chevy Chase). Although James, the second Earl of Douglas was slain therein, the Scots doubtless including the Nisbet laird, defeated the English. On June 22, 1402, the second battle of Nisbet at Nisbet Muir was fought, wherein probably Philip was killed. On the 14th of September following, at the Battle of Hamildon Hill, the Scots were defeated by the English. Among the slain was Adam Gordon who fought there with Sir John Swinton. It is remarkable that the arms borne by the neighbouring families of Nisbet, Gordon and Swinton, displayed the 'three boar's heads' as the device upon their shields, differing them only by the colours.

Philip de Nisbet was succeeded by his son Robert who was born about the year 1372. He married Margaret the daughter of John Home of Wedderburn, by whom he had a numerous family. He was slain on 16th August 1424 at the Battle of Verneuil in France when fighting with 4000 Scots under Archibald the fourth Earl of Douglas against the English, who were victorious in the overwhelming attack.

John Nesbitt Dowling

Edgbaston,

Birmingham, England.

July 12, 1937

Dear Sir,

I have read through the typed copies of my contributions to NESBITOLOGY and am returning them to you with the necessary corrections. Though I have compiled a history of the main stem of the family and also one of the branch to which I belong, they remain in the Script which I have no intention of publishing. Even my own descendants may not take the trouble to read what took me much time and research to embody.

It seems to me that your NESBITOLOGY is the homoeopathic dose best suited to a world so much engrossed in other matters.

The history of the past should be an incentive to all of us "to go one better" than our forbears, and so help the evolution to the end that the world was made for.

With best wishes

John Nesbitt Dowling

48 Gough Road.

Thanks Mr. Dowling for your contributions. They will be greatly prized by us all.

I wish my readers could see the manuscripts prepared by his own hand and pen, beautifully done.

John, please send me the names and addresses of your family that I may send them copies.

Otis B. Nesbit.

A RARE EDUCATIONAL DOCUMENT

Colonel Grant of Dunbar, Scotland sent the original well-written finely preserved memorandum concerning the education of William Nisbet 1723 from Mr. Alston, which will be prized by those interested in education and high school students. The William referred to, became an M.P. and one time was Master of the Free Masons of Scotland.

Otis B. Nesbit, Gary, Indiana has a photostat copy of this rare document mimeographed and will distribute among his school friends in 1937.

MEMORANDUM FOR MR. WILLIAM NESBIT ANENT HIS READING

22nd Apr.

1723

That every morning and forenoon he shall report as many of the rules of his grammar as he can make himself master of, and that before twelve o'clock the Master or some of the Doctors should every day hear what he hath got; and this be continued 'til he is perfectly master of all the grammar rules which he hath been formerly taught especially the first and third parts of it.

When this is done he should bestow the same hours every day in getting by heart the rules of Mr. Rudiman's Syntax, which allso [sic] to be taken account of every day before twelve o'clock as the Grammar was.

For the afternoon he may every Monday and Tuesday get about 20 lines of Aeneid to explain without any help but his Dictionary only that the Master should help him when he comes to a difficulty that he can not get over and should be taken out of before the school dismiss at night, and he made to tense 4 or 5 lines and give account of the analyses of every Noun and Verb which is worth asking in his whole lesson and construe every sentence in it - applying every rule of his Grammar and Syntax as he goes along, and when he goes home at night he should be ordered to get his lesson in Virgil to repeat and heard give an account of it as soon as he enter the School next morning.

Upon Wednesday Thursday and Friday afternoon he may read 30 or 40 lines of Caesar's Commentary beginning at the 2nd or 3rd book as the Master pleases without any help but his dictionary and before the school dismisses at night he should be examined upon it and made to give rules for the analyses of every word and the construction of every sentence worth noticing.

Upon Saturday in the morning and afternoon he should repeat all he has learned the week before of his Grammar Syntax and Virgil, for fixing them better in his memory and for this end - fridayes [sic] night ought to be left free to him in his chamber.

Every night when he is in his room (except friday which is disposed of before) he may put the examples of Rudiman's Grammatical exercises into right construction beginning at the second part of them which is the 4th page.

His Master should make him understand how the references in the examples correspond with the rules in the Syntax in his rudiments, by figures, so that he might know by what rule, and by what note or exception of every rule each sample does belong. He might begin with a page afterwards advance to a leaf or more of these examples as he is able to write them every night; his Master helping him in his room wherever it is needful. And he ought to be examined upon his evening tasks either before he goes to bed or in the morning when he goes first to school, and caused to apply the rules of his Syntax to every example he has write. [sic).

Once a week (viz upon Saturdays night) he should translate about 20 lines of Caesar which he hath read that week into as good - English as he can and write it beway [sic] of version, being allowed to paraphrase it into his own way, only keeping as near the authors meaning as possible. And this should be examined on Monday morning the first thing that is done where particular notes should be taken of spelling the English words right.

After he hath made himself master of the rules of Grammar and Syntax which is hoped may be in two or three weeks allowing the morning and forenoon every day for that purpose during that time: he should take one or two of these dyets every week for writing at home in Latin, which his Master should dictate to him out of some part of Caesar which he hath read about 8 or 10 days before, taking the book from him while he is writing it in the School, and this should not exceed 18 or 20 lines in the latine [sic] book. And the rest of these dyets when once they become free from his repeating may be employed partly in constructing some more of Mr. Rudiman's examples and partly in reading more of Caesar as the Master shall order him.

Endorsement on back

"Memoranda for Mr. Nisbet 1723 from

Mr. Alston anent his education".

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A HARRISON - NISBET DESCENDANT

New York City,

Jan. 18, 1937.

Dear Mr. Nesbit,

I have time at my home to further reply to your letter of the 16th instant and wish to acknowledge and thank you for the Nos 3 and 4 Nesbitology which were found to be very interesting. There were several items therein that I would like to comment on, but time will not permit at this writing.

During the past ten years I have made it a spare time hobby to record all my kin, going back in each branch to the oldest known progenitor and setting down each and every descendant. However quickly realising to do this with the Nisbet family would require many years of work and correspondence, only the known ancestors of my Elizabeth Nisbet have been recorded.

Therefore, no attempt has been made by the writer to secure a complete record of the Nisbet family. In tracing the Weir and Buchanan families, Mrs. Carrie Scott Gregg-Noble of Rhodes, Iowa furnished quite a lot of the Nisbet information and this data was added to by the writer. In view of the fact that the Nisbet record is referred to rather thoroughly in the "Harvey Book", published 1896 at Wilkes Barre, Pa., and also that so many others more closely related are working on similar records, I have felt that the limited time I could devote would be of very little value.

My connection to the Nisbets has been accepted as starting with the Nisbets in the Shire of Berwick (King Edgar - circa AD 1097), through to the Nisbets of Greenholme in the Shire of Ayr: Murdoch Neisbit of Hardhill (The Lollard); Alexander Neisbit; James Neisbit of Hardhill; John Neisbit (John Nesbeit) b. 1627 hung Dec. 4, 1685, wife Margaret Law; Hugh Nisbet; Alexander Nisbet b. 1671; Will Nisbet b. 1695; Elizabeth Nisbet of Hardhill b. 1730, d. 1813, married Charles Weir 1750 from Parish of Shotts to Blantyre.

In reference to the above I quote from my records: "Agnes Weir Robertson born 1789 in Blantyre, died 1866, a grand-daughter of Elizabeth Nisbet-Weir, possessed a remarkable memory in her later years and many old documents as proof and she well merits the title given to her as 'The Historian'". Remembering her grandmother Elizabeth Nisbet-Weir very well; Agnes is responsible for the original tradition that she was descended from John Nisbet of Hardhill, the Covenanter and took great pride in showing the various papers and documents, even then centuries old, handed down to her from her grandmother.

In 1934-1935 I was in communication with Robert Chancellor Nisbet, (sic) Esq. of West Brompton and Nisbet House after being referred to him by my kinsman, the Reverend W.B.C. Buchanan of Kilmarnock, who forwarded newspaper clippings relating to the unveiling of the memorial in Old Greyfriars Church to Alexander Nisbet, and during that time received pictures and pamphlets relating to Nisbet House in Duns. From my correspondence it appears that Mr. Nisbett was gathering data to hand for publication, which upon completion would be offered to others. I have not been notified that this was completed and have wanted for some time to address him again to determine what progress has been made along this line.

I note that quite a lot has been written and still no mention has been made of my exact connection. So continuing with Elizabeth Nisbet and Charles Weir; their fourth child, James Weir married Elizabeth Forrest from Uddingston and had Christian Weir, born 4-14-1791 at Priory Hill, Blantyre, married in 1816 Alexander Buchanan, born 1770 at Coatbridge whose fourth child, Christina Buchanan married James Fleming in Scotland, and their 2nd child, Christina Weir-Fleming married Abraham Young (my grand- parents).

You will note from the above that my relationship is quite distant. However, if you are familiar with the Harvey Book and other publications, you will note that James Nisbet, a cousin of the above Elizabeth Nisbet-Weir, born about 1655, came to America on December 20, 1685 and finally settled at Newark, New Jersey and that his son married into the Harrison family. The Harrisons are also my progenitors and I have believed that this Nisbet-Harrison branch were also my progenitors, but at this writing this would not be stated as actual fact. There are three of us working on the Harrison records (myself, a Harrison in Texas and a Harrison in Indiana) and this may be proven within a short time. It is quite possible that a large percentage of the Nisbets in America today are descended from those at Newark, for you will note that a very large number are recorded in this Harvey Book and in the other publications.

I am most thankful to you for sending the Nisbet pamphlet and copies of your Nesbitology and would be glad to help in any way my limited time would permit along these genealogical pursuits or otherwise, and to hear from you and others at any time.

Cordially yours

Vernon W. Davidson Sr.

45 Wall Street,

New York.

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Pittsburg, Pa.,

January, 1937.

My Dear Dr. Nesbit,

Today's post brought me the photograph of Nisbet House and the beautiful message from Robert C. Nesbitt, Esq. I am most happy to have both and thank you sincerely for sending them to me. I shall write also to Mr. R.C. Nesbitt, whose thoughtfulness will be appreciated by all who are fortunate enough to be remembered.

If you have any copies left and are willing to include one more copy in your remembrances, my brother, General Carl E. Nesbitt, The Adjutant General's Office, Austin, Texas, would, I am sure, be delighted to receive a copy. His lovely wife knows a Mexican wood carver who is carving the Nisbet Arms for my brother and also for me. I am not familiar with his work, but my sister told me that it is excellent. If you are interested, I am sure that she would be glad to answer your questions, if any, about it.

I trust that the New Year may bring you a full measure of health and happiness, and with renewed expressions of thanks, I am Yours very truly,

Clarence R. Nesbitt

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January 15, 1937

Dear Mr. Nesbit,

I have received your letter of January 6 and separately copy No. 4 of Nesbitology has also arrived. I am very glad to have both.

According to traditions about the family that have come down to me, the Nisbets have always been clannish. That clannishness is justified, however, on the basis of pride in correct living, and

each member in turn has always been willing to encourage and help the others where possible to independence and leadership. If all families would look after their own, we would have no need for government discipline, relief, doles or other burdens, which are today weighing down the people of every land.

Nesbitology fosters the clannishness to which I refer, and is therefore, not only worthwhile but highly desirable as a means of reminding each recipient that he or she is a Nisbet; that in the veins of every Nisbet is royal blood; and that there are very few families in history that are older or whose members in each generation have more consistently achieved desirable ends for more than a thousand years. I trust that Nesbitology may keep coming.

I trust moreover that Nisbets and Nesbitts may continue their interests in the family's traditions. I am sure that I shall; and some day I am hopeful that I may round out the data I have been collecting for years in a new volume, which will give valuable history that to the best of my knowledge and belief has never been published before. I have fairly complete genealogical data pertaining to the male members of my line back to Allan Nesbitt of Emdale, Rathfryland, County Down, Ireland, who was born about 1660 and whose Will was proven in the Diocese of Dromore, Parishes of Ballyroney and Drumgarth. A letter from one of his descendants there to my great grandfather tells of the flight of Allan or his father from Scotland about 1600 or before.

Can any member of the clan give me any information that might connect Allan with a particular branch of the family in Scotland? I understand the family was living in Fifeshire prior to leaving for Ireland.

Yours sincerely

Clarence R. Nesbitt

6534 Dalzell Place, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA.

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VISITED NISBET HOUSE

New York City, N.Y.

April 15, 1937.

Dear Dr. Nesbit,

Your last communication was full of interest. Perhaps you would like the story of our day at Nisbet House, last August 1931.

Mother and I were told to ask for the gardener and his wife as the Big House was again to be vacant. We found Mr. and Mrs. Cowieson most courteous and helpful. Mr. Nesbitt was to be there in a few days but we missed him. Mrs. Cowieson showed us about the old place and later I took some pictures.

Going about the hoary pile was a great experience with one who had served for 32 years with interest and loyalty. "You are now entering the home of your ancestors" could not help but thrill us both. Portraits of forgotten folk stirred the imagination. One picture of the park before the lake was drained attracted me so much that I was given a photographic copy. Would you like one of it or have you one by some lucky chance?

Worn stairs, narrow loopholes, musty smells, queer cubbyholes, dark passages, lofty drawing room ceiling, winding flights to upper storeys which one found to have rooms oddly shaped, some with glorious views from the windows, one with a 'lookout' whence the alert watcher might have seen the war-torn banners come over the hills from far off affrays, or dark lines of cattle driven into the stronghold by raiders: all these are etched on one's memory. But the great kitchen fire was dead. No ox turned on the spit. Cries of warning no longer echoed from the battlements. The ancestor who had followed Mary Queen of Scots had sent his ghost back to scan the picture on the wall. Was that her fated beauty?

The Scene is Changed: Nisbet House is lighted by electricity. Hot and cold water taps can be

turned in modern tubs and sinks. Dangerous steps have been replaced to make service less dangerous. Carpets were rolled up. Dishes and books were packed. People were coming to see about the sale of furnishings. I was glad to go with my mother to the garden. That was satisfying with its ordered but luxuriant wealth of bloom. Mr. Cowieson has lavished his skill and is abundantly rewarded. Such a riot of roses and sweet peas you would not expect outside of Italy, perhaps. Some of the flowers were as good as those we had seen at Hampton Court. Mother was enthused about the enormous tuber begonias.

A cup of tea in the cottage and then farewells were said to those hospitable folk who had gone to so much trouble to entertain American strangers because they were Nesbitts, remote kin to those who reared the walls of Nisbet three centuries ago. People come and go there but do not decide to take over the burden of the old place. Would it not be fun to buy it back for the use of Nesbit-Nisbet-Nesbitt sojourners in the land of their forebears.

A herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle lifted their heads and watched me down by the fence, focussing a camera on one corner of the house. Lucky black beasties in lush meadows, fattening for the foreign trade, they did not have to run before the stick of a gillie hurrying them on a midnight raid for his Border Laird.

Our taxi came and we took what is likely to be our last view of the vacant home Sir Philip Nisbet of that ilk held dear. His descendant was coming back in a day or two and his tenure (for the first time in centuries by a Nesbitt) in his ancestral hall. The train took us through vale and hill twinkling with bunny tails. Mother and I still feel it was a great day. More anon.

E. Nesbitt M.D.

62 Barrow Street.

I have a few more photographs of the drawing of Nisbet House, which I have supplied to many of the clan at $1.00 each, three for $2.00.

O.B.N.

LT. COL. NISBET HAMILTON GRANT'S FAMILY

You have asked me for some further particulars about my family. I presume that by this you mean such of its members as were Nisbets? Well, if this is so I shall start by referring to Mary Nisbet of Dirleton who married the seventh Earl of Elgin the famous collector of the Elgin Marbles. She was born in 1777 and her adventures are fully set forth in a book published by me entitled, "The Letters of Mary Nisbet", John Murray, 1926.

I expect what would most interest you and your readers would be a few notes about her ancestors - or "forebears" as we always speak of them in Scotland. The notes however must be very sketchy, as I am no expert at disentangling genealogies, and as the papers concerning my Nisbet connections only came into my possession a few years ago I have never had time to study them properly.

The story however commences with Sir Harry (or Sir Henry) Nisbet who was born in 1535 and was Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1597. He is believed to have descended from the Nisbets of Nisbet (or Nisbets of that Ilk) which is the old Scottish phrase. The latter family trace their descent back to 1124.

One of Sir Harry's sons appears to have been a certain Sir William Nisbet of Craigentinnie, an estate which he must either have bought or inherited or which must have been presented to him.

Sir William like all the Nisbets of that date, had a prodigious number of descendants amongst whom there were a Colonel Thomas Nisbet who died at Bergen-op-Zoom in 1758; and Captain James Nisbet, Commander of H.M.S. oodcock who latterly settled in Barbados and married. He was lost at sea in 1738. One of the sisters of the two above, was Emilia who seems to have been devoted to her brothers. She writes to them "My D.B." - which presumably means "My dear brother". She writes that she has a happy husband and three pleasant children.

One of the younger Nisbets of Craigentinnie succeeded to the estates of Dirleton in 1687 and thus became Nisbet of Dirleton. Those estates had been settled upon him by his kinsman Sir John Nisbet.

Sir John Nisbet was a famous lawyer of his date and was created Lord Dirleton. His portrait and his famous book "Dirleton's Doubts" (which was afterwards said to be better than other peoples' certainties) are at Winton Castle. He lies buried in the Nisbet tomb at Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh. This is not the place to touch upon Dirleton Castle and its owners prior to it having been acquired by the Nisbets. It dates back to 1228 and the history connected with it is full of stirring incidents. But I can let you have the details at any time, if you like.

To return to the Nisbets of Craigentinnie who afterwards became Nisbets of Dirleton, they had a long line of descendants, details about whom are very difficult to disentangle, as the oldest son of generation after generation was always called William. We have the marriage contract at Biel dated March 27th, 1688 of one of these William Nisbets who married Jean Bennett. The letters of this Mrs. Nisbet to her husband are couched in the most devoted terms. They start "My dearest life" and end up either "My own Soule your Wife" in some cases - and in others "Your loveing [sic] and affectionate Wife till death".

Another William Nisbet married Christian Bennett and their Marriage Certificate is also at Biel. I think it was this couple who were the parents of Wilhelmina Nisbet who married the Sixth Earl of Devon and Melville, and who was a lady of exceptional charm and gifts.

Eventually we come to a certain William Nisbet of Dirleton who married in 1747 Mary Hamilton of Belhaven, Pencaitland, and Barncleuth. This lady succeeded to the Estates of Biel, which up to that time had belonged to the Lords Belhaven. Some of these Lords Belhaven had most romantic and exciting careers, and some particulars about them could be furnished were it not that it might not prove of interest to the readers of your notes, who will presumably be all members of the Nisbet or Nesbitt Clan.

Finally we come to the point from which this Memorandum started, namely to Mary Nisbet of Dirleton who married Thomas Seventh Earl of Elgin. Her adventures are dealt with in the "Letters of Mary Nisbet" to which I have referred to above.

And after her death, onwards, the Nisbets of Dirleton merged into other families and eventually into a branch of the Clan Grant, respecting the achievements of which the readers of this will probably not be greatly interested. Some of my great forebears used to own property in Jamaica and one was Chief Justice of the Island.

Nisbet Hamilton Grant

Biel, Dunbar,

East Lothian, Scot.

February 1937.

** ** ** ** **

A LETTER FROM "THE GARDEN OF EDEN" DESCENDANT

Cattonsville,

Baltimore County, Md.

February 4, 1937.

Dear Mr. Nesbit,

I wish to acknowledge with thanks the two last issues - Nos 4 and 5 - of Nesbitology.

It will no doubt be of interest to widely scattered Nesbitts who know about my own forebears who settled early in northeastern Maryland in the region through which later was fixed the Mason and Dixon Line.

The first of our branch of which we have record is Joseph Nesbitt. He appears firstly on the tax rolls in 1765. He rented a tract of land in 1768 called "Widow's Lot. He appears next in the Revolutionary Muster Rolls along with his eldest son Alexander. He received a grant of land called "Garden of Eden" in 1789 and his son a grant of land called "Rockland Hills" 1791. His son Alexander attained the rank of Captain in the Revolutionary War.

Joseph had seven sons: This seems to be the order of their births: Alexander, Moses, Samuel, Jonathon, Robert, Joseph and John. Of these, my great grandfather was Moses. The youngest four went west. The only notations I have regarding these are that Jonathon and Joseph went west to Ohio near Dayton and that Robert and John went to western Pennsylvania. Also that John married a Martha Donaldson.

Our branch in Maryland has always held to the spelling Nesbitt. I have often wished that I might trace this line through in Pennsylvania and Ohio. As from tracing back from Joseph, no effort has yet been made. He or his parents doubtless came between 1740 and 1770 with the Ulster immigrants who came in such large numbers by way of New Castle, Delaware, as the port of entry. I may be able to make some further research in this direction soon.

I have a desire to gather back into the lovely hill country of upper Cecil County, Maryland, some of my kin have gone forth, mostly westward. Living in a suburb of Baltimore I have been able to keep my contacts with locality especially through the old West Nottingham Academy, which is doing a splendid work in preparing boys for college, and dates back in 1741.

My father and I and my son all bear the same name and all got our training at the fine old Presbyterian Academy.

My son graduated from Princeton University in 1936 and is now in his first year of medical school at Johns Hopkins. I have a brother James Lawson Nesbitt a lawyer in New York.

If you know of any who have a longing to return to the "rock from which they were hewn", tell them to write me. I can suggest no better place for a Nesbitt reunion than at old West Nottingham in Cecil County.

Very truly yours

John A. Nesbitt.

** ** ** ** **

John Nesbit, Albion, Indiana, a farmer, is a descendant of a James Nesbit born in Maryland 1810. John A. might help this "family tree building". Dr. Nesbit, Espanola, New Mexico is John's son. Mrs. Nesbit writes that Rev. Nesbit Vincent of Ft. Wayne comes to a lake on their farm to fish occasionally but never comes to the house to talk family history. There are several preachers in the clan who know the pedigree of the Prophets and Apostles better than their own. They seem to forget that a good clean living with their ancestors has preserved the predominant physical and mental traits that have enabled them to succeed. An interest in family pedigree is essential for the propagation of a strong, sturdy, pure, progeny. It may not count on chances on eternal salvation but it will add to the enjoyment of living. What I say applies equally to some bankers, doctors, lawyers, labourers and other Nesbitts that I know. John A. and John Pratt Nesbit are notable exceptions.

Otis B. Nesbit.

** ** ** ** **

WILLIAM R. NESBIT

Attorney at Law

Sullivan, Indiana, Jan. 11, 1937

My Dear Doctor,

I acknowledge your "Nesbitology" and have read same with much interest and I thank you for it. I acknowledge that I have not taken as much interest in the family history as I should have done, but when my attention is called to it I take some pride in the fact that I am one of them.

I have just emerged from a ten weeks stay in the hospital where I underwent a major operation and am so glad to be out again, and with a good chance of a full recovery. Have been at my office since the first day of the year. I shall always remember with pleasure my meeting with the Nesbit family at Cynthiana a couple of years ago and hope that I will again have an opportunity to meet with them. I am sure you have spent much time and effort in gathering up the materials for the matter that you have so generously distributed. I hope you have not forgotten my daughter Mildred, who is at present in Los Angeles, Cal., and my grandson, J.R. Billman, who is now a freshman in Miami, Ohio, University. (They have forgotten me and do not keep me informed of their addresses. O.B.N.).

With kindest regards to you and yours, I am very truly yours,

W.R. Nesbit.

FUNERAL NOTICE

The funeral of Mrs. Jane M. Patten will be held from their home at 410 South Main Street, Sunday, December 12, 1937 at 1:30 p.m. Rev. O.G. Firestone, paster of the M.E. Church, South, officiating.

Interment will be at Montrose, Missouri.

We can never express to you how much our dear Mother enjoyed your letters of "Nesbitology". Thanks for sending them.

She will be greatly missed.

Jessie Pattern - Mrs. S.R. Mohler (daughters).

** ** ** ** **

Mrs. Patten was a descendant of William Nesbit, Revolutionary War Soldier from Pennsylvania an early settler in Millersburgh, Kentucky. His name and Jeremiah, his brother, are on a bronze marker on the Court House, Paris, Ky. provided by the D.A.R. for Revolutionary War Soldiers buried in Bourbon County.

Mrs. Molly James, Paris, Ky. is the family historian for this family, at this time. This family is one of the finest in America and has many fine members. I am sorry I could not have known Mrs. Patten personally. I have had two letters from her during the past year. She was ninety five years old and her hand-writing showed the good life she had lived.

Otis B. Nesbit

** ** ** ** **

SHOWS THE RIGHT SPIRIT

Bloomington, Indiana,

Dec. 27, 1936,

1316 S. Walnut Street,

Dear Dr. Nesbit,

The minutes of Richland Church from its beginning until Jan. 1, 1864, and a loose-leaf sheet of paper signed by Jesse Baker, great grandson of Thomas Nesbit, contained the same story I sent you. (See another item).

Excerpt "History of the Congregation of Disciples at Richland in Monroe Co., Indiana.

Elder, Thomas Nesbit, who had lived many years in Nicholas Co., Ky. and whose efforts helped build the old Christian Concord congregation, was the founder of Richland Church. He and his family of eight souls disposed of his old home, prepared his outfit and wended their way westward; after many days of travel they reached Bloominton, Ind. in the fall of 1825 when they moved to the land Thomas Nesbit had purchased on Richland Creek. Thomas Nesbit and his wife, their son William Nesbit and his wife, their son Thomas Nesbit Jr. and their daughter Sarah Nesbit, their son-in-law John Mathers and wife formed the nucleus of the congregation at Richland Church".

Thomas Nesbit built a log house which was a haven for travellers, a happy meeting place for friends, and church services were held in it until 1838 when the first church building was erected.

Thomas Nesbit was the first elder of Richland Church. He was an admirer of Alexander Campbell and Barton ? Stone, and a follower of their teachings. He was a kind, gentle spiritual man of a kind, gentle spirited disposition of slight build and courtly bearing. He was a sweet singer and could repeat much of the Bible.

Thomas Nesbit was born in Pennsylvania, April 10, 1879, (sic) (prob. 1779) and died in Monroe County, Indiana, Sept. 12, 1861, and is buried in Richland Cemetery. He married Constance Bennington in Bourbon County, Ky. Dec. 14, 1790. (age 11 and 12 years?)

She was born May 20, 1778, died October 14, 1854. She bore eight children: (Ed. aged 11 and 12 years when they wed?)

Susanna born Dec. 04 1791 married James Mathers

Jane born Nov. 08 1793 married John Mathers

William born Mar. 01 1796 married Elizabeth Hall

Rachel born Jun. 15 1799 married James Foster

John born Aug. 04 1801 (I've no other record)

David born Dec. 03 1803 marr. Caroline Campbell

Thomas Jr. born May 26 1805 married Sarah Beck

Sarah born Oct. 14 1809 married Preston Tilford

I shall be very happy to give you any records I have that will be of interest to you.

** ** ** ** **

` January 24, 1936

Dear Dr. Nesbit,

Here is a small item from Ky. history.

"David Byers Jr. came to Monroe Co., Indiana shortly after Thomas Nesbit, and took up land adjoining Thomas Nesbit. I think Rachel Nesbit Byers may have been Thomas Nesbit's sister, or a relative".

"David Byers Sr., who died in 1817 aged 59 years, a native of Pa., came down the Ohio River on a flat boat in 1783 and located in Mason Co., Ky. He married Miss Rachel Nesbit who died in 1803. His second wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Ray Turner. Their son David Byers Jr. was born June 20, 1806 in Nicholas Co., Ky.".

I enjoy reading the material sent me with the pictures of Nisbet House. Now I wish more than ever to make a trip to Scotland.

Yours sincerely,

?? lur B. Emery (Mrs. Charles R.).

** ** ** ** **

Saint John N.B.

January 26, 1937.

Dear Dr. Nesbit:-

Permit me to thank you for Nesbitology No. 4.

Last summer as a member of the Canadian War Veterans Pilgrimage to Vimy Ridge, I had afterwards an opportunity to go to Scotland. During my stay in Edinburgh I had a trip to Dirleton Castle, an old seat of one branch of the Nisbet Family. Through the kindness of the present owner of the estate I was put in touch with Mr. Robert Chancellor Nisbet (sic) from whom I have received a great deal of interesting data regarding the family.

I cannot trace my family back farther than 1798 when my grandfather James Nisbet came to Canada and settled near St. John.

Yours very truly

F.J. Nisbet

Lt. Col. F.J. Nisbet, 105 Union Street.

** ** ** ** **

CONGRATULATIONS MR. ROBNETT

Rev. W.A. and Mrs. Dobson announce the marriage of their daughter, Kathryn Janet, to Mr. Basil Robnett on Saturday November 6th nineteen hundred and thirty seven, Montreal, Canada.

No wonder we have no letter for publication from Mrs. Dobson. She wrote me a nice birthday letter. Thanks. We wish for Janet a full measure of things that make life worthwhile.

Otis B. Nesbit

** ** ** ** **

J.C. Nisbet, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin writes: "Your father's name was William Nisbet, whose home and birthplace was Ayr, Scotland. My mother Agnes Woodburn, was born at Kilmarnock, Scotland. My grandfather Nisbet's name was John Nisbet and he recently died in Washington State at the age of 92".

** ** ** ** **

Frances M. Hails, 525 So. Lawrence St., Montgomery, Alabama writes:

"For many years I have been interested in tracing my Nesbitt family history. My mother was Susan Tyler Nesbitt, a great grand daughter of Samuel Nesbitt of Spartanburg, South Carolina. I have a copy of his Will.

The most interesting history of the early generation has been taken from the 'SCOTCH WORTHIES', which is on file in the library of Congress. I have a copy of this, which I will be glad to recopy for you if you do not have it. I have many notes taken from South Carolina records; first census of South Carolina, and other South Carolina Revolutionary records which I found in 'Stub Indents for Revolutionary Claims' by Mr. Salloy of Columbia, S.C.

I have the Bible records of Robert Nesbitt, and other records of this family".

** ** ** ** **

J.R. Nesbit, 411 N. Van Buren Ave., Freeport, Ill, writes:

I was not aware that there were so many of the Clan in our territory.

I have a skeleton genealogy of our family, beginning with Philip de Nesbyth of Scotland and carried down to the present time. This was compiled by my sister, Miss Maude E. Nesbit, who is head librarian of the Medical Department of the New York State Library at Albany, New York. This book contains photostat copies of the first Nisbet House in this country, in York County, Pennsylvania. Also a copy of the Coat of Arms. I am interested in finding the Coat of Arms in colour. Do you know anything about that?

** ** ** ** **

THE NISBET-LAMBURN REUNION was held at Logansport last Sept. Alice, Allegra and I attended. I took a 100 feet of film of the fine crowd. Robert Tollett a member of that clan is sheriff of Miami Co., Indiana. Henry Nisbet of Peru is president for next year.

CONGRATULATIONS: William McGee Endicott and Mary Ann Rose Endicott, of near Cynthiana, Indiana, celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary, November 9, 1937. They live in the same house they went to housekeeping in. Are hale and hearty. They live clean lives, love their God and their fellowman.

** ** ** ** **

ANCESTORS OF WILBUR D. NESBIT

by Flora B. Nisbet, Zenia, Ohio

James Nisbet a descendant of John Nisbet of Hardhill, with his wife Agnes Taylor Nisbet and children came to this country in 1789. They settled near Chester, South Carolina.
I have no data whatsoever in regard to James Nisbet except that there is a stone in the old Covenanter burying ground with this inscription:
"James Nisbet - Died Oct., 1795 - aged near 50 years", and another stone: "Nancy Nisbet - wife of James Nisbet - died Oct. 17th, 1802 - aged 50 years".
James was the father of four children, Samuel, James, John and Katherine. I do not even know the order of their birth.
* Samuel left South Carolina and settled in Southern Illinios, not far from Sparta.
James went to Pennsylvania and I think located at Greenville, and am under the impression that it was a son of his, a physician - Frederick who was at Meadville, who may have been a grandson. Katherine married a James Cooper and moved to Cedarville, Ohio. They are both buried in the Tarbox Cemetery which you visited in Cedarville.
John which brings me to one own family line, was born in Antrim, Ireland and came with his parents to Chester when he was twelve years old. He married Hannah Cooper.
He was born in Ireland in 1777 and she, near Chester in 1782. They were both members of the Rocky Creek Church (Covenanter) and both are buried in the old churchyard.
They were the parents of eight children:

William not married d. 1847 bur. S.C.
Hugh not married d. 1868 bur. Cedarville
Mary not married d. 1884 bur. Cedarville
Nancy not married d. 1888 bur. Cedarville
James not married d. 1855 bur. Cedarville
Robert lived and died in Tennessee - no children.
John Cooper lived and died in Green Co., Ohio; grandfather of Wilbur D and Charles.
* Samuel lived and died at Cedarville - 1885. Samuel married Nancy Bryson; they were the parents of five children:
Hannah (Bradfute) d. 1898
Nancy d. 1906
Robert Bryson d. 1881
John A. d. 1932

Flora B. I am the only survivor of this generation of this family. You will see that I know very little of the history of cousins and their children. There is a family of Nisbets in Monmouth, Ill. that I have often thought must be the descendants of James Taylor Nisbet. I think there is a William Nisbet connected with a bank in that place and a sister Miss Jessie Nisbet. Charles N. of Loweland might be able to fill out the history of his grandfather's line. Wilber D. and Charles were grandsons of John Cooper Nisbet.

I wish I might have been with you when you visited the Tarbox Cemetery Cedarville. So many laid there are the ones that came from South Carolina following their pastor Rev. Hugh McMillan. The old church where he was pastor for many years of course was torn down many years ago and a new building was put up in Cedarville - pastor and members moving there.

Those old Covenanters were not lacking in sentiment, for when Dr. McMillan died he was laid just where the pulpit of the old church had stood and where the congregation, taking their lunches with them used to assemble for two sermons every Sabbath. What changes a century makes! A few years ago the Cedarville Congregation went into the Presbyterian Denomination and now can sing hymns to the accompaniment of a pipe organ as well as any plain Presbyterians will say, they make good working Presbyterians too.

Being reared in the shorter Catechism is good training. I am digressing quite a bit from the family history, but just must tell you about Wilbur D's name, the name grew out of a nickname. His grandmother told me how he got it in Cedarville. When he was a little baby he was lying on a bed and she caught his little garments in her hand, shook him playfully and said "Oh you little Dickie". Charles who was a year or two older and standing near, charmed by the name began calling him Dick, and Wilbur eventually used this initial.

** ** ** ** **

John Cooper Nisbet, was the father of John and Harvey.

John's children were Hugh, William, James, Chestnut, Kate, Estella (died in infancy). Harvey's children were Charles E., Wilbur D., Edward H., John Emerson and Estella (dead) and Kate. Charles lived at 421 W. 29th St., Indianapolis, Indiana. He has three sons, Lawrence, Roger and John Harvey.

Wilbur D. (b. 1871 - d. 1927) the poet. He left a widow, who was in Washington D.C. last year - and three sons. I attended his funeral but have never met his good wife nor his sons.

(Charles E. Nesbit was in Gary and gave me a phone call. I asked him to lunch with me at the Gary Hotel. He gave me some information about his family and promised me more which has not been forthcomong.

(Otis B. Nesbit.).

NISBET TARTANS

B. Grant, 12 High St., Inverness, Scotland can supply Nisbet Tartans. In 1935 he supplied me with ties at 2/6. Saxony cloths 54 inches wide in not less than three yards orders at 10/6. Scarf 12 x 54 inches 5/11. The silk tie and Saxony are slightly different patterns. Indicating that there may have been two tartans. This is Mr. Grants explanation. He can also supply travelling rugs or robes at 55/-, plain on one side, tartan pattern reversed on the other. I found him very reliable.

If enough persons require tartans I think orders to Marshall Field Co., Chicago, corner State and Washington Streets, attention of Tartan Buyer might induce them to order.

I think the price would be about $3.50 per yard. The U.S. duty is 50% plus a pound rate above Grant's price.

** ** ** ** **

NISBET COAT OF ARMS

Nisbet of that ilk

Argent, three boar's heads erased sable, Unregistered. - Nisbets Heraldic Plates page 174.

A number of families have since registered, making some addition or embellishment thus making it useful for their individual designation.

NESBITOLOGY

Family Letter No. 7.

by

O.B. Nesbit. 444 Jackson Street,
Gary, Indiana.
USA
January 1939.

John Nesbitt Dowling of Birmingham, England, who contributed the three noteworthy articles for Nesbitology which were published in Number 6, "died rather suddenly on November 22, 1937, although his health had been failing during the previous months. He was in his 89th year and had lived a good life and was blessed with a fine intellect which remained with him until the end", was the sad message from his son, John L. Dowling Nesbitt, conveyed in a letter from C.R. Nesbitt who relayed it.

Dr. Robert Nesbitt considered John Nesbitt Dowling the best informed student of Nisbet history and I hope the material he accumulated will be published. It was unfortunate that it could not have been done before his passing.

** ** ** ** **

January 9, 1938

Montreal.

Dear Mr. Nesbitt,

On the first day of this year your booklet reached me and I want to thank you for remembering me. And that poem of Wilbur Nesbitt is so worthwhile, what a difference it would make if we all could memorize and practice it. The whole booklet is interesting and I feel honored to receive it, for I have nothing to contribute to it. As the little I know of my husband's relatives, I can't seem to make any claim to any of the numerous clans you write about. I've this past summer heard of some Nesbits living in London, Ontario, and vicinity, and I have been thinking that the next time I drive through that town, I would like to call on them and tell them of all you have done to collect so many interesting items of Nesbitts everywhere. I was also interested to read of the Nesbitt tartan; I must get some for neck ties, at least. I'll send for one and if my son likes it, I may get others for grandsons. I am going to write to John Nesbitt in Glasgow to make the purchase for me. He flew from Glasgow to Belfast during his holidays the past summer. He was in Canada and the U.S. in summer 1936. I talked to him about Nesbitts, but except for his immediate family, he did not tell me anything.

We are enjoying a real old-fashioned winter in Montreal this year. Such a lot of snow, plenty of sunshine, and those who want to skate, or ski, or toboggan can have plenty of either or all. They tell me on the second day of this year, ten thousand people and their skis came down from the Laurenteans on trains; it was a record season for ski trains.

Now wishing you all a Happy New Year and again thanks.

Yours truly

Marion Nesbitt

6025 Eleventh Avenue

Rosemont, Montreal, R.2.

FROM COUSIN FANNY WRIGHT WEBB

Franklin, Indiana, January, 1938

Dear Cousin,

You are doing a fine bit of work with your 'Nesbitology' and accomplishing much towards an interested clan spirit. I appreciate what you are doing and thankful you have the strength to do it.

Sometimes silence will fall over different members of the family and no one will remember to let you know. I have done that very thing. You met in your yard one summer day, my sister Mary Wright, a nurse. She died February 23, 1936 in the White Cross Hospital at Columbus, Ohio. Ten days before as she crossed the street to the nurses' home, going off duty, an automobile struck her, breaking four ribs on the left side and inflicting other internal injuries. She was picked up unconscious and remained semi-conscious until her death. The nurses dressed her in her uniform and she was buried in the Livonia Cemetery beside her father and mother. She is the fourth Mary of the Line: Mary Berry Nesbit, born 1748, died 1828; Mary Berry Nesbit, born 1779; and an unmarked grave; Mary B. Martin, born 1814; Mary Martin Wright, born 1885.

All are buried in the Livonia cemetery. My other sister Grace Wright, now lives with us.

I intended to acknowledge 'Nesbitology'; as was my custom, has been about two or three months after receiving it, but before that time last year, 1937, I took sick myself and from the last of March until July I fought streptococci sore throat infection, chills, and other complications until the first of June, the doctor began giving me new Strep tablets. Part of the time Mr. Webb was also in bed, so the nurses had two patients at once. He became worse and in November he had a major operation and was in the hospital for thirteen days. We are now at home and behaving without the aid of nurses and doctors and hoping the new year is kinder to us than was 1937.

Our daughter, Mrs. R.W. Noyes, has now moved to 700 University Avenue, Syracuse, New York where her husband is Librarian of Maxwell School of Citizenship. She has found a Miss Nesbit there, but I have lost her address. Our other daughter lives now in Tucson, Arizona, Bethel Webb, 914 North Second Avenue.

My family told me the flowers in the yard were lovely last year, and they brought bouquets to my room. The iris bloomed beautifully, but my husband also went off the job of caring for them, the yard grew up in weeds for it took all the forces in our house-hold to care for the sick. The flowers did their brave best alone as in their wild state.

I did not know anyone having the name of McIlvam (McIlvain ?) in Washington Co. There is a family or two in Johnson Co.

I have been trying for a long time to find out if Samuel Nesbit was a Revolutionary Soldier, but have not yet been successful. Have any of the clan made any efforts along that line? If they have and will write to me, perhaps we could band together and get the needed knowledge without crowding 'Nesbitology' with conjectures.

I would like to join with the others and get a marker placed at gr. gr. grandmother Nesbit's grave, and I know of some at Livonia who could attend to the work, but I was in hopes we could get information to put on the marker that she was the wife of a Revolutionary Soldier. In that lot the graves are placed so very close that one undertaker lately complained..

I notice you have a book called "Letters of Mary Nisbet" by Nesbit Hamilton Grant (see Nesbitology No. 5, Jan. 5, 1937). Is it of any value as genealogical matter? Looks as if someone would have preserved information about the Revolutionary War Record of Samuel Nesbit, our Kentucky great-great- grandfather if we could just find it.

I think it would be quite a thrill if Samuel and Mary Nesbit ancestors could all visit the Livonia cemetery and the grave of grandmother Mary Berry Nesbit Martin at the same time, but since my sickness last year, I do not plan anything. It should have a marker of some kind.

Nevertheless we cannot expect to do everything we plan, but are content to leave it undone for sometime, for someone will enjoy going over the same work we have done and perhaps they will go farther along the road to accomplishment.

Aunt Phoebe Wright preserved the fact that grandmother Nesbit is buried there and it would be nice if others would remember the place, although I am no Chinese Ancestor worshipper. I wish there are some in the Nesbit clan who would search the records for the Revolutionary War record of Samuel Nesbit, whose wife's name was Mary Barry. It takes someone who understands how, and genealogists charge by the hour and do not care either.

I hope you and your wife and Allegra are well, and we hope to see you sometime at Franklin or Livonia.

Mr. Webb joins me in sending love to the family

Sincerely your cousin,

(Mrs. Wallace) Fannie Wright Webb.

** ** ** ** **

1004 E. King St.,

Franklin, Ind. The War Department records do not show that Samuel was in the service during the Revolutionary or 1812 Wars. The tax records of Harrison Co., Kentucky, show that he was in Capt. Gray's Co.

O B. N.

** ** ** ** **

A HIGH SCHOOL GIRL WRITES

32 Marmont St.,
Niles, Mich.,
Jan. 30, 1938

Dear Mr. Nesbit,

I wish to express my deepest appreciation for your last copy of 'Nesbitology'. I read it immediately upon delivery and enjoyed it very much. Each copy seems to be much more interesting than the one preceding. Thank you for sending me that last important copy.

We understand that your family was in Niles and tried to locate us sometime last fall. It was a sad disappointment to know that you were here and we didn't have the opportunity to meet. However, I hope there will soon be another occasion for our acquaintance. Now that you have our address, we expect to hear from you soon.

My father would like to know what relation his grandmother, Mrs. America Ann Painter, formerly Miss Nesbit, is to the Nesbits.

Sincerely,

Ruth Painter.

Ans: She was a daughter of Samuel and Mary (Thomas) Nesbit and my father's sister.

KATHRYN WANTS TO CORRESPOND WITH A NESBIT IN SCOTLAND

Lodi, California.

Dear Uncle Otis,

I am not sure whether you can place me in your Nesbitology or not, but I am the daughter of Paul Nesbit of California and the grand-daughter of your brother Rev. Samuel A. Nesbit. I am twelve years of age and am in the seventh grade.

I wish to correspond with some Nesbit of Scotland. My father said he thought you might be able to find someone with whom I could carry on a correspondence. I should like to write to some girl about my age or older. I have your Nesbitology. Mother and Daddy think it is very interesting and are pleased to receive it.

My father suggests that cousin Beatrice may be able to send me the address of some child in Singapore who would like to correspond with me.

I have quite a few friends who have been fortunate in finding some of their relatives and other children with whom they are carrying a correspondence. There is one in particular who is writing to some of their relatives. She is a descendant from some family in Scotland and says that she finds it very interesting. I hope that I shall be as fortunate as she.

Love

Kathryn Lucille Nesbit.

** ** ** ** **

MRS. CLINE MEETS HER COUSIN MRS. EMERY

2418 Pinehurst Blvd.,
Shreveport,
Louisiana,
March 30, 1938.

Am sorry I have delayed writing so long to thank you for the copy of "Nesbitology" you sent me. I really believe I have enjoyed it more than any; probably because there was so much about my own particular family that was sent you by Mrs. Emery of Bloomington. I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Emery last April in Washington while we both attended the D.A.R Congress. I was so glad to see Mrs. Emery as she was the first of the Nesbit family it has ever been my pleasure to know. We were both very busy and had very little time together, but it was a very pleasant few minutes, and we talked Nesbit all the time. I would like so much to know personally more of the members of the Nesbit family, and perhaps I may some day.

We had very little winter and the trees and flowers are beautiful now. The roses were never prettier. We have had quite a lot of rain recently and it looks as if we will get more. Have had a few storms near us, but so far, Shreveport has escaped.

Please accept my thanks for "Nesbitology"; I do enjoy it so much and only wish I had something of family interest to send you, but haven't a thing at this time.

Very best wishes, sincerely,

Jane Wiley Cline (Mrs. G.L.)

FROM DR. EDWARD R. NISBET

Houston, Texas,

January 25, 1938.

A brief outline of my branch of the family may be of interest to you, so I will give you the information of my command. My full name is Edward Robb Nisbet, only living son of Rev. William Alonzo Nisbet, A.B.B.D., now 79 years old, retired Presbyterian minister, and Leila Robb, daughter of Colonel Alfred Robb, a confederate soldier, who was killed in the Battle of Fort Donaldson, Tennessee. He was of Scotch descent also.

My father was pastor of the Hull memorial Presbyterian Church, Savannah, Georgia, for twenty-five years. My birthplace. He was born in Jones County, Georgia, where our family had lived for many years, moving to North Georgia in colonial days from South Carolina, I believe.

My grandfather was John Nisbet, son of Robert Nisbet (who, tradition says, fought the British at New Orleans in the War of 1812), died 1924.

Robert was the son of James Nisbet, who was born in Belfast, Ireland, coming to America as a child in company with his parents and six brothers. My father had three half-brothers and one own brother, Keith Nisbet, a lawyer, who died a year ago in Florida. The half brothers were Robert, Eugenius and Hugh. Robert Nisbet M.D. practiced medicine about forty years in Harperville, Georgia.

Our family is quite numerous in North Georgia; they have been largely plantation owners and professional men.

The first man to occupy the bench of Georgia's Supreme Court was Eugenius or Genius Nisbet. (Note: James Nisbet's parents came from Scotland to Ireland).

There is some reason, however, to believe that our forebears came first to Pennsylvania, later moving to South Carolina, thence to Georgia. My father and Uncle Bob have often told me that we traced our ancestry to one John Nisbet of Scotland, a covenanter, who after being a fugitive from one of the Stuarts, was at last caught and hanged because of his refusal to recant his religious connections. This John Nisbet had a title and was a landed gentleman. The Crown confiscated all his property, however.

A friend of mine visited Nisbet House about a year ago and had the pleasure of talking with William (Robert ?) Chancellor Nesbitt.

I am thirty-seven years old, married and have three beautiful children, William Robb, Janet Lucille and John Edward. My wife is Lois Welling Nisbet and is related to the old Scottish family Galoway, that being her mother's maiden name.

My grandfather, John Nisbet, married three times. Several daughters were born, but I do not remember their names.

I have always been deeply interested in Scottish history and especially in the origin and early history of the Nisbet family.

Sir Walter Scott, in the footnotes to "The Waverley Novels" refers to Nisbets several times, as you probably know.

Is it your personal opinion that the Nisbet family is primarily of Norman origin, purely Scotch from the Earl of Northumberland, (cousin of Malcolm Connmore, King of Scots) or, as some historians state, descended from the Saxon Thor?

(I don't know. O.B.N.).

Please accept my appreciation for your effort made in publishing "Nesbitology",

The information I have received has indeed been of value and real satisfaction. More power to you, Doctor Nesbit. It seems to me that the Nesbits and Nisbets should appoint you to the post of Official Family Historian.

I will very much appreciate a copy of Nesbitology, number 6, published January 1938.

With every good wish,

I am,

Very truly yours,

Edward R. Nisbet.

Southern Standard Life Building.

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NORMAN HILL NESBITT DIED: EX-JOURNALIST AND TEACHER

Oakland, California, November 21, 1937 -- Norman Hill Nesbitt, 62, former journalist in India and a teacher of French, died here today. He is a son of the late John Nesbitt, former painter in the Scottish Academy and a nephew of Prof. De Sumicrast of Harvard University, lately retired. His widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Booth Nesbitt, is a niece of the late Edwin Booth, actor.

MRS. G.W. NESBIT - 1938

Cynthiana, Kentucky, February 20 -- Mrs. Eliza Nesbit, 95, widow of G.W. Nesbit, died today at her home near Conry. She was a native of Harrison County, a daughter of Patterson and Mary Eliza Smith, and is survived by two daughters, Mrs. D. Cummins and Miss Emma Nesbit, and a son, W.F. Nesbit. She was a member of the Country Methodist Episcopal Church.

Funeral service will be held at the Antioch Christian Church Monday.

Newspaper clipping sent by Mollie James.

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LADY MARY FAITH MONTAGUE TO WED CALIFORNIAN WRITER

New York, January 9, 1937 -- Announcement has been made in London of the engagement of Lady Mary Faith Montague, elder daughter of the Earl and Countess of Sandwich, to Phillip Nesbitt of Carmel, California, who is now in London.

Lady Mary is a grand daughter through her mother, the former Miss Alberta Sturges, of the late William Sturges of Chicago and the late Mrs. Francis H. Legett of England and Stone Ridge, New York. Mr. Nesbit (sic) is an artist and writer.

Chicago Tribune.

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WALTER NESBIT, POWER IN LABOR RANKS, DIES AT 60

Belleville, Illinois, December 6, 1938 -- Walter Nesbit, 60 years old, former Democrat Congressman at large from Illinois, died today. He had been ill about a month.

Nesbit was born here in 1878. Entering the down-state coal mines as a boy, he worked in the pits for almost twenty years. In 1917 he was elected secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America for the Illinois district, a post which he held until his death. He was elected to Congress in 1932 and served one term. He was influential in the ranks of coal miners and of organized labor generally. Surviving him are his widow and four children.

Tribune, Chicago.

THOMAS NESBIT

Rev. W.C. Rogers in Recollections of Men of Faith, Christian Pub. Co., 1889, quotes Rev. John Rogers as writing, "In the meantime, the church at Concord and Carlisle, (Ky.) having no regular settled preacher, urged me to come and settle among them. I accepted their invitation, and in the fall of 1823 sold out my little property at Ruddell's Mills, Bourbon Co., Ky., and moved to the vicinity of Carlisle, Kentucky, and spent the winter of 1823-24 in an upper room of the house now (1862) occupied by our Sister Sims. The house and farm connected with it then belonging to the venerable Thomas Nesbit, who but recently died in Indiana full of years and honors. He was indeed a remarkable man.

My family then consisted of a wife and one young child. Father and mother Nesbit and the family took us into their home and gave us the exclusive use of one of the upper rooms, and a place to keep my horse until spring. I can never forget the kindness of that family. Sister Nesbit was an excellent woman, a mother in Israel, an Israelite indeed. Thomas Nesbit was the leading spirit in the Church at Concord and Carlisle. He was universally beloved and respected. Though uneducated in the popular sense of that word, he was possessed of remarkable natural endowments, and deeply read in the Holy Scriptures. He had fine judgement, a great share of common sense, and piety without moroseness; Christian dignity, with childlike simplicity; cheerfulness, without levity.

Eternity only will reveal the obligations of this church to him under God, during the long period of his connection with it. He also did a great deal in building up and sustaining the church at Richland, Indiana. He was a man who by the grace of God, had remarkable control of his temper. During a long and very intimate acquaintance with him, I never saw him out of temper. He was the soul of the prayer-meetings, taking the lead, and interspersing the exercises with brief, spirited, and sensible exhortations. He was often sent for to visit the sick, and to hold prayer-meetings in different neighborhoods, having the confidence of all who new him. A characteristic anecdote will close what I have to say, in passing, of this man. In the early settlement of this country, some sixty years ago, there were light-fingered persons as well as now, who occasionally helped themselves, under cover of the night, to articles belonging to their neighbors. One night, Father Nesbit came upon a neighbor, suddenly, in his corn-crib, filling his bag with corn. He would have gladly escaped detection, but it was impossible. His neighbor was upon him; he was known. He helped him fill his bag, and helped him with it on to his horse, and then gave him a kind lecture, and urged him to reform. Said he, 'If you are at any time

in need, come to me and I will divide with you'".

(The above book was presented to me by my brother, Samuel A. Nesbit while visiting him in July, 1938, at Richmond, California. I have copied the above as several descendants of Thomas are anxious for news about him. O.B.N.).

TAUGHT CHIANG KAI-SHEK

Fort Wayne --Rev. William Vincent, Presbyterian minister here, once taught English to Chiang Kai Shek, China's generalissimo, and Feng Yu-Hsiang, Chinese General. It was while all three were students at Yen- Ching, (Peiping) University, in 1923.

** ** ** ** **

Lillian Gayle of Manhatten, Montana, sent a couple of letters and the following clippings from a Bozeman Paper:

Sam H. Nesbit, 72, grandfather of Raymond Nesbit, 803 South Fifth, Bozeman, Montana, died in Livingston, Montana, May 28, 1938, according to word received here. Other survivors include the widow, Mrs. Annie Nesbit, Livingston, and three sons, Millard Nesbit, Mexico; Wendell Nesbet, Denver; and Sydney Nesbit, Livingston.

Funeral service held in the Masonic Hall. -- May 31, 1938.

HENRY C. NESBITT OF WHITE HOUSE STAFF IS DEAD

Washington D.C. January 6, 1938 -- Henry C. Nesbitt, for the last five years custodian of the White House, died of heart disease at his home late yesterday. He was 72 years of age. President and Mrs. Roosevelt sent expressions of sympathy to his widow, who is housekeeper of the White House. Mrs. Roosevelt personally called on Mrs. Nesbitt to express her sympathy.

Mr. Nesbitt was born in County Cavan, Ulster, Ireland, and came to the United States as a young man with his parents.

About twelve years ago Mr. Nesbitt moved to Duchess County, New York, and took up farming. When the President came to the White House, he brought the Nesbitts with him.

** ** ** ** **

Schoolcraft Michigan, January, 23, 1938.

Dear Sir:

I wish to thank you for sending the pictures of Nisbet House.

This is all I know of my ancestors, my great grandfather and great grandmother George and Mary Nesbitt came here in 1830 from Crumlin Co., Ireland. I have heard my father say that our name is Scotch; but during some religious insurrection in Scotland, our people left and went to Ireland where they remained. The older ones are all gone so I have no one to ask about the family. My father passed away two years ago and he knew only what I have told you.

I am Fraternally,

Mrs. Kathryn N. Southworth.

P.O. Box 25.

** ** ** ** **

Princeton,

Indiana,

January 17, 1938.

Dear Cousin Otis:

Received your Nesbitology of January and I wish to thank you for sending me a copy of same. I sat down and read it thru as soon as I received it.

I was pleased to get John N. Dowling's history of the Nisbet lands in Berwickshire, Scotland, and how it came to have the name Nesbite, Manor House and Dilstar Hall previous.

This is a new explanation of the meaning of the name Nesbit so far as I have heard. Mrs. Blanche Hartman of Pittsburgh thinks the noble family of Nisbet who lived in Nisbet House were descendants of Gospatrick of Northumberland and this history of Mr. Dowling would seem to favour this. From what I have read, Nisbet later became a placename so that all who lived in the Land of Nisbet were called by that name, and I have never been able to learn whether my ancestors came from the common tribe or from the noble family. Mrs. Hartman says since the youngest brother of the five brothers who came from Roxburgh Shire, Scotland, was called a "Cadet" would indicate they belong to the noble family as at that time the younger son of the noble families were called cadets. But I cannot see that it makes any difference to me or my family whether we descended from the noble family or the common tribe; it is only a matter of curiosity.

I note that Mrs. Laura B. Emery of Bloomington speaks of her father, Thomas Nesbit; was born in Pennsylvania. If he came from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania he probably belongs to our Nesbit relations or from Lawrnence County, Pennsylvania.

I was interested in the letter of Flora B. Nesbit of Xenia, Ohio. When I attended Monmouth, Illinois, I became acquainted with James Nisbet who came from Cedarville, Ohio to Monmouth. He married a Miss Campbell and had a family of at least three girls and one boy; two of the older girls were in college with me. Nettie, the oldest married a dentist, Dr. Wingate, and I think they live in Chicago. William, the only son, is a cashier in one of the banks in Monmouth. They were loyal members of the Presbyterian Church; but the girls would not admit they were any relation to me as they spelled their name Nisbet and I spelled it Nesbit. I understood their ancestor emigrated from Chester, South Carolina.

With kindest regards and many thanks for the Nesbitology I am,

Very cordially yours,

John Pratt Nesbit.

(John Pratt Nesbit has resigned as pastor of the United Presbyterian Church at Princeton, Indiana, and retired. He is living in a country parsonage eight miles from Greenwich, New York. He is supplying for the South Argyle Congregation, the church in which his mother was reared.)

In Memoriam

JOHN ALLISON NESBITT

1878 - 1937

John A. Nesbitt was born at Colora, Cecil County, Maryland, on February 11, 1878. His paternal ancestors came to this country in 1765 and after landing at New Castle, Delaware, settled in Cecil County where descendants of the family have lived ever since. Mr. Nesbitt's early years were spent on a farm, and from that experience he gained the deep love of nature that refreshed him all his life. Not long ago, he told his congregation of the joy he felt a few days before, in finding arbutus on a hillside, where he had picked it when he was a child. Under the loving guidance of a deeply religious mother, and in the happy companionship of two sisters and two brothers, his boyhood was passed.

After graduating from West Nottingham Academy, located not far from his home, he taught school for two years. Through the influence of one of his teachers, John G. Connor, he had already resolved to enter the ministry. To this end he graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1905.

Studious habits, formed in his college days, remained with him, and he gathered around him, as the years unrolled, an extensive library in which he found delight. His tastes in reading were wide, but he had a special love for poetry, and he often shared with his congregation memorable passages that he had come upon.

His life was to find its fullest expression in his ministry in the Catonsville Presbyterian Church, but he served in other ways, as well. He was a moderator of the Presbytery of Baltimore in 1920 and of the Synod of Baltimore in 1923. He went as Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1916 and again in 1925. He was Chairman of the Education Committee of the Baltimore Presbytery, a member of its National Missions Committee, and for a number of years was Chairman of its Committee on Vacancy and Supply. Believing in the value of first grade education under definitely religious auspices and cherishing the fine historical background of West Nottingham Academy, he worked diligently for it renewal and strengthening. Of its governing board, he became a Trustee in 1920, and since 1928, its President. During the World War, he spent nine months in France as a Chaplain with the American Expeditionary Force, serving in Base Hospital 53 at Langres.

From the Seminary he came at once to Baltimore, and after ordination by the Presbytery of Baltimore on November 9, 1905, he was installed as pastor of the Catonville Presbyterian Church, then located at Frederick Road and St. Timothy's Lane. It was his first and only charge. During his ministry, the church developed in organization, increased in numbers and gifts, and widened the scope of its interests. The building at St. Timothy's Lane became too small for its congregation and its rapidly growing Sunday School, and in 1921 it was moved to its present location on the corner of Beechwood Avenue. First the Sunday School building, and then nine years later the main auditorium was erected. To the vision, zeal and faith of Mr. Nesbitt, above all others, the congregation owes its present well equipped and beautiful church: for many years to come, it will stand as a monument of the work to which he gave his life.

In 1909 Mr. Nesbitt was married to Elizabeth Wilson Whitely; their home became a center of hospitality, and in all of Mr. Nesbitt's efforts for the promotion of Christ's Kingdom in Catonsville and to the ends of the earth, she has had an active part. As their daughter and their son have grown to adulthood, they, too have shared the ideals of their parents, and strengthened their work. Not only has Mr. Nesbitt laboured in his own church, but he has cooperated in every movement in Catonsville for education advancement, social welfare, and inter denominational fellowship.

For the comfort and blessing of his beautiful prayers at the morning service, for the helpful thoughts in his sermons, for his continuous work for the welfare of the children and the young people, Mr. Nesbitt's congregation will always be deeply grateful, but it is as a pastor, that he will be most lovingly remembered. For nearly thirty-two years, he has carried, as his own, the problems and the joys and sorrows of his people. His going has left an empty place in many hearts and in many homes.

In the first sermon of his pastorate, he took for his text: "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified". In his last sermon referring to the text on the back of the pulpit: "Sirs, we would see Jesus", Mr. Nesbitt said that in all of his ministry, his one aim has been to lift up Christ. Beginning and ending, he had the same great purpose. May we now, for our comfort, hear him like Paul of old, say to us: "I have kept the faith, henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness".

To him in the fullness of life, has come swiftly the final call: "Well done, good and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord".

ANOTHER NESBIT POET

"Fringe of the Dawn", a first book of poems, by Blanche T. Hartman gives definite proof that this poet is second to none among the published poets of Pittsburgh. A criticism has been made that too many unusual words were used, but the edition is limited and we common folks are not expected to be interested.

Price $1.75

Mrs. Galen C. Hartman
Bellfield Dwellings
4400 Center Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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CAN YOU HELP HER?

East Main Terrace, Spartanburg, S.C.,

July 31, 1938.

A friend told me about you sending out a paper called "Nesbitology". I would like very much to get it as I belong to that "Clan".

I have been very unlucky in tracing the Nesbitts any farther than my great-great grand father Jonathan Nesbitt, born 1736, married Elizabeth McGrady. They came to South Carolina, near Philadelphia. I have tried for years to trace them, but it seems that the older ones in the family did not care enough to keep up with them. I am very much interested and would like to know more about the family.

Thanking you in advance.

Yours sincerely

Agnes Nesbitt Clark

(Mrs. Newton G.)

MISS ZULA YOUNG

The teachers at the grade school have their work running smoothly after a week of getting books and all adjustments made. As usual Miss Zula has the beginners, and the mothers and little tots are happy, for Miss Zula is one of the grandest primary teachers in anybody's school room. By her gentle manner, her quiet dignity, she has influenced the lives of hundreds who look back on their first year of school as one of the bright spots of their formal education.

Highland, Kansas, Vidette, September 6, 1938.

NOTES FROM LETTERS DURING 1938

Miss Mabel McLaughlin sent a letter mailed December 19, 1938, at which time her mother (Mrs. Ann) was eating some Fannie May chocolates we sent her and enjoying her Christmas tree which was already up. I wish all the Nesbits could know this fine family.

Mrs. Ethel Dobson, 266 Lansdowne Avenue, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, writes December 18, 1938 that her good husband, Rev W.A. Dobson, who has been pastor of the United Church of Montreal, had passed away a short time before. After a short illness and an operation. She and two of her children, Nesbitt and Anna, are living at the above address, that they can be near the Great St. Lawrence River, where Nesbitt can sail and the children can skate and ski.

She boasts of her new city being beautifully built and well kept. One of the federation of cities that make up Greater Montreal.

She is planning another letter to the clan.

Her married daughter, Mrs. Janet Robnett, was unable to be home for Christmas.

(I have heard from reliable sources that Rev. Dobson was one of the most revered pastors in Montreal, a scholar and gentleman whose passing is greatly mourned. My sympathy to this good family. O.B.N.).

Harold R. King graduated from the Robinson Kansas Rural High School, May 19, 1938. He is the son of ....... King and Grace Young King. Congratulations, Harold; sorry I missed you last fall.

John Nesbit, the radio commentator of the "Passing Parade" is the author of "The House of Melody", a love song set to music by Merideth Willson.

John Swinney, 225 Brand Street, Glendale, California, was the cause of me wasting two hours and having to buy Brother Edward and Lon Bobo, Jr. a twenty five cent dinner, as I was trying to locate him without having his address. Had I located him, I would have also found his sister Dorothy, a teacher in the Wichita, Kansas, schools and a brother Gordon, a student at Kansas University also, as they were visiting him. They with Robert of Cincinnati constituted a fine quartet of young people whose mother is Mrs. Rozette Swinney, one of my good looking nieces.

Mrs. Fanny Hansford, mother of Dr. Hazel Hansford Stevens of the Indianapolis Family Welfare Society writes that her mother passed away April 1, 1938, at the Methodist Hospital at Indianapolis, after a lingering illness.

Her body was interred in the Clear Creek Cemetery near Bloomington, where Rev. Thomas Nisbet and many Nisbets are buried. Dr. Hazel belongs to the Rev. Thomas Nisbet family.

She also enclosed a clipping giving an account of the death of William H. Mathers, 22 year old son of Professor Frank C. Mathers of Indiana University Chemistry Department.

William died at Rochester, Minesota. He received an A.B. Degree at Indiana University in chemistry last June. A brother Thomas is a student at Harvard University Law School.

Dr. Norman B. Nesbitt, dental expert from Harvard University, was one of the speakers at the last session of the Indiana State Dental Society at Indianapolis

Joseph Wilbur Nesbit, son of Rev. B.R. Nesbit, pastor of the First M.E. Church at South Bend, Indiana, was married by his father to Miss Alsie Corn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John A. Corn. Owen Nesbit, a brother, was best man. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Nesbit of Chicago and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Nesbit of Terre Haute, Indiana, were among the guests.

They will reside at 307 West 43rd Street, South Bend, Indiana.

Edward and Charles Nesbitt, 6554 Basworth Avenue, Chicago; twins, 18 year old in 1937, registered in Loyola University.

John J. Nesbitt, and two sons under the name of John J. Nesbitt, Inc., Holmsberg, Philadelphia, manufacture modern heating and ventilating units which it calls the Nesbitt Syncretizer. This family is from Ireland and was located at Atlantic City, New Jersey for a time.

LETTERS OR CARDS WERE RECEIVED FROM THE FOLLOWING PERSONS

F.J. Nisbet, District Superintendent, St. John, N.B. Canada.
Mrs. Estella Ulrich, 293 W. 3rd St., Peru, Indiana.
Henry V. Nisbet, 66 N. Clay St., Peru, Indiana.
Lura B. Emery, 1316 S. Walnut St., Bloomington, Indiana.
Miss Claire McCoy, 807 Macon Ave., Cannon City, Ohio.
J.B. McCray, Waketo, Okla.
Mr. and Mrs. John Nesbitt, Albion, Indiana.
Robert, Corinne and Toni Swinney, 2601 Briar Cliff, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Miss Elizabeth McLaughlin, 324 North Main St., Henderson, Kentucky.
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FIRST BATTLE OF NISBET

"The same year, (1355), in the month of August; the Earl of March and William, Lord of Douglas, finding it hard to brook the deprivations which had lately been committed by the English on the aforesaid Earl's lands, sent a valiant man of tried prowess -- the Lord William of Ramsey, Knight. -- with a great many men, to the marches, to plunder the town of Norham and the whole of the outlying lands, and the dwellers therein.

This was accordingly done. When hard pressed by the enemy, he held his ground for a while, as best he could; but he soon made a feint of fleeing, and purposely drew them on, as he had planned, to a certain point called Nisbet, where he well knew the aforesaid Lord of Douglas was lurking with his Scots and Frenchmen, and waiting to see how things would turn out. Then quickly putting the spur of a hill between him and the enemy, he came to the Scots, and brought them good news of the coming of the English. The Scots rose from their seats, and hastened merrily to meet them. But the English, thunderstruck at the sight of them thus unexpectedly, and knowing full well the aforesaid Lord's ensigns and banners, could not now with honour flee; so they staked their lives upon their own powers, and manfully fought it out with the Scots. Since, however, even the strong must needs be overcome by stronger, and the weaker side be tripped up, the Scots, thank God, prevailed against them, and they were all subdued and overthrown. A few indeed were slain; and the remainder, except a few who fled, were led away scatheless into captivity, and kept closely guarded in diverse places. These afterwards ransomed for much gold and silver and other substance.

On that day there fell, on the side of the Scots, John of Haliburton, a brave and warlike man, who had always given the English great trouble. But on the other side were taken the Lord Thomas Grey, a noble Knight; with Thomas, his son and heir; a brave and famous Squire named James Darres, with a great many other gallant English nobles".

From "The Historians of Scotland", Vol. -- Fordun's Chronicle.

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SECOND BATTLE OF NISBET MOOR, BERWICKSHIRE

"At the Battle of Nisbet Moor, Berwickshire, the numbers engaged were inconsider-able, but it was hotly contested on either side. The Scots numbered only 400, but they were admirably armed and well mounted. Their leader was a brave knight, Sir Patrick Hepburn, younger of the Hailes. Returning from a foraying expedition into Northumber-land, they were overtaken by Percy and March. The English strength would be about equal to that of the Scots at first, and for a long time the contest was keen and the issue doubtful; but the former were reinforced from the garrison at Berwick, under the Master of Dunbar, March's son, and this decided the fortune of the day in favour of the English. Hepburn was slain, and many brave knights either shared his fate or were taken prisoner. The battle was fought on June 22nd, 1402".

"Border Battles and Battlefields", by James Robson.

NESBITOLOGY

Family Letter No. 8. January 1940.

Issued occasionally by

Otis B. Nesbit,
444 Jackson Street,
Gary, Indiana.
- - - - - -

Special Samuel Franklin Nisbet Edition

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

In presenting the following data on Mrs. Berry and her descendants, I have to omit much more material than I have included

I hope to send outlines of the families of John, James, Robert and William Nisbet, Rebeccah Lewis, Margaret Nisbet, Mary Martin, Elizabeth McIlvain, the known children of Samuel and Mary Berry Nisbet and try to establish the two other girls. I have included in the table, Jane and Isabelle as probable daughters but have a feeling that this Isabelle does not belong and the Jane may have been a Jane who married William Robinson in 1813.

My chief reason has been to afford myself the satisfaction of building a "Family Tree" and to ascertain some family traits that have stood out and I believe heredity has been responsible.

I did not know the names of my grandparents when I started, nor did my living brothers and sisters. None of us know who our maternal grandmother was. We know her only as a widow, Mrs. Mary Auld. If you will read and note errors, I would be glad to have you inform me and supply additional data. Someone may strike pay dirt or oil and want to publish a book or provide the means to do so.

In our immediate families I have found no criminal records, little insanity, very little cancer, numerous cases of heart disease, usually after age sixty. Many have lived long lives. Usually all were honored and well respected. They were generally religious people, about every church being represented. There have been many preachers, a few lawyers and some politicians and many teachers, farmers, mechanics and doctors.

Every war since the Revolution has found its members in the ranks. The Civil War found them on both sides. My grandfather was in the War of 1812. I cannot establish a Revolutionary War record for my great grandfather, but some believe he participated.

I have not been able to locate any of the descendants of John Berry except Mary. I believe the Berry family of Kentucky belong, but their histories say they belong to the Berry family which was one of the 'first families of Virginia', but I have been unable to find one of them who know their Virginia ancestors' names. I can now name mine at any rate.

The different ways of spelling Nisbet is of no concern. The same person spelled the name differently at times. Dr. Robert Nisbett found the name twenty-six ways in Scotland. In Ireland it differs. It certainly differs in the United States and Canada.

James Templer was recorded on deeds made in Ohio, U.S. Census 1850 and also in his Will. Edward Templar Nesbit uses 'ar', but he is not a son of his father as his father spelled his name Nisbet. Mary Templer is the way it appears in the marriage return in Missouri.

Emery Otis Cartwell, Mildred Nisbet Bob, Linna Hardy, Mrs. Annie Mathews,

Zula Young, Nannie Nesbit, my brothers and their wives, Beatrice Oppenheim, and Allegra Nesbit have aided especially in gathering material concerning the families. My wife Alice, has been most helpful. Miss Mabel McLaughlin has contributed a volume on the James Nisbet, Aaron Lewis, the Endicotts and allied families which I hope to review in a special number.

Mrs Fanny Webb has the Mary Martin material well organised. A bad heart has slowed up her activities.

To these and all who have sent me material. Accept my thanks.

The trips I have taken with my family have had me to Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky, Virginia, the Congressional Library at Washington, D.C., the Newberry Library, Chicago, all over southern Indiana and to Michigan. We have met many fine Nesbits. I am very proud of them. Most are very ignorant about family history. Great quantities of traditions. Small amount of documentary evidence. The number of Bibles destroyed by fire is astonishing. In our case, the family Bible was sealed in a box at a corner stone laying of a church in Southern Indiana. I hope some member of the clan will be present when it is opened.

I have sent out previously, articles on the origin of the family, its lands, armour and name. If you do not have these, write for what is missing.

This volume is dedicated to my daughters, my nephew and nieces and their children, and in some instances their grand-children.

In a good genealogical record, the important items are names, date of birth, date and place of marriage, date of death, children, burials, place, name of wife or husband with above data, parents names and as much of the above as possible with items of achievements, occupation, church, lodge affiliations, war records, offices, copy of Wills interesting items with source.

Many people fail to reply to inquiries because of meagre information and put it off intending to attend to it later. A good plan would be to send what you have, and make subsequent reports.

With apologies, I present this for what it is worth. My hope is that it will stimulate an interest in collecting and preserving good family records.

May you have a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Otis Burgess Nesbit.

John Berry = (?)
d. 1771, Virginia
| Ireland (?)
Mary Berry = Samuel Nisbet
b. 1748 b. 1754, Scotland (?)
d. October 22 1828 d. 1814, near Cynthiana
bur. Livonia, Indiana on Harrison Co., Kentucky
Alexander Martin's lot
| June 1, 1813, Harrison Co., Kentucky
|
Samuel Nisbet = Nancy M. Thomas
b. March 1, 1781 b. February 1793 (?)
d. September 1, 1866 (1792 U.S. Census 1850)
bur. Stoutsville, Missouri d. August 13, 1869
85 y. 6 m. bur. On old farm 76 y. 6 m.
bur. on old farm
dau. John Thomas
|
| November 6, 1846, Fillmore, Missouri
Samuel F. Nisbet = Mary Templer
b. June 9, 1823 b. January 18, 1831
Harrison Co., Kentucky Mount Vernon, Ohio
d. December 23, 1895 d. August 30, 1916
Washington Co., Kansas Richmond, California
bur. Washington Co., Kansas dau. James Templer and
Mrs. Mary Auld
| bur. Richmond, California
| June 22, 1895, Valparaiso, Indiana
Otis B. Nesbit = Alice Vincent
b. January 31, 1871 b. June 22, 1872
Severance, Kansas Lake Co., Indiana
Res. Gary, Indiana dau. Dr. A.W. Vincent and
Children Mary (Wood) Vincent
Allegra Mary Nesbit
b. June 2, 1900
Beatrice Templar Nesbit

|
| May 5, 1930, Chicago, Illinois
Beatrice Templar Nesbit = Alexander Oppenheim
b. December 6, 1903 b. February 4, 1902
Manchester, England
|
|
Judith Oppenheim
b. August 17, 1935
Chicago, Illinois

JOHN BERRY

John Berry is the first progenitor that I have been able to locate and, our first knowledge connecting him with the Nesbit line is found in his will (A) probated in Augusta County, Virginia in 1771. He names Mary, his daughter, and in the same item of the will, it gives John Neesbit his legacy. The Will is dated October 10, 1770, and was probated March 22, 1771 which would fix his death between these dates. He was a landowner of land situated in the Borden tract located along the Shanandoah Valley which was settled with the Scotch- Irish.

JOHN BERRY'S WILL

"IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN, I, John Berry, of the County of Augusta and Colony of Virginia, being weakly of body, but of perfect mind and memory, thanks be given to Almighty God, therefore considering the mortality of my body & knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, I do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament, that it is to say Principally & first of all I recommend and commit my soul into the hands of Almighty God who gave it, and my body to the Earth decently buried at the discretion of my Executors, doubting nothing but I shall receive the same again by the Mighty Power of God at the General Resurrection and as touching what estate it hath pleased God to bless me with in this life, I give, devise & dispose of the same in the following manner and form.

Imprimis - it is my will and I do order that all my lawful debts and funeral charges be fully paid, and satisfyed.

Item - unto Mary, my daughter, one Pounds five Shillings curent money of Virginia. I likewise give and bequeath unto John Neesbit six shillings and six pence curent money of Virginia.

Item - I give & bequeath unto John Berry sun of James Berry, deed. six Pounds curent money of Virginia. I give and bequeath unto John Berry sun of William Berry ten Pounts current money of Virginia.

Item - I give & bequeath unto John Berry sun of Francis Berry ten Pounds current money of Virginia.

Item - I give & bequeath unto Fras. Berry, Wheelright five pounds curent money of Virginia.

Item - I give & bequeath unto Mary Berry, daughter of William Berry fowar (sic) Pounds current money of Virginia.

Item - I give & bequeath unto her sister, Elizabeth Berry, six Pounds curent money of Virginia.

Item - I give & bequeath unto Elizabeth Berry, Daughter of Charles Berry, five Pounds curent money of Virginia.

Item - I give & bequeath unto my daughter, Rebeca Berry, twenty pounds curent money of Virginia. I likewise constitute and appoint my trust friends, Alexander Walker Wheelright & William Edmastoun, sole Executors of this my last will & testament. And do hereby disanul & revoke all other wills or testaments by me made declaring & publishing this my last will and testament.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand & seal this tenth day of October in the year one thousand seven hundred and Seventy. John Berry (S.S).

Published and pronounced in

the presence of us:

John Walker

John Walker Junior

James Walker

Francis Berry

At a Court continued and held for Augusta County March the 22nd, 1771. This last will and testament of John Berry, deed, was proved by the oaths of John Walker, John Walker Junior and James Walker, three of the Witnesses & ordered to be recorded and on the motion of Alexander Walker and William Edmiston, the executors therein named, who made oath according to law, certificate is granted them for obtaining a probate thereof in due form, they having with securitys entered into and acknowledged their bond according to law.

Teste---------------------------------------"

Will Book 4, page 404. A copy:

TESTE (signed) Harry Burnett Clerk.

of the Circuit Court for Augusta County, Va.

SAMUEL NISBET - MARY BERRY

In the settlement of the Estate of John Berry in 1771, Mary Neizbitt and John Neizbitt were named in the will and Samuel Neizbit was paid a claim.

Samuel Nisbeit on March 1, 1770, acquired 100 acres of land which he, on September 19, 1787, transferred by deed to John Nelson. In 1787 for the sum of $160.00, Samuel Nesbitt and his wife, Mary, joined in a deed to transfer the 100 acres acquired in 1770 which joined John Berry's land, said to be recorded in Deed Book A, page 696, Rockridge County. This deed was signed Sam'l Nisbeit and Mary Nisbeit, his wife, and recorded in Deed Book A, page 696 of the County of Rockridge.

In Volume 2 of Abstracts, Augusta County (Virginia) Records, show that "Samuel Nesbit went out as pack horseman on the last Indian Exposition in order to raise money to pay for his land". Morten's Rockridge County, Virginia, lists "Samuel Nesbitt as a Tithable" and a "Taxpayer in 1782", and on page 466 under "Locations and Arrivals" in 1788 lists Samuel Nesbitt (and Mary). The marriage record of Rockridge County shows a license granted to John Neisbit and Sarah Hunter, August 26, 1788. The consent is signed by Samuel Neisbit and William Hunter. The surities, John Neisbit and James McCutchan. Deed Book 36, Augusta County, page 12 shows John Nesbit and Sarah, his wife, from the County of Harrison, State of Kentucky, along with other heirs of William Hunter, deceased, as signers to a deed for land situated in Augusta County which William Hunter acquired through Government Patent deeded September 20, 1751. Samuel and his family came to Kentucky, now Harrison County, and settled on lands west of Cynthiana, on Grey's Run about 1790 and built a log house which was standing and occupied when I last saw it in 1937. He was a farmer and stockman and certainly a woodsman.

Family tradition insists that he had his chin cut off at the Battle of Cowpens, but no proof has been found in the War Pension Department. He is not listed in the Virginia War Records either. He was a taxpayer on personal and real estate in 1795 in Harrison County and was on the Tax Rolls until his death in 1814. Opposite his name on the Tax Rolls of Harrison County: in 1813 is a notation "In Capt. Gray's Co.". Here he is designated as Samuel Nesbett Sr.

My grandfather's name also appears on the 1813 Tax Roll as Samuel Nesbit, Jr., owner of 80 acres, and a notation "In Capt. Gray's Co". Samuel Nisbet died in 1814. I have never located his grave. His will was probated at the July Term Court.

Mary Berry Nisbet went to Washington County, Indiana in 1824 to live with her daughter, Mary Nisbet Martin, and died at her home on October 19, 1828, and she was buried on the Alexander Martin lot in the Livonia Cemetery in an unmarked grave. Alexander Martin had a brother, William, who was a great Presbyterian missionary in southern Indiana and was Pastor of the Church at Livonia.

The Alexander Martin Bible contains the record of Mary Martin's death and is in the possession of Mrs. Fannie Holms Wright Webb of Franklin, Indiana, a great-great grand daughter.

I do not think he was in the Revolutionary War because I have been unable to find where he received any lands on that account and generally land grants were sought.

WILL OF SAMUEL NISBET

"In the name of God amen - I, Samuel Nisbet, of Harrison County, and State of Kentucky, being weakly in body but in perfect mind and memory, thanks be to God for his mercies; and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, I do make and ordain this my last will and Testament, by me made, - -

First of all I do command my soul to God who gave it to me and my body to the Earth whence it came, to be decently buried and as touching my worldly Estate that it has pleased God to bless me with I do dispose of in the following way and manner.

I do order all of my lawful debts to be paid and my funeral charges. As for the balance of my estate, I do dispose of in the following way and manner: that is to say:-

To John, my son, I do give one hundred and twenty dollars. To Robert, my son, I give ten dollars as he has gotten his share before. To Samuel, my son, I do give the piece of land that is laid off to him adjoining Robert's line, supposed to be twenty acres more or less. To James, my son, I do give thirty dollars, as he has gotten his share before. To William, my son, I do give the plantation whereon I now live, with all the plantation tools and two horses, and the wagons to be betwixt William and Sam.

And each of my daughters now living at home is to have a horse or mare, and for my other three that are married, I do give ten dollars to each.

The balance of the estate I do leave the sole disposal of to Mary, my wife, and she is to have a good and sufficient living on the place and to keep possession of the house, and the three unmarried daughters to have their living on the place while unmarried, and I do leave Mary, my wife, and William, my son, sole Executors, of, my last Will and Testament made by me.

Test:

W. More: A. Moore. Henry C. Moore, Harrison County, July Court 1814.

This last Will and Testament of Samuel Nisbet, deceased, was returned into Court and proved by the oaths of William Moore and Andrew Moore, subscribing witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded

Attest: A. More D. Clk.

"HARRISON COUNTY WILL BOOK - - A

An inventory of the estate of Samuel Nisbet, Sr. Deceased. 1814

1 grey mare $40.00
1 other bay mare 4 yrs. old $55.00 $95.00
1 bay mare 15 yrs. old $30.00 $85.00
1 strawberry roan mare $25.00
1 old mare and colt $25.00 $50.00
1 yearling stud colt $20.00
1 old grey horse $18.00 $38.00
1 old brindle steer (?) $11.00
1 brown steer $9.00 $20.00
1 red steer $10.00
The spots on the rump $10.00 $20.00
1 brindled and white steer $7.00
1 red and white steer $6.00 $13.00
1 small brindled steer $5.00
1 small red steer $4.00 $ 9.00
1 small freckled steer $4.00
1 fleet-------------heifer $ 9.00
1 red and white heifer $4.00
1 old see (?) cow $12.00 $16.00
1 red yellow young cow $12.00
1 brindle cow and calf with a white back $14.00
1 brindle cow and calf with a white spot $14.00
1 brindled cow with a star on her face $14.00
1 brindled heifer $ 6.00
3 small poor yearling $12.00
18 heads of hogs $30.00
8 small shoots $13.00 (?) $33.00
20 head of sheep $40.00
1 cupboard and furniture $20.00 $60.00
2 chests $4.00 2 candle stands $4.00
2-------- ? trunk $2.00 $10.00
1 bedstead and furniture $10.00
1 bedstead and furniture No. 2 $40.00
1 bedstead and furniture No. 3 $25.00
1 bedstead and furniture No. 4 $40.00
1 bedstead and furniture No. 5 $30.00
1 bedstead and furniture No. 6 $30.00
7 pairs of blankets
5 second rate blankets $59.00
2 rugs $12.00 5 quilts $25.00
5 coverlets $14.00 $51.00
5 calico quilts $25.00
3 old calico quilts $10.00
1 counterpane $53.00
9 sheets $22.50
21 pounds of pewter $8.20
1 clock $20.00 $50.70
1 kettle $2.75 1 skillet & pot $2.00
1 oven $2.00 $ 6.75
1 tea kettle $6.00, 1 x 18 gal. Kettle $5.00 $11.00
1 loom and appurtenances $18.00
5 side saddles $84.00
1 man's saddle $15.00 $100.00
Notes on Demand on Different Persons $734.50 (sic) $749 50

Mary Nesbit

William Nesbit Administrators

Alexander Lewis, James Grinvell (?), Wm Cummins, Noath Spears,

Appraisers.

Harrison County, Ky., November Court 1814."

PROBABLE CHILDREN OF SAMUEL AND MARY BERRY NESBIT

Born Place Died Buried Marriage
A.J. Nesbit -17701 Va. 1834 Kentucky 27 Aug. 1787
Sarah Hunter
B. Robert " c17732 Va. 1852 Lewis Co. Mo.
C. Jane " 1828 Kentucky 7 Sep. 1797
D. Isabel " Wm Barlow
E. Margaret " 1777 Va. 1853 Cynthiana Ind.
F. Mary " 1779 Va. 1852 Indiana 23 Apr. 1805
Alex Martin.
G. Samuel " 1781 Va. 1866 Missouri 1 Jun. 1813
Nancy Thomas
H. James " 1785 Va. 1874 Indiana 17 Mar. 1808
Hannah Journee
I. Elizabeth " 1829 Kentucky 3 Apr. 1811
Samuel McIlvane
J. Rebeccah " 1801 Ky 1824 Indiana 15 Nov. 1815
Aaron Lewis
K. William " 1877 Ky 7 Dec. 1824
Polly Roberts

Note: The above table has been arranged giving the names and data on the probable children of Samuel and Mary Berry. No record of their marriage has been found in Virginia. Family gossip says their marriage occurred in Ireland. Three girls were married by 1814 when Samuel died, but he did not name them. Mary and Elizabeth were two of the married girls but I have my doubt about Isabel belonging to him. The three

(1) pre 1770. (2) c abbreviation for circa - about.

unmarried were definitely known to have been Margaret, Rebeccah and Jane. The date of marriage is from the official records. The dates of birth are calculated from age at death on tombstones and other evidences such as Bibles, U.S. Census and official records.

A CONNECTING LINK - - A RARE FIND

Saunderville, Indiana, Dec. 30, 1863.

Dear Cousin,

I received a letter some time ago from your son to which I have not responded. I was truly sorry to hear of the deaths that have caused you so much sorrow and which bereavements are felt for many years to come. Those places can never be filled. But we sorrow not as those that have no hope. How glorious to look beyond this present world of sorrow and disappointments to a glorious reunion with those who have gone before and when the tears of sorrow are all wiped from the eyes and where weeping and sighing are sounds unknown. I have just returned home after spending a week with Pa and sister Drusilla. When I left them, I thought of visiting Uncle James as I had heard from time to time of Aunt's poor health. But when I got to Father's I heard that Aunt had been dead about one month, and although where I live is only 14 miles from A., I had not heard that Aunt had gone. Uncle came to my Father's house on Christmas Day on his way home from Illinois He had been on a visit to Alfred who was not at home. He slept only one day there, although Alfred was expected home the next day.

Poor Uncle's accumulated sorrows have worn heavily upon him. His hearing is very imperfect and his sight gone from one eye and very dim in the other; it is hard to converse with him. He desired me to write to you and tell you of Aunt's death. He said that her's was a happy death and he very much wanted to go with her. He says he cannot see to write nor scarcely see print.

Garret is discharged from the army on account of disability to march; his feet gave out. He was in the 60th, Ind. This Regiment was at Indianapolis guarding the Donelson Prisoners. Buckner's men, after these men were exchanged and the 60th were taken prisoners at Murfesburough, were taken by the same men they had guarded at Indianapolis, and they were well treated by them. Many of them grasped them by the hands as if they were brothers. The kind treatment that they received at the hands of our men seemed to have softened their hearts. I have a letter from John from St. Louis, he is well. Still there. The regiment is not quite full. They expect to go south very soon. Nicholas Nesbit was shot as a rebel in Mo. It seems that when the call was made for all to enrol themselves Nicholas would not do it, but went off with Porter's Band of Rebels and afterward disbanded and kept concealed in the neighborhood where some Federal Scouts found and shot him; his property was confiscated. He was a son of Uncle Samuel N.

Sister Sarah is at Louisville, Ky. She is there with her husband. He is disabled. She went by the Albany and Salem R.R. There was on the dar(?) a man by the name of Night, took care of her as far as Salem. He says that he knew some of the Martins. If her husband comes home with her they may stop at Livonia. I am expecting a letter every mail. I have not heard from them for near two weeks. When I was at Greencastle, I thought about coming to Livonia but found I could not get there by rail and gave it out. I have been bust since then that I did not make the effort. My little ones are at home and are at school now. May, the eldest was in Evansville until the smallpox broke out. We have a good school nearby this winter. I hope you will answer soon.

I remain yours

N.R. Ingle

An Explanation of the Nancy Ingle Letter

The letter was one of the richest finds I have made. It was discovered my Mrs. Fanny Webb and I was able to procure a photostat copy made by her daughter Mrs. Noyes, then in the Law Library at the University of Michigan. The letter was in possession of the Palmer sisters at Franklin, Indiana and had been collected by a relative. They belong to the William Martin family. It was written by Nancy Lewis Ingle.

'Pa' is Aaron Lewis, husband of Rebeccah Nisbet.

'Uncle James' refers to James Nisbet of Cynthiana, Indiana, a son of Samuel and Mary Berry. Grandfather Samuel Nisbet's brother.

"Alfred Berry Nisbet", a son of James Nisbet, grandfather of Mabel and Elizabeth McLaughlin of Henderson, Ky., the historians for the James Nisbet and allied families in that section.

"Garret Nisbet", son of James Nisbet.

"Nicholas Nesbit", son of Samuel Nisbet, was my Uncle, my father's brother, also father of Mollie Nisbet Scott.

"Sister Sarah", was Mrs. Sarah Reel, who died this year, aged 101. Her husband, Henry Reel.

"The Martins" at Livonia refer to Mary Nisbet Martin. John was her brother, John Lewis.

"Uncle S." Refers to Samuel Nisbet of Stoutsville, Missouri, my grandfather.

"Uncle Robert" is Robert Nesbit who lived in Missouri in an adjoining county to his brother Samuel.

The Nisbet kin in Kentucky refer to "Uncle William", the youngest child of Samuel and Mary Berry who inherited the plantation. Henry was his son.

Thus the Nisbet and the Lewis families of Posey County, Indiana, Robert and Samuel of Missouri, the Martins of Livonia, Indiana and William Nisbet of Cynthiana Kentucky, are tied together whether they like it or not.

The folks who kept and treasured old letters were wiser and smarter than most of us who destroy them to get them out of the way and, my compliments to several of them whose prized possessions have been most valuable to me. To their relations who I bow my thanks also.

SAMUEL NISBET - NANCY THOMAS

G. Samuel Nisbet, born in Hockbridge County, Virginia, March 1, 1781, came to Kentucky with his father's family sometime prior to 1794.

Samuel Nisbet Jr., is on the Tax Roll of 1813 with a notation "In Capt. Gray's Co.". The War Department's Records at Washington, D.C. show "Samuel Nesbitt, Private, Capt. W.R. McGrey's Co. 5th Ky., Mounted, Vol. MII. Col. Renick's Reg. Aug. 12 to Nov. 15, 1813, 2 months. 22 days. Was at Limestone, Kentucky Nov. 13, 1813". He purchased land adjoining his father's and was willed 20 acres by his father.

Samuel Nesbit and Nancy Thomas, born 1792 in Kentucky, daughter of John Thomas, were married June 1, 1813, by John Conner, Minister Gospel. His name appears on the Tax Rolls until he left Kentucky for Missouri in 1825.

Samuel Nesbitt and Nancy ([x] her mark) Nesbitt signed a deed for 77 acres of land in Harrison County, Kentucky, September 17, 1825 to Daniel Tebbs for $924.00. Deed Book 9, page 407 of that County.

The next record of him is found in a History of Monroe County, Missouri, found in Paris, Missouri Library. It contains a sketch of John T. Nesbit, a son of Samuel. It says that the family came from Kentucky in 1824, first locating in Callaway County, Missouri. I found Mitchell's Travel Guide, published about that time, in the State Historical Library at St. Louis that, showed Fulton, Missouri to be the end of the trail. Good reason they had for stopping there.

Calloway County Records shows nothing that indicates land ownership in that county. The Deed Records of Boone County show a deed for 160 acres bought from Joseph Brown and wife, by Samuel Nesbit, March 27, 1827. This land was deeded by Samuel and Nancy Nesbit to John Prowitt for $460.00 and dated March 1, 1830. The Monroe History further recites that Samuel hewed the logs that went into the first house built in Florida, Missouri. This town has become famous as being the birthplace of Mark Twain. A State Park adjoins the town, and a fine State Highway goes to it. Florida, Missouri is located in Monroe County.

Samuel Nesbit purchased from Robert Greening and his wife, Elizabeth, 160 acres of land, a few miles north- west of Florida, on July 20, 1831 for $125.00, recorded in Deed Record A. This land he held until October 23, 1852, when Samuel and Nancy transferred it by deed to Nicholas T. Nesbit, a son.

Samuel and his wife lived on the place until after the death of Nicholas, which occurred in 1862. They then made their home with Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Painter. Mrs. Painter was their daughter, America Nesbit.

Samuel died September 1, 1866, aged 85 years, 6 months. Nancy died August 13, 1869, aged 76 years, 6 months. They were buried on a plot under some trees not far from the old house, where a family burying place had been established. Some of the stones were down. There was no fence enclosing it in 1930 when Alice, Allegra, Ella Vincent and I found it. Since then, Otis Emery Cartwell and I caused to be erected a substantial stone wall around it.

Virginia Kennett told me that the old people were Old Baptists. I have been able to find record of nine children born to them. I have not located the Family Bible.

CHILDREN OF SAMUEL AND NANCY NISBET

G1 John Thomas, born 1814, married Lucretia Lyons.
G2 Hiram, born 1816.
G3 Elizabeth Jane, born October 12, 1817.
G4 William Tolliver, born September 21, 1819 ?
G5 James, born October, 1819 - 1821 (?)
G6 Samuel Franklin, born June 9, 1823
G7 Melvina, born August 23, 1829
G8 America, born March 18, 1832
G9 Nicholas, born 1835.
G1 John Thomas Nesbit, b. 2 Dec, 1814, in Harrison Co., d. 20 Sept.. 1893, m.
Lucretia Young (?) 7 Dec. 1827, at Paris Mo. When a boy, John was in
Boone Co., Calloway Co., Monroe Co., and lived at Florida, Mo. He is bur.
in old cemetery in Paris, Mo. Children:
G 1-i Mary Jane, b. 6 Sept., 1838, in Paris, Mo.
d. 12 Mar,. 1863, m. C.W. Rubey, bur. Bellfountain Cemetery. One son.
(a) Thomas Lewis Ruby, reared by John Y. Nisbet family, b. 27
Sept., 1862, d. 2 Nov., 1928. U.S. Congress for several
years. Left widow and children. bur. Lebanon, Mo.
G 1-ii Richard Franklin, b. 1 Jan., 1840, d. 5 Nov. 1840.
G 1-iii Ann Eliza, b. 23 Mch. 1841, d. 8 Sept. 1842.
G 1-iv Casse Emily, b. 1842, d. 20 Mch. 1842
G 1-v Hiram Berry, b. 21 Apr. 1844, d. 22 Feb. 1845.
G 1-vi John Young, b. 1846, d. 19 Dec. 1913, bur. Paris, Mo. m. Mary
Bealmer at Paris, Mo. d. 1929 Dallas, Texas, Children:
(a) Samuel
(b) Edward L. m. Kitty Wilmore, Paris, Mo.
(c) Clarence Ruby
(G 1 vii Martha and boy, b. 3 Dec. 1847, boy dead at birth,
(G.1 viii Martha d. 22 Jan. 1874
G.1 ix Nancy Kerilla, b. 2 Aug. 1849, d. 6 Sept. 1851.
G 1 x William Arthur, b. 19 Jan. 1851, Eureka Springs, Ark.
(G 1 xi Wesley and Washington, b. 14 Jul. 1853, d. ?
(C 1 xii
G 1 xiii Annie N, b. 2 Aug. 1856, d. 3 Mch. 1927, bur. Cypress View Mausoleum,
San Diego, Cal. m. Harvey Mathews, 2nd m. two children, 1 dau. d.
young, Lewis Rubey, and one dau. lives in Encinitas, Cal.
(G 1 xiv Alonzo and Alfonso, b. 1853, both died.
(G 1 xv Aug. 1858
G.2 Hiram B Nisbet, b. 1816, Ky., d. 6 Sept., 1864, m. Malinda Manning, 12 Dec. 1844. She was b. 1828. Farmer, lived near Chilicothe, Mo, where he died. This
family suffered from tuberculosis and few survived.. Have been able to locate
only two grand-daughters living at present: Mrs. Linna Hardy of Kansas City, Mo.,
and her sister, Mrs Alice Rosenfield of New York City. Mrs. Hardy has supplied
the following data:
G 2 i Bennett, b. 1845, d. 28 Dec. 1872, m. Martha Skinn, one son, Fred.
G 2 ii Nancy L. b. 22 Apr. 1848 d. 20 Aug. 1877, m. 7 May 1868, James
Harvey Mathews b. 20 Jan. 1836, Trumbull Do., Ohio. First m. Nancy L
Nisbet, 2nd wife a cousin to first wife, Annie Nisbet, dau. John T. Nisbert.
His father b. in Ireland. Mother Catherine Draper, b. West Va. He was a
prosperous farmer and hardware merchant at Chilicothe, Mo. Two
children b. by Annie, a dau. who died young and Lewis Ruby. Four
children born to Nancy L. as follows:
(a) Charles N. b. 26 Mch. 1869, d. 6 Apr. 1927,
m. Hattie Montgomery, dau. John
Montgomery, one dau. dead. No issue
(b) Linna May, b. 17 Oct. 1870, Chilicothe,
Mo., m. Addison Hardy, b. 30 Mch. 1890
near Anderson, Ind. d. 19 Jul. 1914 in K.C.
Mo. R.R.man, son of Madison and Sarah
Hifer Hardy. Linna May now lives in K.C.,
Mo. Four children:
(1) Alice Lorette, b. 25 Jun. 1892, m. W.G.
Cornwell, Nov. 1926. Two children:
William A. and Jack, Oswego, Mo.
(2) Linna May, b. 7 Jul. 1884, m. 30
Dec. 1922, J.W. Boysen, b. K.C1.
Kan., son Peter and Mary (Wholk)
father b. Denmark. Two sons Robert
Hardy and Donald Gordon, 6106
Chartott (sic) Ave., K.C. Mo.
(3) James Addison, b. 5 Jul. 1898, m.
Lena Scott Kiw(v)ett. One child, Richard.
(4) Charles G., b. 2 Oct. 1906. Single.
(c) Edith and Eddie (twins) b. Aug, 1872, d.
(d) Alice L. b. 7 May, 1874, m. Jan. 1,1898, husb.
Fred Stribling, St. Joseph, Mo., 2nd
husband Nov. 1926, George B. Rosenfield,
b. Russia, no children. Resides 885 W. End
Ave., New York City.
G 2 iii Samuel A., b. 2 Oct. 1850, d. 25 Mar. 1872.
G 2 iv Henry T. b. 12 Jan. 1853, d. 1 Sept. 1877.
G 2 v Alice M. b. 17 Feb. 1855.
G 2 vi John William, b. 17 Sept. 1857.
G 2 vii Hiram L. b. 23 Mar. 1859, d. 1883 Pueblo, Colo.
G 2 viii Mary Ann, b. 23 Jul. 1861, d. 19 Mar. 1865..
G 3 Alvin H. Cartwell, b. 3 July 1811, d. 1865, m. 8 Jan. 1844, Elizabeth Jane Nesbit,
12 Oct. 1817, d. 22 Jan. 1897, lived near Stoutsville, Mo., Children:
G 3 i James Harvey, b. 22 Dec. 1845, d. 18 Oct. 1880
m----------, descendants live in Oakla., bur. Old Nisbet Farm, Stoutsville.
G 3 ii Sarah Malvina, b. 16 Jan. 1847, d. 1874
G 3 iii Mary Nancy, b. 11 July 1850, d. Aug. 1920.
G 3 iv Margaret Ann, b. 4 Jun. 1853, d. Apr. 1911.
G 3 v Permelia Jane, b. 12 Jul. 1858, d. an infant.
G 3 vi Nicholas Thomas Cartwell, b. 2 Dec. 1855, d. 18 Aug. 1933, m. 13 Mar.
1881, Lucinda Elizabeth Young, b. 30 Dec. 1854, d. 30 Aug. 1937.
8 children:
(a) Mildred Gertrude, b. 16 Dec. 1881, m. 9 Sept. 1903, James M.
Abell, b. 2 Apr. 1880. Children:
(1) K.C. K.C. is the probable abbreviation for Kansas City.
(1) Mabel Viola, b. 14 July 1904 d. 28 Jul. 1905
(2) Ola Eugene, b. 27 May 1908, m. 19 Jul. 1921
Harold Raymond Cook. Children:
Harold Raymond Cook Jr., b. 15 Jun. 1922.
(3) Alfred Lee, b. 29 Sept. 1910, d. 14 May 1923.
(4) Bessie Blanche, b. 6 May 1912, m. 20 Feb. 1930,
Herman Whelan. Children:
William Francis, b. 3, Mar. 1931
(5) Alma Gertrude, b. 13 Oct. 1914.
(6) Madison B., b. Sept. 1916.
(7) Thomas Harold, b. 20 Dec. 1918.
(8) James Donald, b. 13 Feb. 1921.
(b) Ola Delbert b. 19 Feb. 1883, d. 24 Jun. 1933, m. 16 May
1918 Orpha Garrett.
(c) William Henry, b. 22 Feb. 1885, m. 3 Dec. 1913, Lydia
Ann Griffiths, b. 1895. Children:
(1) Winifred Eviva, b. 8 Sept. 1914.
(2) William Henry, b. 22 Sept. 1916.
(3) Betty, b. 20 Jun. 1924.
(d) Mary Elizabeth, b. 12 Sept. 1886, m. 24 Oct. 1908, Cecil
Monroe Turnbough, b. 28 Jun. 1883. Children:
(1) Dorothy Deane, b. 15 Sept. 1909.
(2) Mildred Elizabeth, b. 5 Nov. 1911.
(3) Hazel Lee, b. 16 Aug. 1914.
(4) Thomas Alonzo, b. 3 Nov. 1915, d. 31 Mar. 1936.
(5) Cecil Ray (?)
(6) John Roy, b. 29 Sept. 1919.
(7) Lois Mae, b. 7 May 1923.
(8) Donella Fern, b. 7 Dec. 1926.
(e) Amy Lee, b. 26 Nov. 1888, m. 20 July 1909, Aaron W.
Donaldson, b. 21 Sept. 1886. Children:
(1) James Weldon, b. 28 Aug. 1912, m. 17 Feb. 1931
Doris Lorene Nichols, b. 7 June 1912.
(2) Otis Ruth, b. 19 Mar. 1916.
(3) Anna Louisa, b. 4 Feb. 1918.
(4) Frances Earline, b. 23 Sept. 1919.
(5) R.J., b. 22 Mar. 1922.
(6) Thomas Lee, b. 27 Aug. 1924.
(7) Aaron, b. 20 Feb. 1926.
(f) Emery Otis, b. 20 Feb. 1893. Single.
(g) John Clarence, b. 18 Aug. 1895, m. 15 Jun. 1922, Jesse
Humberg, b. 1 Jun. 1896
G 4 William Toliver, b. 21 Sept. 1819, d. ? 1st m. Margaret Heard, 20 Dec. 1849, 2nd
m. Mary Vowell, 4 Sept. 1856 (?). Children:
G 4 i Laura, m ............Speed, one dau. Mary.
G 4 ii Charles W., Res. K.C., Mo. (He will not answer letters).
G 5 James Nisbet, b. Oct. 1819 (?), d. 18 Sept. 1844, never married, bur. on old farm, aged 25 years. Date of death, and age from gravestone.
G 6 Samuel Franklin, b. 9 Jun. 1823, Ky., d. Dec. 1895, bur. Washington, Kan. m 6
Dec. 1846, Mary Templar, b. 1 Jan. 1830, Ohio, d. 30 Aug. 1916, California, bur.
Sunset Cemetery, Richmond California. Children:
G 6 i Mary Melvina, b. 25 Dec. 1847, Mo., d. 11 Sept. 1928, bur. Rich,
Cal., m. Benjamin McCray, bur. Sunset Cemetery, Richmond, Cal.
Children:
(a) Arthur Lee
(b) Frank A.
(c) Ruth
(d) Mary Elsie
(e) Isabelle
(f) Augusta
(g) Charles
(h) Jay B.
(i) Ethel
(j) Oscar, died young.
G 6 ii James W., b. 11 Feb. 1849, d. Missouri.
G 6 iii Rachel Frances, b. 17 May 1851, Mo., d. 21 Nov. 1925, Kan., m.
11 Mar. 1869, Kan., John Young, b. 23 Nov. 1845, Glasgow, Scot-
land, son of John and Josie (Conn) Young, d. 9 Apr. 1930, both
bur. Highland, Kans. Children:
(a) Zula
(b) Jessie
(c) Leon Decatur
(d) Rosetta
(e) John
(f) Franklin
(g) Grace Pearl
(h) Lavinia
(i) Lewis Irvin
(j) Lester Simeon
(k) George
G 6 iv Nancy Elizabeth (Nannie), b. 17 Feb. 1853, Mo., never married.
Lives San Gabriel, California. 1940.
G 6 v John
G 6 vi Millie Downing
G 6 vii Samuel A., b. 5 Apr. 1860, Kans. m. 17 Oct. 1894, Nellie Painter,
b. 14 Jun. 1868. Children:
(a) Paul Templar
(b) Mark Clements
(c) Mary Carolyn
G 6 viii Edward Templar, b. 19 Oct. Kans., m. Effie Alice Miller, Mo., b.
25 Nov. 1863, Blandsville, Ill. Children:
(a) Mildred Alice
(b) Reed Miller
G 6 ix Otis Burgess, b. 31 Jan. 1871, m. Alice A. Vincent 22 Jun. 1897,
Valparaiso, Indiana. Children:
(a) Allegra Mary
(b) Beatrice Templar

Samuel was the sixth child born to Samuel and Nancy Nisbet. He was born June 9, 1823 in Harrison County, Kentucky and was a baby when his father moved his family to Missouri in 1825.

During the summer of 1895 I was at home with my parents and sister, Nannie. One day I got a pen, ink and paper and asked my father to write a history of his life.

He wrote:

"Samuel Franklin Nisbet was born on the 9th of June, 1823 in Harrison County, Kentucky. My father moved to the state of Missouri in 1825. I was the youngest child when he moved. He settled first in Callaway County, Mo., then moved to Boone County. The first thing in my recollection of events and things that transpired was playing in the barnyard with other children running from an old sheep that butt the children. We all ran up in a wagon box out of his reach. One end of the box was on the fence and the other on the ground. The next event was my father took us children one night to the neighbor, the next day when we returned home they showed us a new brother. My oldest sister cried because it was not a sister. The next event that fixed itself on my mind, I had disobeyed my mother. She was endeavouring to correct me in a way that I would remember but I ran out of the kitchen around the house into the family room and sat down with the other children. I did not escape punishment for the first nor the second offence. We had a cousin by the name of Wood who lived in Columbia, Mo., who visited us, and a merchant by the name of Sanders from the same place was with him. After having a good visit Mr. Sanders made me a present of a pen knife, Mr. Wood 50 cents, and like most children I prized it very high and remembered the knife and the social time with many reminiscences and lived those pleasant days over many times. My father sold his farm in Boone Co., and bought land in Monroe Co., Missouri".

This was all he got to write of the history.

He grew to young manhood and lived at the old Monroe Co. home which was a short distance south of Stoutsville, Mo. He attended singing school. Was a good singer. Went out to Andrew County, Mo., and taught singing school. I will let Nancy Elizabeth tell about it.

"Mother told us a little love story. She was a young bashful girl. When father proposed to her she got the Bible and showed him Ruth 1, 16 and 17. Father had come to Fillmore, gotten up a singing class and was boarding at grandfather Templar's. Mother said the girls were all trying to capture the handsome young singing teacher. None of them had thought of the young girl, Mary Templar, being a rival. Mother always seemed proud that she carried off the prize. Father said he fell in love with her on account of her devotion to her parents and her home".

Mildred Nesbit sent me the following in 1932:

Savannah, Andrew Co., Mo., Marriage Record. Book A, Mo. 349 p68.

"I do hereby certify that on the 6th day of November, 1846, I married Samuel Nesbit to Mary Templer, both of Jackson Township in Andrew County, Missouri. Calvin Rohrer, J.P. of Jackson Township. Filed 4th of Feb., 1847. Recorded 9th of March, 1847. Edwin Toole Recorder, by T.S. Roberts Deputy Recorder".

MARY was the only child of James Templar and Mrs. Mary Auld Templar. She was born Jan. 18, 1831 in Knox County, Ohio. She attended school in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Her parents were married there as shown by the records of that County on March 12 (1830) by Thomas Dixon, JP. They were married as James Templer and Mrs. Mary Auld. I have been unable to find her maiden name. In 1830, at the time of her marriage, she was the mother of three children: John, Millie and Rachel. Millie Ann was born ----, 1813, died February 21, 1896 at Fillmore, Missouri, married Joe Vance Berry, May 13, 1834 at Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Name given was (Millie) Ann Permelia. He was a native of Knox Co. Nine children were born to them. Nineteen grandchildren. She was a Methodist for 60 years. Came to Missouri in 1839.

John Auld was listed as 21 years old in the U.S. Census of 1850. Could not read or write. Born in Ohio, 1829, married Catherine (Sarah) Cole. Two daughters: Dora, born (?), married Al Martin at Samuel F. Nisbet's home, Leona, Kansas, and by him, about 1880. Sarah, the other daughter, went to the State of Washington. (I have tried to get Earl Stigers to send me the data regarding the Aunt Rachel Auld Mauritious family but get no response from him).

The Knox County, Ohio Records show that James Templar became a landowner in 1827 and continued on until 1834. The Andrew County, Missouri records show that he acquired lands in that County after going there. He with his wife, Dr. and Mrs. Samuel F. Nisbet and John Auld and his family went to Doniphan County, Kansas in 1857. Dr. Nesbit had gone to Brown County, Kansas in 1856. Mrs. Mary Auld Templar died in November 1857. The Templars and Nesbits lived together. James Templar died in 1859. He was buried in a graveyard established on the old homestead as his wife had been. Later they were disinterred and buried in the cemetery at North Leona, Kansas and a lot taken out by a cemetery official for his own family.

Samuel F. Nisbet had attended Medical School in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1846-47. He practiced in Missouri and Kansas. He was ordained as a Minister in the Christian Church and had extensive business interests. He went to Iowa Point on the Missouri River and built a sawmill and home which burned down with the family records. He was a Charter Member of the Smithton, Lodge A.F. and A.M. No. 1 at Highland, Kansas, also a Charter Member of the Troy Chapter, No. 16, Royal Arch Masons, instituted July 28, 1869. He and Thomas Vanderslice kept the lodge alive during the Civil War. For this and other valued services they were made honorary members later when the lodge was well recruited.

A class admission card issued to him is in the possession of O.B. Nesbit, and reads as follows: "Botanico Medical College of Ohio Lectured on Materia Medica and Pharmacy by John Kost, M.D., for Samuel F. Nisbet, No. 1 Session of 1848-9.

When he began practicing in Andrew County, Missouri, he allowed fever patients to drink water and used baths to combat the fever. He opposed bleeding for all ailments as practiced by some physicians in his day. Then, his colleagues depended on calomel, quinine, bleeding and withheld water. When he began practicing allowing patients water, using baths to combat fevers, and using 'herbs', he at once was denounced and consultations were denied by some.

From Iowa Point he went to Severance, Kansas, and engaged in general mercantile business, traded in stock, grain and was an all around useful citizen. While here, he was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives of the Kansas Legislature in 1870. He offered the prayer at the opening of the Session of the House in its new chamber of the New State Capitol Building being occupied for the first time.

The panic of post Civil War days wrecked him financially, but his pioneer spirits survived. He acquired a farm adjoining a new town, Leona, a few miles west of Severance, on the recently constructed St. Joseph and Grand Island Railroad; subdivided part of the land, sold lots, erected a house, set out an orchard and began farming and stock raising, besides preaching when called upon. He was elected Justice of the Peace and acted as councillor to those in trouble. He circulated a remonstrance against licensing a saloon and took it before the County Commissioners, ousting the last saloon in the town.

His advice to the mother of the Barlow boys, young Jessie James imitators, did not end their career in crime, but he tried to show them the right path.

When in comfortable circumstances, he became ambitious that his sons might have greater opportunities. He sold out and went to Washington County, Kansas, purchased more land and engaged in farming and stock- raising on a larger scale. He had difficulty in interesting his sons in farming, Samuel having started his college work before coming west, at Oregon Missouri Normal School and Highland University, and Edward had attended the Morrill Normal, run by J.H. Reed. Nanny (Nanny Elizabeth) was a successful teacher. She had saved enough money to purchase 160 acres of Washington County Land.

The depression of 1893, crop failures, grasshoppers, hot winds, black leg in the cattle of the neighborhood, refusal of his sons to be farmers, all together were causes that submerged him financially again. He had time now, to take an interest in the Farmers' Alliance and was one of its advocates and workers. Banks were charging one to two percent per month on loans to stock retailers on 60 day notes. They elected friendly constables without due process of law in many instances. The Populist Party became the political mouth-piece of the Farmers' Alliance. U.S. Senator John Ingalls had declared that the Decalogue and Golden Rule had no place in politics. There was much corruption in the State. The nomination for Congress was urged upon Samuel and his admirers, but such talk he discouraged. He was nominated for Probate Judge in 1890 without being a candidate, was elected and re-elected in 1892. The campaign for re-election was too severe and his health suffered. He lived to fill out his term but died the following December 1895 on the farm. He had lived in Washington, Kansas, during the four years he was a probate judge. He was buried in the Washington, Kansas Cemetery.

One of the following accounts of his death shows the feelings of the community in which he lived and died. The other, how his family felt as it was written by his eldest son.

TWO TRIBUTES

The following was written by G.E. (Deacon) Hathway in "The Watchman", Washington, Kansas, February 7, 1895, Otis Nesbit, Editor.

When the three score span of life had been passed, and three years added to it, Judge S. F. Nisbet laid down the burden of life and passed beyond the veil. A pioneer of Kansas, he helped to make our great State an honor to the nation and a blessing to humanity. In his early manhood he was an Evangelist to the oppressed and fought for their freedom; in his middle age he was the friend and adviser of the freed; in his declining days he was a student and adviser of the younger generation who had inherited his fiery honesty and fixity of purpose. He was a lovable man: he always saw the best side of his enemies, and to his friends he was a bulwark and a strength. His hand was always extended to the oppressed and down-trodden. He was a manly man, loyal to his family, a staunch friend of his children; a man who gloried in manhood, womanhood and the highest attributes of humanity. His memory is dear to hosts of men and women in Northern Kansas. He was a devout, honest Christian. He was a preacher, doctor and lawyer. He was an honest man.

The Watchman cannot pass its first issue without this tribute to the first Populist Probate Judge of this County, and it feels grateful that the things it says today were said of Judge Nisbet by each and every paper of Washington County before The Watchman was born.

Resquiescat in pace. (sic)

FATHER

(Written by S.A. Nesbit, Pastor Christian Church,

in his Church paper, December 26, 1895)

A message to us brought the sad intelligence that father died 1:40 Monday morning. While we were appraised he could not linger but a few says - yet we could not realize it till this.

Ever it is so with life, the clouds and sunshine - the wormwood and the sweets are commingles (sic) - as we are ushered into the week of rejoicing - the sadness comes.

Little did we think as we bade him goodbye we would never be permitted to see him again on earth. Yet how comforting, we shall ever be with the Lord.

Dear father was so kind and affectionate. In fact he had so many sterling characteristics worthy of our emulation. Though not blessed with the opportunity of an early education - he was a hardworking student - taking a thorough medical course; he was a successful physician for years. After leaving his profession he devoted his study hours to the Bible and was well posted in sacred lore and things in general. While he never followed the ministry as a profession, he has the greater part of his life preached the un-searchable riches of Christ Jesus.

He served one term in the Legislature of Kansas and two terms as Probate Judge of Washington County, Kansas.

He has always been on the side of the needy and oppressed, ever ready to sympathize and help. He was generous to a fault.

This is the first time the family circle has been broken in many years.

Mother, three sisters and three boys of us survive our loving father.

By this our lives are closer drawn to our Heavenly Father and our Heavenly home. We now have an additional incentive to head us Godward - to the city whose builder and maker is God - where there are no deaths, no sorrows, no snapping of tender ties.

MEMORIAL

There are some lives the good influences of which never cease, and those who lived them deserve more than a passing notice as they go to rejoin the heavenly throng.

HONORABLE SAMUEL F. NISBET who recently went from his home in Morrowville, Kansas, to a house not made with hands, was one of that class of man.

There are few persons in this age of selfishness, whose lives so perfectly conform to the great law of love, laid down by our Saviour, as did that of our deceased brother.

In the home, in the Church, everywhere, he was the same cheerful, faithful forbearing, faithful man.

Though for many years Brother Nisbet preached every Lord's Day in a private house, in a schoolhouse or in the open air on the prairies of Kansas, and was the means of winning many souls for Christ, yet he never devoted all his time to the Ministry, having always been engaged in secular pursuits.

He was one of the "Sweet Singers" of Israel and many of the most touching appeals he made to saints and sinners were by the solos he sang.

More than the ordinary amount of sorrow and financial trials fell to his lot, but like the true Christian he was, he bravely bore up under them all and though for some time intimately connected with him I never heard a word of complaint fall from his lips.

Among the many deeds of kindness which Brother Nisbet was constantly bestowing upon those with whom he came in contact, was one which resulted in saving the life of a writer making him a Christian and also a preacher of the gospel.

In 1864, I was a sick soldier, apparently dying in a very poorly kept government hospital. I was almost an entire stranger to him. Brother Nisbet took me to his home, where he and his excellent wife nursed me to health with as much tender care as if I had been their son. It was while a sick boy at his home that I heard the simple gospel as preached by our people and which for twenty-five years, it has been my delight to tell to others.

Brother Nisbet was in his 74th year and left behind him his faithful wife, six children and a large number of grandchildren.

Two of his sons are among the most successful preachers on the Pacific Coast; Samuel A., Pastor of a Church in Eureka, California and Edward T., Pastor of the First Church of Portland, Oregon.

For several years before his death he was judge of the Probate Court at Washington Kansas.

How wonderfully a good man's life multiplies itself. I feel that every sermon I preach and every convert the result of my ministry, it is indirectly caused by this Noble Man of God.

William A. Gardner

"SMITHTON NO. 1 A.F. & A.M.

HIGHLAND, Kan., JULY 9, 1877

Past Master S.F. Nisbet,

Sir and Brother,

It affords me the greatest pleasure to give you official information that the Lodge at its regular communication voted to remit your dues and place your name on the roll of Honorary members. This they did as a token of their regard and a proper recognition of the services you have so long given, freely and heartily, for the promotion of the welfare of our Lodge.

Hoping we may have the pleasure of seeing you at our stated communications as often as it may be practicable.

I am Sincerely and Fraternally

Yours

M.F. Hills, Sec.".

** ** ** ** **

"Des Moins, Ia. Mch 13, 1886.

Church of Christ at Pardee, Atchison Co., Kansas did in the year 1862 at Convention of Churches of Christ held at Pardee by fasting and prayer and laying on of hands of the Elders and of the Evangelists duly set apart and ordain to the work of the ministry our beloved brother S.F. Nisbet the bearer of this testimonial.

N. Dunshee, then Elder of Church of Christ at Pardee".

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS WRITTEN BY NANNIE (NANCY ELIZABETH)

NESBIT TO HER BROTHER, OTIS B. NESBIT.

Richmond, Calif., 1930.

I have heard mother talk about Aunt Polly Bennett but I do not remember who she was.

Grandma Mary Templer died the day after sister Millie was born. I remember how Grandma looked, the pretty caps she wore, the handkerchief folded about her shoulders and her silk apron. She was very neat about her work. She gave me 50 cents to buy my first doll.

I remember more about how grandpa looked, dressed, and his quiet manner. He had a wonderful face, looked like pictures of Henry Ward Beecher. We children loved him dearly. He was so kind and gentle and took interest in our plays. You know he bought the spotted roan Indian pony, Dick, for mother and us girls. He paid fifty dollars in gold for him in St. Joseph, Missouri.

When grandpa was getting ready to come to Missouri, he bought a pacing horse for grandma, a new side- saddle, also a fine saddle for himself. His saddle was his traveller's bank, into it he put the pin pail filled with twenty gold pieces, wrapped the saddle skirts around it and placed it in their largest box, nailed the lid securely with spikes. For several days three other movers wagons travelled with them and all camped together. The fourth night out, every box in grandpa's wagon was opened except the big safety box, and in the morning the three wagons were not to be seen. When they came to Missouri the tin pail continued to serve as their safe deposit. They buried it under the inside steps leading to the cellar. We had mother tell us this story many times. Another story we liked to have her tell us was about Rubedeaux and his wives burial poles in St. Joe which were pointed out to them when they came through. Mother started to school in Vernon before the family came to Missouri.

There are many pleasant remembrances of father and mother and our childhood home on the old farm. The change began when we went to Iowa Point. We were so near Highland. Father always took us there to lectures, holiday entertainments and social functions. Our associates were largely the Highland people. Mollie (Mary) attended the university a part of each year for several years. Boarded with the president's family and others of the best families. The young people came out weekends and vacation.

I have always regretted that father's boys had not known him in his better days before he was so entangled with finances. He was such a lovable, active, useful man with such high ideals and so self-sacrificing for his family.

Had father remained on the farm, things might have been so different. We had a two and a half storey house all furnished and finished as J.P. Johnson, father's old Highland banker friend said, good enough for the President of the United States. Father had taken 160 acres of land for himself in Doniphan County, Kansas, 160 acres for grandpa Templar and 160 acres for Uncle John Auld. He built Uncle John Auld a house and tried to help him in every way, but finally had to take it over to save it. Aunt Catherine Auld was an industrious woman. Uncle John would not work, he was always going to leave Aunt. He would saddle up his best horse, tell us all goodbye and ride away toward Missouri. I would stay with Aunt Catherine nights for company. When he got over his dumps he would ride in, just as if nothing had happened; but to do the same thing over and over again, until finally she went back to her people; John Cole in Missouri.

Aunt Catherine got her industrious education from her father. As soon as a meal was over she would have all the chairs taken out of the dining room with the announcement, "None of your long sets". Everybody had to get into action. You will remember how Jacob Streib had to follow all day long in the furrow behind the plow to keep him from getting lazy. Well, it seemed to work all right. (Jake has been living a retired life in a big home for many years).

ENROUTE HOME FROM A VISIT TO O.B. NESBIT IN INDIANA

I visited cousin Laura Speed in Kansas City, Missouri. She is Uncle William Nesbit's daughter. She knows but little of family history. She says great grandfather Nisbet came from Ireland to America. His sweetheart was very young. Her parents objected to their coming but finally consented to the marriage and came over with the young folks; that great grandfather Nisbet had his chin cut out with a sabre. He put the piece back and bound it with a bandana handkerchief and lay down by a log and slept until morning; then found his way to a neighboring farmer where he remained until able to join his army. He settled in Kentucky. She says there was no consumption, cancer, feeble-minded nor dishonesty as far as she knows. All honest, upright, industrious, thrifty religious people.

Cousin Laura lived at 3703 Prospect Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri. She is a widow and has one son. She and her brother, Charles, are Uncle William's children by his second wife. Uncle William courted Laura's mother first, but she was so young; he married an older girl, cousin Margaret Delaney's mother (Santa Rosa, California) After her death, he married his first sweetheart. Charles lived in Kansas City. Travels for a Chicago Jewellery Company. He has no children.

On my way to Witchita, Kansas, we saw some of the results of the Sedwich - Kansas tornado. Not a stone standing in the cemetery, barns overturned, buildings damaged, trees frightfully twisted, up-rooted and scattered.

I telephoned to Dr. Charles Bowers at Witchita, while waiting at the depot, about fourteen of the injured in the cyclone had been brought into the hospital and could not leave the operating room.

I have been registering voters for 21 years. I registered a man today who was registered with me all that time. Many go out of their way to get to me.

Our little sister, Millie, was such a beautiful sweet child. Lovely black eyes, so patient in her suffering. James Holland, who lived with us said once; he knew he had carried her as far as New York and back. He loved her so dearly. After his days work he would carry her, walking the floor with her head on his shoulder. He worked for us for five years. So did Helen his wife.

I called cousin Melissa Dodge up when I was in Los Angeles. Cousin James Berry lives there. He was about mother's age. Is quite feeble.

Uncle Nicholas Nesbit was wounded in the Civil War and died from the wounds. He was in the Confederate Army. His daughter, cousin Mollie, knows nothing about the company he was in. Her mother married again when Mollie was four and a half years old. She was a baby when her father died. Mollie married William D. Scott after coming to California. He died several years ago. She lives in Richmond, California now. Is a C.S.1 Practitioner. She brought $6,000.00 that she got for the sale of the old home place with her when she came to California. She says she had gravestones put up at the graves on the farm and a fence built around them. She and her brother, Sam, who died before she came West, had little in common with the other relatives in Missouri on account of the disposition of the property.

G 6 i Mary Melvina Nisbet (changed spelling to Nesbit)
b. 25 Dec. 1847, Filmore, Mo., d. 11 Sept. 1928
at Richmond, Cal., bur, Sunset Cemetery, Richmond,
Cal., m. Benjamin Franklin McGray, b. 28 Aug, 1843,
in Mo., son of Charles and Eliza (Whorton) McCray
of Scotland. Charles d. aged 89, Buchanan Co.,
Mo. Benjamin saw local service in Civil War. He
was a pioneer in Kansas and in the Oklahoma Run for
lands in 1893 gaining 160 acres farm near Medford.
Sold 1910 and went to Richmond, Cal. Died in Oakland
21 Jan. 1937, aged 93. Bur. Sunset Cemetery
Richmond, Cal. Nine children
(a) Arthur Lee, b. 5 Jan. 1871, Severance, Kans.
m. Della Snyder. Two daughters:
(1) Maxzene, m. McGregor
(2) Audrey, res. Alameda, California
(b) Frank, b. 1874 - dead
(c) Elmer, b. ?
(1) Christian Scientist
(d) Ruth, b. 1879, m. 1896 to Albert Usher.
Ruth has continued the grocery store
since the death of her husband and has
been a fine mother to her sisters and
their children. Res. 24th & Maple Streets,
Oakland, Cal. One child:
(1) Angel, b. 4 June, 1903, m. Thorwald
Rasmussen, b. 23 Aug. 1900,
Oakland, Cal. Two children:
Margaret, b. 12 Aug. 1927.
Norman, b. 27 Feb. 1932, Res.
Albany, Cal.
(e) Mary, b. 1880 m. 1897 to John Bunyon Butler.
One child:
(1) Pauline m. 1927 to James Oscar
Hultman. b. 1901, Kans. Three children:
Virginia, b. 29 Oct. 1928.
Cleo, b. 20 Aug. 1930, Sylvia, b. 30
Apr. 1934. Res. Richmond, Cal.
(f) Elsie, b. 1882 m. Louis Chambers, 1897.
Both deceased. One son:
(1)Byron, b. 7 Feb. 1902 m Katherine
Iverson, 1897, b. Racine, Wis. One
child: Barbara, b. 12 Aug. 1933.
Res. Oakland, Cal
(g) Bell, b. 1884, d. 1937, m. 1898 to Morris A.
Phillips, b. 1881, dead. Two children:
(1) Aldwin
(2) Wauline Dorothy m. Arthur McLaughlin
20th June,_______? Res. Albany, Cal.
(h) Charles, b. 10 May 1887, Kans. m. 25 Dec.
1907 to Maude Anne Kennedy, b. 3 Dec, 1887,
Colo. Dau. William and Nettie (Noal)
Kennedy. Standard Oil Supt., Richmond, Cal.
Res. Albany. Three children:
(1) Charles Eugene, b. 20 Dec., 1916.
(2) Earl, 3 Dec., 1919.
(3) Leon, b. 12 July 1913, d. at birth.
(i) Ethel, b. 1889, Kansas, m. John Johns. Res.
Ranch near Escalon, Cal. Two children:
(1) John, b. 4 Apr. 1918.
(2) Juanita, b. 10 Apr. 1920.
Both grad. Escalon High School.
G 6 iii Rachel Frances Nesbit, b. 17 May, 1851, Fillmore,
Mo., m. 11 Mch., 1869 to John Young, b. Glasgow
Scotland, 25 Nov. 1845. Will supply story
later. A good job for Leon. Children:
(a) Zula Jessie, b. 31 Jan. 1870 in Kans.,
never married, lives at Highlands, Kans.
Teacher.
(b) Leon Decator Young, b. 2 Dec. 1872, High-
land, Kans., m. Dorothy Spriestersbaugh
in Charlestown, Ind., b. Charlestown,
d. Nov. 1935. Second m. To Mary
Bowers Archibald, b. 10 June 1893
Bible Hill, Truro, Nova Scotia. Dau. of
Thomas and Jesse Helen (MacDonald)
Archibald. He b. in Halifax and she
was b. in Sherbrook. Leon is one of
the big Presbyterian Preachers, a noted
speaker and fine man. See "Who's Who"
in America. At present Pastor of Highland ,
Kansas Church.
(c) Rosetta, b. 20 Apr., 1876, Highland, Kans.
m. 2 Oct. 1895 to Erwin E. Swinney, dec.
Res. Witchita, Kans. Children:
(1) Dorothy Jessie Swinney, b. 4 Sept.
1899. Teacher in Wichita, Kans.
(2) Robert L. b. 12 Apr. 1901, m.
28 Jun. 1930 to Corrine Brignar-
dollo, Dallas, Texas, dau. Antonia.
(3) John Young, b. 26 Mch., 1906 Glen-
dale, Cal.
(4) Gordon, student Kansas University.
(d) John Franklin, b. 30 Jan. 1878, Highland,
Kans., m. 7 Aug. 1901 to Virgie Saunders,
No issue. Res. Lees Summit, Mo.
(e) Grace Pearl, b. 22 Nov. 1884, Highland, Kans.,
m. Jan. 1902 to Roscoe King, b. 29 Sept. 1880.
Children:
(1) Russell Franklin, b. 24 Aug. 1903
(2) Donna Dorothy, b. 9 May 1905, m.
C.E. Goforth 12 Dec. 1937
(3) Ward Wayne, b. 22 Mch. 1907
(4) Esther Bell, b. 24 Mch. 1913
(5) Harold, b. 8 Nov. 19__, Robinson
High School Graduate, 1939
(f) Lavinia, b. 4 Sept. 1886, Highland, Kans.
m. 25 Aug. 1909 to Charles Blaine Branson,
D.D.S., Res. Lincoln, Nebraska. Children:
(1) Rachel Marian, b. 23 Sept 1910,
m. 27 Apr. 1935 to Carroll Carson
Gilbert. Res. Greeley, Cal.
(2) Bernice
(g) Lewis Irvine, b. 6 Sept. 1888, Highland
Kans. d. 1918 (?) m. 9 Apr. 1913 to
Rena Emily Sherman (Beatrice), Nebraska.
No issue.
(h) Lester Simeon, b. 10 Apr. 1891, Highland,
Kans., d. 11 May, 1893.
(i) George, b. 12 Jul. 1893, Highland, Kans.
m. Louise _______, He stockman, farmer, oil-
man in Centralia, Kans. Children:
(1) John H. m. 8 Jul. 1939 to Lileen McGee.
(2) George O.
(3) Nancy Ann.
John H is working on his A.M. in civil
engineering at Kansas Agricultural
College. George is a junior at Oklahoma
University, Norman, Oklahoma
G 6 iv Nancy Elizabeth (Nannie L.), she did not like
her name and changed it, b. 17 Feb. 1853, Fillmore, Mo.

Note: Never married. Declined numerous offers of marriage from her fifteenth up to her sixtieth year. Educated public schools. Public school teaching when young at Leona, Kansas, and continued until 1882 when she, with her family, went to Washington County, Kansas. She brought 160 acres of the fine farmland north of Haddam which she owned until going to Richmond, California. in 1902.

She continued teaching in Washington County, became Principal of the High School at Haddam and Later High School English teacher in Washington High School.

One of her pupils in the Haddam High School, Wilbur D. Vincent, Superintendent of the Boise Idaho Public Schools, in a bulletin to his teachers in 1935 wrote, "The first high school teacher to make a lasting impression upon me was a lady principal, Miss Nannie Nesbit, who taught practically all of the subjects in a four- year high school where there were not to exceed sixty pupils. Her contribution was, as I remember, soft- voiced, quiet-tempered, but gave a thrill of inspired confidence in myself to do things. She was a careful scholar and some way had the power to make each one in the class feel that he was the individual of her extreme solicitude. She had a fine sense of humor and would laugh with us but not at us. She had an unconscious type of dignity that made one wish to be held in her high esteem. In all of my experience I have never been so impressed with the need for exact and careful English as in a freshman class under Miss Nesbit. We somehow caught from her the value of preparedness of our daily tasks. We learned something about poise and gentleness. We felt that our conscience was being quickened and tuned up every day in her classes. We did not do the ordinary freshman pranks because she wouldn't like such. We carefully prepared every paper because she made significant marks wherever a comma or period was omitted, and then very carefully discussed the meaning of those marks during the recitation period. She opened up broad new fields of reading by merely indicating in a very happy way the fine stories or the fine sentiment that might be found in certain books. And with all of this she called us 'My boys and my girls., and had a pride in us.

Miss Nesbit is now 82 years old. Yet a few years ago when I received a distinct promotion in my line of work, her letter of congratulations was the one that rang most sincere and was by far the most appreciated. Miss Nesbit's contribution in the way of service to her students was distinctly sincerity, effective friendship, building of confidence and an active interest in each of her pupils".

A teacher who had no bad boys or dumb pupils. A maker of men and women through precept, example and practice. Patient, well poised, refined, industrious, honest, intelligent, frugal, sympathetic, gentle, attractive, clean in person, thoughts and deeds. Loving and loved and known by all. To the Christian (disciple) Church and its organisations, she gave much time, money and talent. The C.W.B.M. and its work and missionaries she loved. She lived her religion, she led a Christian life.

After retiring from teaching she was editor of a school column and associate editor of 'The Watchman', Washington, Kansas, manager Insurance Agency, County Book Store Manager under state adoption, candidate for County Superintendent leading the ticket though defeated.

Went to Richmond, California in 1902 with her mother to be near her brothers Ed and Sam and their children. Purchased some houses, continued private teaching, was a popular deputy registration of voters at Richmond for twenty-five years. She wrote a Spencerian hand and her records were always fine specimens of hand-writing.

Her devotion and love for her mother was indeed great and she did so until mother died at the age of 85. Her sister Mary and husband, Benjamin McCray lived next door and they were affectionate aids with many attentions to the sweetest and best woman, my mother.

Mary died in 1928. Benjamin went to live with his daughter, Ruth. Nannie was visited and shared her home with a large number of nieces and nephews. Scattered around the bay; which gave her much pleasure, but writes the thought that a milder climate might add to her comfort, she purchased a membership into the California Christian Home, 1015 Mission Drive, San Gabriel, California and there is happily situated.

(G 6 vii Samuel Anthony Nesbit, b. 5 Apr. 1860, Highland,
Doniphan County, Kans., m. Nellie Painter, on
17 Oct., 1894, Osceola, Iowa. She b. Afton, Iowa,
14 Jun. 1868 dau. James and Mary Caroline
(Renolds) Painter. Res. Richmond, Cal. Children:
(a) Paul Templar, 13th Oct. 1896, Eureka, Cal.
Served U.S. Navy, Wireless operator,
Commissioned Ensign in Reserve in 1936.
m. Freida Lucille Jahant on 27 May 1924,
Lodi, Cal. She b. 27 May, 1900, Acampo,
Cal. Res. Lodi, Cal. Children:
(1) Kathryn Lucille, b. 29 Jul. 1925
Lodi, California.
(2) Paul Templar, Jr., b. 5 Mar. 1927
Stockton, California.
(b) Mark Clement, b. 22 Oct. 1901 m. Berdina
Rogers, b. 1908. Divorced.
(c) Mary Caroline, b. 5 Aug. 1908, marriage
5 Aug. 1936 to Thomas Stephen
Haffey. Thomas had a son by 1st marriage.
Res. Berkley, California.

SAMUEL ANTHONY NESBIT WROTE CONCERNING HIMSELF AND FAMILY

Samuel Anthony Nesbit, the seventh child of Samuel Franklin Nisbet and Mary Templar Nisbet, was born April 5, 1860 on a farm north-west of Highland, Doniphan County, Kansas.

"The walk at night down the street of Iowa Point where we had moved is very vivid in my memory, now at the age of seventy-three.

"I remember the marriages of my sisters, Mary and Rachel. My schooling was begun there.

"At Severance, my school experience, working in my father's general store and weighing the grain and assisting shelling corn and loading it, then my first farm work.

"I attended the first Teachers' Institute at Troy and passed the examination for a teacher's certificate, but was too young to teach.

"The family moved to Leona, and the farm required my services.

"I began the study of music and playing the organ for which I am so thankful, and found it helpful in many situations. I attended a private normal school at Oregon, Holt County, Missouri and taught my first school at $35.00 per month. While a student at the normal school, I became a Christian and was baptised by Rev. William A. Gardiner. My further schooling was at Highland, Kansas, University parts (sic) of two years. I taught a term of school near Leona, Kansas for which I received $40.00 per month.

"On moving to Washington County, Kansas, I taught two years at the Blocker School in the neighborhood in which we lived.

"I leased the land my sister Nannie owned, and farmed it three years, and in the fall of 1885, I went to Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa receiving the A.B. Degree with the class of 1889.

"Returning to Kansas, I began preaching at Morrow, Washington County, held a successful revival at Stockton, Rooks County, took pastorale of the Norton Church, thence to Topeka and accepting a call to Madra, California in May 1891, returning to school at Cother University, Lincoln, Nebraska for two years and secured my A.M. Degree.

"Was married to Miss Nellie Painter, a teacher in Cotner University at Oscula, Iowa, October 17, 1894 (a family with a fine record for accomplishments. Paul is making a record and writing. Finish it up and send it to Otis B. Nesbit).

"We came to Eureka, Humbolt County, California, where we spent five busy and happy years as pastors of the Christian Church. In addition to the pastoral duties, I edited the Redwood Christian, a weekly paper with a circulation of 1000 copies.

"Paul Templar was born October 13, 1896, in Eureka. Mark Clement was born at Saratoga, Santa Clara County, California, October 22, 1901. Mary Caroline was born at Concord, Contra Casts County, August 4, 1909, lived there six years.

"Resided on a farm near Lodi, California a number of years raising almonds, prunes and Tokay grapes.

"When war came on and teachers were needed, I volunteered and taught two years in the Healdsburgh High School.

"Have preached for a number of churches in the last years; Acampo, Christian Colony, Willows, Manteca, Merced, Das Palos and supplied on occasion. Retired and reside in Richmond, California".

G 6 viii Edward Templer Nesbit, b. 19 Oct. 1864, Highland,
Donaphan County, Kans. Teacher in Public Schools Minister for
Christian Churches. Teacher in rural schools of Washington
County, Kans, and town of Washington, Kans., prior to removal to
California. Schools attended: Highland Academy, Northwest
Normal at Oregon, Holt County, Mo.
Formal School at Morrill, Kans, Drake University for two years,
Berkley Bible Seminary for three years graduating in 1900.
Assistant Minister Woodland, Cal., Sept. 1890-Sept. 1891.
He m. 19 Feb. ______? Effie Alice Miller, b. 25 Nov., 1865,
Macomb; Macdonaugh County, Ill. Dau. Of Isaac and Martha
(Berry) Miller. Pastor of the Calusa Christian Church many years.
Retired 1939. Res. 1776 Hermosa Drive, Temple City, California.
Children:
(a) Mildred Alice, b. 15 Sept., 1893, Colusa, California,
attended Frenso State Teachers College, California
Christian College, m. 7 Jul. 1935 to Lon A. Bobo. Res.
404 Rosemont Blve., San Gabriel, California. His
second marriage. She a teacher in Pasadena Schools,
he with Metropolitan Life Insurance. Children::
(1) Jeanne, adopted dau. of 1st m.
(2) Virginia
(3) Lon Jr.
(b) Reed Miller, b. 8 Dec. 1898, received M.D. from
Stanford Medical College and B.A. from Stanford
University, attended University of Michigan. Professor
Urology, Univ. Michigan. Internationally known
surgeon. He m. 7 Apr. 1928 to Mabel O. Wilkins.
Res.Ann Arbor, Michigan. Children 1st m.
(1) Nancy Alice, b. 22 Oct. 1933
(2) Mary Templar, b. 22 May 1935.
(3) Mabel Ann, b. 8 Dec. 1939.

HISTORY OF HIS LIFE WRITTEN TO HIS CHILDREN

My father, Samuel Franklin Nisbet, was born at Cynthiana, Kentucky, June 9, 1823. The family which moved to Monroe County, Missouri in 1825. He went to school 100 days (as did Abraham Lincoln) in Missouri (?) He left Monroe County to travel with two young men, Saddler and Foreman, teaching singing schools. He met and married my mother in Andrew County, Missouri in 1846. He was 23 and she was 16, lacking about a month. Mother's name was Mary Templar, the daughter of James Templar. Mother was born at Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio. James Templar was born in Virginia. My mother being his only child, he stipulated that she should live in his household during his life. My father led the way to Kansas, Doniphan Co., where the family settled in 1857. By November, 1857, about 11 years from marriage there had been born six children; four daughters and two sons. The two sons and one daughter, Millie, did not survive infancy. Subsequently there were three sons which concluded the family. Samuel Anthony was the first son to attain adult life. I was the eighth child, born Oct. 19th, 1865, on the farm near Highland, Doniphan County, Kansas. Our youngest brother, Otis Burgess was born at Severance County, Kansas on Jan. 31, 1871. In those five years between my birth and the birth of Otis, the family had moved from the farm, first to Iowa Point in the same County, and from there to Severance. About 1875 we moved to a farm at Lena, the same County. In 1882 the family moved to Washington County, Kansas. January 1st, 1883 I began teaching in a rural school in northeastern part of Republic County, Kansas, a three months term at $35.00 per month. I taught the same school the next year for three months, at $40.00 or $45.00 per month. There were about sixty pupils at that school ranging from five or six years of age to some boys who were above school age. I look back to those two terms as very happy experiences with nothing to mar the pictures.

(He came back with a bad case of seven year itch, the only such infestation to enter our house- OBN). Youth together, playing at long recesses and noon periods! No quarrels, no choosing up sides, for we played "Work up", beginning with the next one "up". School opened with reading the bible and prayer. I do not remember about singing, but I think we sang a Sunday School song. I remember learning the song : "Asleep in Jesus". One morning after making the fire and sweeping out (maybe dusting), I found this song and learned it by note first. It was my first consciousness of independent music reading. About this time I also recall how I discovered I could hold in memory the thoughts and ideas of others and think about them whether they were what I held to be true or orthodox.

I rode a small Texas pony which I brought from a drove of the same. She never got over bucking slightly but not vigorously enough to throw me off and that means anyone off. (Why omit riding mules?) I was no fancy rider but do not remember falling off or being thrown from a horse when riding alone. I distinctly recall riding up behind mother when she rode Old Dick, the Indian pony. Then she rode to the railroads, the St Joe and Grand Island, which had gotten out to Ryan's Station about halfway from St. Joe to Troy. There was one train, the work train, called the "Mud Cat". The engine was switching the two or three flat cars, the complete rolling stock, no doubt of the road, Uncle Johnny Puncheon, was the engineer, Old Dick reared up when mother curbed him and I slid off behind. Another time I was riding behind my brother Samuel, on Dick when we were moving from the old sawmill near Iowa Point to Severance. When we got in sight of the new town, we licked the pony into a gallop and his hind feet overtook the front ones and down we all went like Humpty Dumpty. But when I had the reins and was alone on the horse, no animal ever wore hair or had hoofs could boast it had unhorsed me. Ha hah, brrr. Except one, and that was a calf Samuel dared me to try and ride from one gate to another, and when I was opening the gates of the corral for him to drive the team and wagon though, loaded with oats and corn, the calf had no man to hold onto as did old Dick and the youngster was not only milk-fed but bran-fed and the bran was no outside of the grain hull-stuff, but "shorts" and "midlins" which is a foreign language to you all.

In September 1885, I went to Des Moines and entered Drake University where I met my wife at a meeting of 'The Alethean Literary Society. We joined the same evening and signed the roll together. I was attracted to the Post Office address of her room-mate who also signed at the time and this was our first conversation, which we continued on our way "home" that evening. I spoke first but she spoke last.

I came to California in September 1890 from Washington, Kansas, where I had taught two or more years in the public schools. My call to California was from Rev. William A. Gardner, pastor of Woodland Christian Church. This call came through the ministry of Miss Nettie L. Gardner who was a sister of the minister. She began her work at "Hesperian College", Woodland, in September 1890. She also arranged for her friend and fellow teacher at "Drake", 1889-90, Miss Effie Alice Miller, my fiancee, to be her assistant teacher of music in "Hesperian": We were married February 19, 1891 and lived happily ever afterwards to this day.

All of which I solemnly affirm to be true to the best of my knowledge and belief, all of which I may have said before. Thus beginneth the seventy-fourth year of my sojourn, having finished seventy three.

With best love to all

Edward Templar Nesbit

Colusa, Cal.

Oct. 19, 1938.

(He wants to be remembered as a bronco buster, a soul saver, a sweet singer, a good pastor, a leader of boys, a good citizen, a funeral preacher of note, a friendly man, as indicated by the columns of newspaper publicity given at the time of his retirement at Calusa, California. OBN).

G 6 ix Otis Burgess Nesbit, b. 21 Jan. 1871, Severance, Kansas, (d. 18.
Mar. 1952), m. 22 Jun. 1897, Alice A. Vincent, b. 22 Jun.
1872, Valparaiso, Indiana. Dau. Dr. Alonso W. and Mary (Wood)
Vincent. He grad. in pharmacy at Valparaiso University, M.D.
Degree from Bennett Medical College, Chicago, 1902. Practiced
Medicine Valparaiso until 1913. Taught in Pharmacy and Medical
Department, Valparaiso University. Member of Health Departments.
In 1913 went to Gary, Indiana as Director of Medical
Department of the Public Schools. Res. 444 Jackson Street, Gary,
Indiana. Two children:
(a) Allegra Mary, b. 2 Jun. 1900 B.S.M.A. University of
Chicago, teacher, Gary, Indiana.
(b) Beatrice Templar, b. 6 Dec. 1903, m. Alexander
Oppenheim, b. 4 Feb. 1902, Manchester, England. Oxford
University; Ph.D. University of Chicago, 1930.
Professor of Mathematics, Raffles College, Singapore,
S.S. Beatrice, B.S. University of Chicago. Has resided
in Edinburgh, Scotland.
G 7 Melvina (Sarah M.) b. 23 Aug. 1829, d. 6 Mar. 1908, m. James Gibbs, 18 Nov.
1863, d. 14 Sept. 1899 ages 82 years, 4 mths., 2 days. One daughter:
G 7 i Mary, m. _______ Powers, b. ca 1866, d. 12 Oct. 1887, 21 years
old. One child died young.
G 8 America, b. 18 Mar. 1832, d. 27 Jun. 1912, m. S.H. Painter, d. 27 Nov. 1893,
aged 64 years, 2 mths, 2 days. Both bur. Stoutsville. Missouri Cemetery.
Children:
G 8 i George Washington, b. 26 Dec., 1853, d. 2 Jul. 1854, bur. Old
farm.
G 8 ii Thomas Jefferson, b. 24 Mar. 1857, d. 26 Jul. 1858., bur. Old farm.
G 8 iii A. Virginia, b. 3 Apr. 1855. m. 15 Feb. 1872 to C.W. Kennett.
Lives at Monroe City, Missouri. Says that Samuel and Nancy were
Baptists. They lived with their mother after Nicholas's death.
Children:
(a) Mary Alice, b. 30 Mar. 1875, m. George Thrift. bur. Stouts-
ville, Missouri. Four children all in California.
(b) Samuel Walter, b. 23 Sept. 1874, never married. Lives with
mother, Monroe City, Missouri.
(c) James C., b. 9 Oct. 1878, m. Mary Bans--te. Lives Monroe
City, Missouri. No children.
(d) Myrtle Lee, b. 27 Feb. 1882, m. Claude Watson. Four
children, Monroe City.
(e) Essie Blanche, b. 6 Apr., 1885, m. Frank May (died). 3
children in Wash., D.C.
G 8 iv E. Oscar, b. 10 Mar. 1859, m. 1st Alice Jones, divorced; 2nd_____
Hutchinson, lived at Shelbina, Missouri, in 1930. Dead.
Descendants at Boliver, Mo., So. Bend, Ind. and Niles, Michigan.
G 8 v Samuel Franklin, b. 20 Mar. 1861, d. 1 Oct. 1861. Bur. Old farm.
G 8 vi Nancie E., b. 6 Aug. 1861, m. 1st, Bayless Jones, died. 2nd m.
Thomas Ferrell lived in Holliday, Missouri, in 1930. Had old
Bible.
G 8 vii J. William, b. 20 Dec. 1864, died in Alberta, Canada. m. Ann
Turnbough.
G 8 viii John Chauncey, b. 28 Apr., 1869, d. 1 Sept. 1928, m. Fannie
Jordon, San Barnadeno, California.
G 8 ix America Ann, b. 9 Sept. 1872, d. 23 Aug. 1899, bur.
Stoutsville, Missouri, Cemetery, m. George Watson.
G 9 Nicholas T. Nesbit, b. 1835, d. 1862, m. 4 Sept. 1856, Angelina N. Fields (wife of
Marcus M. Powers, former wife of Nicholas Nesbit, b. 13 Apr. 1835, d. 16 Sept.
1862, on tombstone on old Nesbit farm). Children: See letter p. 10.
G 9 i Samuel, b. 2 Sept. 1857, d. 1 Jul. 1901. Never married.
G 9 ii William Greenbury, b. 24 Dec. 1859, d. 1863.
G 9 iii Mallie (Melvina), b. 1861, d. 22 Jan. 1937, Richmond,
California, m. Wm. D. Scott, cremated Berkley Cemetery. Was
Christian Science practitioner at Richmond, California.
Mallie said that Samuel Nisbet, her grandfather had black hair and
blue eyes. Nancy Thomas Nisbet had black and black eyes.

NISBETOLOGY

Family Letter No. 9

by

O.B. Nesbit.
444 Jackson Street,
Gary, Indiana.
USA
January 1940.

Issued occasionally by Otis B. Nesbit,

444 Jackson Street,
Gary, Indiana, USA.

HOW

INTERCESSORY PRAYER

The weary ones had rest, the sad had joy
That day and wondered 'how'?
A ploughman, singing at his work, had prayed
'Lord, help them now'.
Away in foreign lands they wondered 'how'
Their simple word had power?
At home, the Christians two or three had met
To pray an hour!
Yes, we are always wondering, wondering 'how'
Because we do not see
Some one, unknown perhaps, and far away
On bended knee.
By Frances Maud Nesbitt
London, England.
(By permission)
** ** ** ** **

Nisbetology Number Eight is devoted to my own family largely, and will not be sent to all. A copy will be sent to those especially requesting it. The mailing cost prohibits its general circulation. Much of the material would not interest many.

Wishing you a good New Year.

OTIS B. NESBIT.

** ** ** ** **

ALICE GREETS YOU

To those who read this, I wish a Happy and Prosperous 1940.

I will look back with pleasure as I think of the last two weeks of August 1939, with Otis and Allegra, seeing and visiting friends on a delightful trip through Ohio, New York, Canada and Michigan.

Having had a mother and then a husband interested in family history, I decided to try to find something about the Vincents, and hence our stop at the County Seat of Huron, Ohio and at Milan, Ohio; my father having been born eleven miles from this little town, now made famous as the birthplace of Thomas Edison. We spent one night at Mentor, Ohio; I would say the home of antiques as well as the birthplace of President Garfield. The third afternoon found us at Niagara Falls with the sun shining and producing a beautiful rainbow enabling Otis to get some beautiful movies. We had dinner at Hamilton.

We decided to drive on that night to Toronto and marvelled at the twenty-five miles of the beautifully lighted Elizabethan highway.

While Otis spent the morning at the Connaught Laboratories, Allegra and I shopped and spent some hours at the library looking over the early histories of Toronto. As I wished to clear up a Vincent family story that they once owned the land Toronto is built on. We made some calls at Scarborough Junction but the Vincent relatives had passed on and the young people had never heard of the Vincents.

Mrs. J.H. Houston invited us to her beautiful home and took us to the Country Club for dinner, after which she took us for an enjoyable drive out to the edge of the city to see where they are building a new home. Mrs. Houston was a Humphrey. Her parents formerly lived in our neighborhood. Her sister, Mrs. C.A. DeLong lives near now.

Otis and Allegra bought woollen cloth at Nisbet and Auld, dealers in woollens; and Nisbet tartan ties from Donald Maclean.

Our next stop was Gananoque and the beautiful St. Lawrence River where we had rooms for two days near some friends. We enjoyed seeing the country in this district. Dr. Sue Thompson and Miss Isabelle Jones and their mothers were here and we enjoyed being with them. Allegra attended a luncheon given at a swanky hotel by Dr. Sue. Otis, Mrs. Jones and I took a boat trip to see some of the Thousand Islands. The weather was fine and the trip very restful and pleasant.

We enjoyed the trip to Montreal along the canals and spent some time seeing the city and spent a delightful evening with Miss Dobson. Was sorry to have missed seeing Nesbitt, her brother. The readers of NESBITOLOGY will remember her mother's, Mrs. Ethel Nesbitt Dobson, interesting letters. Miss Dobson told us how to find her mother at their summer home at Constance Bay, twenty-five miles above Ottawa.

Before leaving Montreal, we called on Mrs. Marian Nesbitt and met a part of her fine family. She was in Gary for a day in September, visiting her brother, Walter McNabb. Sorry we did not get to see her.

We left Montreal early for Ottawa. It is a beautiful drive, many miles along the Ottawa River, then over into the farming section where we met every kind of horse drawn vehicle and apparently happy people. We did not tarry in Ottawa, only long enough to get provisions for lunch and hastened on.

Arriving at Constance Bay, we found Mrs. Dobson had left that morning for Ottawa. We were invited by Mrs. Dobson's hospitable friend to eat our lunch in her cottage.

We were pleased to find Mrs. Dobson at a friend's in Ottawa and enjoyed her company and guidance around Ottawa and the beautiful Parliament buildings. We had dinner together and saw her depart for home.

We retraced our homeward trip; one night at Smith Falls, and the next night at Guelp, and on via Kitchener, London, and over the International Bridge at Fort Huron arriving at Reed Nesbit's summer home near Ann Arbor in time for dinner. We spent two days with them, thence home.

Hoping we may see all the readers of this letter in the near future at our Gary home.

I remain

Yours sincerely, ALICE NESBIT.

Miss Mary Nesbit, Indianapolis, called on us when visiting her niece, Mrs. George Wert, and told about the death on February 26, 1939 of Charles M. Nesbit of Miama (? Miami), Florida; grandson of James Nesbitt, who was a brother of her father, Dr. Joseph Allen Nesbit. They are members of the clan from Bourbon Co., Kentucky.

Norman B. Nesbett, D.M.D., 106 Concord Avenue, Belmont, Mass., was 63 years old on April 28. His father, Dr. Frederick B. Nesbitt, born in Frederickton, New Brunswick, came from Scotland and became a New Brunswick lumberman who moved to Saco, Maine. His father served in the U.S. Civil War, a sergeant. Norman has one brother, Ralph W., East Freetown, Mass. No children. He is Assistant Professor Dental Depart- ment, Harvard University.

Mr. and Mrs. John W. Nesbit, Albion, Indiana, F.R.D. No. 2, celebrated their Golden, Wedding, February 19, 1939.

Mrs. William T. Pritchett, née Agnes Cox, 405 Santa Rita Avenue, Modesto, Calif., wrote, as did Charles B. Todd who was doing graduate work in Zoology at C.U. Berkley. They belong to the Madisonville, Kentucky family.

Robert Chancellor Nesbitt of London asked for five or six pages on the Nesbits of America, for his coming book about his family. I have been unable to comply. Who will undertake it?

Cousin Sarah Lewis Reel, born September 9, 1857, died May 3, 1939 at the age of one hundred and one years, eight months and twenty four days; at Whittier, California, buried Pomona, California. She was a daughter of Aaron Lewis and Rebeccah Nisbet; was born in Posey County, Indiana, married Henry Reel who died in 1932. Mrs. Edith Benn, a daughter, lives at 997 East Third Street, Pomona, California.

George O. Young, a great nephew, was in the Military Training Camp at Fort Sheridan last summer and visited me over the Fourth of July week-end. He should come again and see the fine movies I got of him in his uniform. He expects to graduate from Okalahoma University next year. Will specialize in oil.

Brother Edward has retired from pastoral duties. He and Effie, his faithful helper, gave us their new address: 1776 Hermosa Drive, Temple City, California. They have just completed a new house where they will be near sister Nannie and their daughter, Mildred. May happiness be your lot. He has become a great letter writer. Sorry I do not have the space for all of them.

Forrest Meek, R.F.D., No. 5, Olympic Drive, Washington, writes, "I am a great grandson of Elizabeth Nisbet McIlvaine and was twenty-five years of age when my grandmother, Sarah A. McIlvaine passed away in 1905 in Decatur Co., Indiana, where she moved to when she was nine years of age, about 1831. My gr. grandfather, Samuel H. McIlvaine, was buried in northern Decatur County, Indiana, about one mile from the old home farm. He married for his second wife, Nancy Meek, one of my great aunts on my father's side. Also, my grandfather, Thomas Meek, married Samuel McIlvaine's daughter, Sarah.

Well Forrest, if half the good things Mrs. Alvin Jones tells about are true, I am willing to claim you and your good wife as cousins. When you come back next summer, we will talk it all over. Bring all your papers along.

Mrs. Blanche Hartman writes; John Nesbit, the patriot of York County, Pennsylvania, sister Jean by marrying Will Ross became my ancestor (sic). John married first, ............. Wickersham, a Quaker, second, Mary Crichton, died 1767, tombstone inscribed Mary Nisbet and John's name on the same stone, John Nisbet died 1801. The record of his marriage is John Nesbitt of East Marlsborough, Chester County, Pennsylvania, at Old Swedes Church, Wilmington, Delaware, October 31, 1752, a runaway match between a Scottish Presbyterian and a Quaker. She proposes that the Nesbit Clan purchase the old Nesbit home in York County. It stands at the kitchen door of the old Ross home. She has written the Freeport, man for a copy of his long pedigree back to Philip de Nisbit but has had no reply.

William Wade Hinshaw, The Mayflower, Washington, D.C., the former Opera singer, has turned a genealogist and is compiling data on the Quakers of America. His son represents the Pasadena, California District in Congress. I was interested in trying to get some dope on James Templer. They have not reached the Ohio Section.

Cousin William and Mrs. Endicott of Cynthiana, Indiana, rounded out 70 years of married life together, November 9, 1939. He is 90 and she 89. They were born in Posey County, Indiana. They have 5 children, 9 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.

A.G. Nisbit, Canon City, Colorado, went with a young friend, 83 years old to California. They travelled 4,444 miles (7151 km) and were gone 34 days. Never missed a meal. At Pacadena, California, met Miss Minerva McMillan, a patient of mine at Valparaiso long ago. His former patient's son is Dr. Lyle Craig of that City. At Berkley, he visited Rev. L.H. Hillis who called up two Nesbits, who came over to visit. They were from Ballibay, Ireland, formerly.

A.G. Nisbit says his mother was a descendant of Andrew Jackson. His son, Paul Nesbit conducts a Nature Study Camp at Cuchara Camp, near LaVeta, California. Address: Box 288, Walsenburg, California.

L. Blanche Francis, Rolling Prairie, Indiana, a descendant of James Nisbet of Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania fame, invited me to come see her some Sunday afternoon. Had it been in the forenoon, I might have accepted. She is a merchant. Her grand father came to Indiana about 1840.

Rev. John Pratt Nesbit has completed a history of the Pratt family. He is still supply pastor to the South Argyle Church, Greenwich, New York. They spent this vacation at Winona Lake, Indiana, where they have a home. Alice and I called and found Mrs. Nesbit suffering from injuries resulting from a fall. John had not yet arrived. We hoped to see him when he came, but did not get to. He sent a dollar. Thanks. Glad someone appreciates NISBETOLOGY.

Mrs. Thelma F. Lee, 4620 Forty-fifth Street, Washington, D.C., had an article on Allen Nesbit in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly for December, 1938.

Motion Pictures of Nesbits

My film library now contains pictures of my own family, Reed Nesbit and family of Ann Arbor, all of my family in California, those in attendance at the Nisbet-Lamburn Reunion in 1937 at Peru, Indiana, the Nisbet- Endicott Reunion in 1939 at Cynthiana, Indiana, Cousin Ann McLaughlin and daughters at Henderson, Ky., J.R. Rash and wife at Madisonville, Kentucky, Bud Nisbet and wife, Providence, Kentucky, William and Mrs. Endicott and Iran Blase at Cynthiana, Indiana, Zula, Leon, Mary, George and John Young, Norman and Robert Swinney and family. They are a good looking clan. Come see them. The pictures are fine.

George L. Nesbitt, Traverse City, Michigan, General Hardware. He and his parents born in Michigan. His grandfather came from Ireland.

Mrs. Mary Nisbet, 96, mother of Mrs. Ruby Laffoon, died December 4, 1938 at the home of her grandson, Edwin Ferguson in Central City, Kentucky. She was a native of Christian County, Kentucky; was survived by five daughters: Mrs. Laffoon, Mrs. Hattie Ferguson, Earlington, Kentucky, Mrs. Athalia Shell, Graham, Kentucky, Mrs. Jessie Hoffman, Frankfurt, Kentucky, Mrs. Richard Grant, Oswego, New York. Her husband and son are deceased.

Edward Nisbet, 78, died September, 1939 at Evansville, Indiana, son of the late Watkins F. Nisbet. He belonged to the Madisonville family. Leaves Ann L., wife, a sister, Mrs. Hopson Holeman, Frankfort, Kentucky and several nieces and nephews. He was in the Old National Bank.

If you see a Californian auto licence No. 5N1O, STOP HIM! Its Mark Nesbit of Redlands. He has had the same number for seven years.

Reed M. Nesbit, M.D. of Ann Arbor, Michigan has had a full year attending and reading papers before surgical societies. He is loved by his pupils and patients. He is regarded as a great teacher and surgeon.

Mabel Ann arrived at their home on December 8, 1939.

Nesbit Clan in Telephone Directories

Los Angeles, California lists 14 Nesbit and 1 Nisbet.

Detroit, Michigan, lists 8 Nisbet, 3 Nesbit, 15 Nesbitt.

Chicago, Illinois lists 7 Nisbet, 3 Nisbett, 8 Nesbit, 20 Nesbitt.

Toronto, Canada lists 40 Nesbitt, 8 Nisbet, 1 Nesbeth.

Boston, Mass. lists 12 (?).

Mrs. Mary D.A. Field of The Plains, Virginia, who very thoroughly searched Virginia Records for me, writes that Mr. Field died and she is managing the estate at Fieldmont. Her home was Lexington.

She misses not being able to have time for research which she loves. You may be sure I will see you and confer on Nisbet-Berry history.