Ada and Monmouth College

One mystery of Ada Rippey's life is how and why she attended Monmouth College.  It's reasonable enough that she attended the Geneseo Normal School which was about 3.7 miles away from her parents home, so presumably she lived at home.

But after Geneseo she went to Monmouth, Illinois to attend the college there.  That's about 800 miles away. Monmouth was Presbyterian and an early co-ed college.  But there were closer alternatives: Elmira College which her daughter Helen would attend, and Cornell, which two grandchildren would attend. Elmira, at least, was both associated with the Presbyterian church and only for women. But it seems to have had some controversies in the 1870's which might have told against it.  My guess is that one or more graduates of Monmouth College were involved in the founding or running of Geneseo, and recommended Ada to the college and the college to Ada.

One excerpt from the Monmouth College history:

"Greek Life firsts
In the college’s early years, college women enjoyed equal footing with their male counterparts — unusual for that time. This sense of equality helped inspire the birth of the sorority movement at Monmouth. When veterans returning to the college from the Civil War decided to form fraternities, a group of women was determined not to be outdone. In 1867 they established the first fraternity for women, known today as Pi Beta Phi. Three years later, another famous women’s fraternity, Kappa Kappa Gamma, was founded at Monmouth.

Second Go on Photos

[I'm going to cross-reference the originals of the photos, which Marjorie will receive shortly, to this post, adding data and thoughts as available.]
I've included the restored versions of the photos from the previous post, plus the two photos of Michael Harshaw we have. [Updated--since I'm going to link back to this post, there's liable to be further updates.]

This, I believe, is a tintype taken around 1882 showing William R. Harshaw (Will) and part of his graduating class from Westminster College, PA. Note the presence of women--the college was founded as a co-ed institution.

This, I believe, is a tintype taken on the same day as the first photo, with just the three men. Note the clothes are the same.

This is labeled as "W.R.Harshaw", possibly in Helen Gold's handwriting. This would be about 1860 when Will was 5 years old.

This is a daguerreotype in Marjorie's possession, which she believes was taken on the occasion of the wedding of Will and Margaret. This was Dec. 27, 1842. I've reservations, given that daguerreotypes were introduced to the U.S. just 3 years before but it's possible the Harshaw family went to Pittsburgh to be photographed around the time of Will and Margaret's wedding.

Is the man in this daguerrotype the same as in the picture above? Marjorie says "yes"--the nose, ears and hairline look the same. Perhaps it was taken also at the time of the wedding?

Who is this man? Perhaps Michael's brother, also taken at the time of the wedding.

And this couple? The man looks to have a family resemblance with the previous men in the photos

This is a late photograph of Michael Harshaw, in possession of Marjorie.

Help Wanted--Identify Photos

Haven't blogged here in a while.  My sister Jean died in the spring, leaving a bunch of family stuff to sort through.  Gradually making some progress.  There are some tintypes/daguerrotypes I'll put up here, with the information I have about them, the guesses I've made, and the questions I have.[Updated 11/1/16 with Marjorie's input.]

This seems to be William R. Harshaw (center) with two fellow classmates from Westminster college around 1880.  (See below.)

I'm not sure who this couple is--nor am I sure of the time frame--perhaps 1860 and this is a daguerrotype? Could be Rev. John Rippey and Elizabeth Black Rippey,[Marjorie suggests possibly one of William's sisters and husband.]

Don't know who the two pictures above are--is there a family resemblance?[Marjorie suggests this is Michael Harshaw]

This is labeled as "Wm R. Harshaw"--may have been Helen Gold's writing.

I think this picture is likely of the Westminster College graduating class of abt 1880--note the overlap with the first picture.

If you've any ideas as to identity, please comment.

The Return of the McIntires

Thanks to a message from Lorrie Graham in Ancestry on the background of the McIntires I took another look at the mess.  Nine years ago I wrote we had to bid goodbye to them because of a newspaper article saying that Elizabeth Smith was the sister of Capt. William Smith when she married Joseph Rippey.  This, added to her DOB of 1798, meant that she could not be the daughter of William and Isabella McIntire.

But since 2007 Find-a-Grave has done great work.  Their entry for the tombstone of Elizabeth McIntire Smith reads: 42 years, dau of William and Isabella McIntire.  The "42 years" means she was born in 1777.  That fits nicely with the new evidence on the marriage of the McIntires--August 4, 1774. 

So the bottom line now is, assuming the accuracy of the Find-a-Grave data, we must assume either the newspaper article was in error in referring to "brother" rather than "father" William Smith, or that she had a brother William who hasn't shown up in other records.  Either way we can return the McIntires to the ancestry of the Rippeys.  More to follow.

Typing Love Letters

"After their invention in the 1860s, typewriters quickly became indispensable tools for practically all writing other than personal correspondence."  That's from wikipedia.

Shows how much they know.  Among the family heirlooms my sister had were some love letters from my grandfather to my grandmother Ada, typed in 1884.

Harshaw DNA

Cousin Marjorie has posted on Facebook concerning the Harshaw DNA research project.

Jean Louise Harshaw

My sister Jean died 2 weeks ago. Legacy has the obituary.