http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/06/02/fcfriend.ART_ART_06-02-08_B4_ONACI6L.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101
"Family reunions are very big business," said Louise Jones, the head of research services at the Ohio Historical Society. "They are part of what is called heritage tourism. A lot of companies market to that, like reunions.com."
About 60 descendants of James Seneca Tyler, the first black clerk of the Ohio House of Representatives and an early settler of central Ohio in the 1800s, gathered in Columbus for a family reunion in 2005. The Ohio Historical Society helped with reunion activities and hopes to work with more families in the future, Jones said.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Connection made with Kelley Family
The process of researching the details of Ann Fowler McAfee's life started last summer after a trip to Columbus and an afternoon spent at COSI (Center of Science and Industry).
After returning back to Chicago and doing extensive web searches on Alfred Kelley as well as contacting the the Columbus Main Library, I discovered detailed stories about the Kelly's written by Darlene Kelley. We made contact almost exactly a year ago and she in fact was the person who supplied me with the photos of the Kelley Cleveland homestead as well as the Kelley home in Lowville, NY.
All of our communication has been via email, and it was not until yesterday that we had our first phone conversation. I sent her a copy of the press release that went out from the Ohio Historical Society and she replied with well wishes and her phone number. I called her. We had a lovely conversation. She shared with me that the family was shocked to learn that "Ann" was black.We talked a bit about Mary Seymour Kelley's wedding letter.
Darlene was kind to say that she wished she could attend the event but due to her health would be unable to travel. In lieu of being able to join us, I offered her the opportunity to share a few words with the family about her thoughts about the Kelley-Tyler family connection and this is the email I received last night:
~~~
As a representative of the Kelley family I have been asked to write a few words in recognition of the Tyler Legacy project, which I feel honored and privileged to have been asked to do so. My representation is through Judge Daniel Kelley and Jemima ( Stow ) Kelley, the Father and Mother of Alfred Kelley and brother Thomas Moore Kelley. Thomas Moore Kelley being the youngest living brother of Alfred Kelley.
Alfred Kelley, the second son of Daniel and Jemima ( Stow ) Kelley, was born at Middlefield, Connecticut., Nov. 7, 1789. In 1789 his father removed to Lowville, N.Y., where Alfred attended the common schools and was four years a student at Fairfield Academy, from which institution he received a curious diploma bearing the date Sept 9, 1807, addressed " to all whom these presents shall come." and reciting that " Alfred Kelley, has been a member of this Academy, four years, that he has sustained a good moral character and made laudable progress in acquiring the knowledge of the Arts and Sciences, and is according recommended to the attention and employment of a generous public."
In 1807, he entered the law office of Judge Jonas Platt, of the Supreme Court of New York, where he remained until 1810, when he came to Cleveland, Ohio, on horseback in company of his uncle, Judge Joshua Stow, of Conn and with others. At the time of their arrival, Cleveland contained three frame ad six log houses. Its population that year was 57 people.
Alfred Kelley was admitted to the bar on November 7, 1810, and on the same day, being his twenty-first birthday, was appointed by the court to the office of prosecuting attorney, in which office be held by sucessive appointments until 1822.
In 1814, he began the construction of a stone house on the bluff overlooking Lake Erie, a short distance easterly from the old light house. To it he brought his wife and Ann Fowler in 1817.
On August 25th, 1817, Alfred Kelley married Mary Seymour Wells, oldest daughter of Major Melancthon Woolsey and Abigail ( Buel ) Wells of Lowville, New York. A letter from the young bride to her mother, dated from Cleveland, Ohio, October 29th, 1817, show the graphic journey from Lowville, to Cleveland with a stop over at Niagra Falls. It seems that accompanying the bride and groom were several people, Ann Fowler and Sarah (? )
It is assumed that both were a wedding present from Major Welles, to his daughter and new son in law, knowing that Ohio was a beginning state and would be making new laws regarding freeing of slaves and indentured servants.
With Alfred being a prosecuting attorney, he knew that Alfred would go far in the making of Ohio's new laws.
" I write you my dear mother, from Buffalo after our arrival. Alfred endeavored to obtain a passage in some vessel to go directly up the lake, but the wind was unfair and there was only one vessel bound for Cleveland, which was loaded very full of families who were moving. We thought best to wait a few days in hopes the wind will change and expecting some vessel from Cleveland would come in. In the meantime we visited the falls, left Ann and Sarah at the public house in Buffalo, where Ann was so well contented, we could hardly persuade her to leave there.
[ the letter goes on to describe the falls and lodgings. ] We returned to Buffalo on Sunday. The wind changed during the night, so all the vessels went out that were ready. Monday we learned that the Eagle, a vessel belonging to Cleveland, expected to go up the lake in six or seven days. Alfred thought if we waited so long to take a passage, the wind might again be unfavorable and as his business required his immediate return, we concluded to come by land. Sarah, Ann and myself, particularly me, felt very much disappointed and very low spirited to think of jolting over the road six days longer, but the event has proved that Alfred knew much better than we did, what was proper to do. We traveled over the most awful roads you can hardly conceive of. I had no idea that roads could be so intolerable. The first day we rode nineteen miles, stayed at a tavern, which was so crowded with movers, who spread their beds so thick on the floor, you could not step without stepping on someone. The next day early we started again, rode some distance on the beach around the points of rocks in the water, where the waves dashed over the backs of the horses. Should have rode about four miles on the beach and in the lake, had the lake been calm, and by that means avoided the four mile woods between Buffalo and Cataraugus, which road is terror to all who move into this country. Sarah and I walked four miles that day. Alfred drove the carriage and by crooking about, avoided the main traveled road and got safely through without even breaking the carriage.
We saw several wagons stuck in the mud, children crying, women discouraged and etc. We can only, however, say we have seen some of the hardships of a new country, but are fortunate to have not experienced them. The counrty through which we traveled is very new, some excellent land, very good looking farms, a great many fruit trees everwhere along the road. We reached here just a week from the day we left Buffalo.
Alfred's house is very pleasantly situated. I think it is pleasantness in town. We were received very affectionately by all the Kelley family, particularly the old gentleman.( Daniel Kelley )."
The rest of the story I am sure has been well told of Ann Fowler. The Kelley family was a kind and understanding family and worked publicly to change the laws that created the great history of Ohio. Through the Legislature and Senate, Alfred Kelley worked hard, closing his public career as a member, from Columbus, of the State Senate of 1857. At the end of his term in the Senate, he was the oldest member of the legislature, as, in 1814, he was the youngest. His death occurred December 2, 1859. It is said of him that few persons have ever lived who, merely by personal exertions, left behind them more numerous and lasting monumets of patient and useful labor. probably Ohio owes more of her material development to him than to any one citizen, she has ever had.
Mary Seymour ( Wells ) Kelley, died May 19, 1882.
The children of Alfred and Mary Kelley were as follows and were raised along with Ann Fowler.
Maria; b. July 15, 1818; d. Mar 21, 1887
Jane; b. Feb 20, 1820; d. Oct 16, 1897
Charlotte; b. Apr 8, 1822; d. Oct 4, 1828
Edward: b. Apr 23, 1824; d. July 28, 1825 Adelaide; b.June 28,1826; d.Sept 25,1826 Henry; b. Sept 18, 1828; d. Aug 20, 1830 Helen; b. April 3, 1831
Frank; b. Mar 9, 1834; d. Oct 6, 1838 Annie; b.Aug 6, 1836; d.
Feb 26, 1888
Alfred; b. Sept 8, 1839
Katherine; b. Sept 30, 1841.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thank you for including me in your great celebration. You are a family I am sure that Alfred and Mary Kelley would be very proud of-- I know that I am!
Darlene E Kelley
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Press Release launched by Ohio Historical Society
For Immediate Release: July 22, 2005
OHS PARTNERS WITH TYLER FAMILY IN LEGACY PROJECT
Historic African American family to meet in homecoming events Aug. 5-6 in Columbus
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Descendants of James Seneca Tyler, first African American elected Clerk to the Ohio House of Representatives, and his wife, Maria McAfee, daughter of an indentured servant who helped raise the children of the prominent Alfred Kelley family of Columbus, will meet August 5-6 in Columbus for the Tyler Family Homecoming. Many of the descendants will be meeting each other for the first time.
In the Tyler Family Legacy Project, a partnership between the Tyler family and the Ohio Historical Society, the Tyler Family Homecoming will include a reception, a small exhibit and a genealogical workshop at the Ohio Historical Center’s Archives/Library in Columbus. Staff members of the Ohio Historical Society will videotape interviews with Tyler family members, make copies for the family and place the series of recordings in the Society’s permanent collections. In addition, the Tyler family and the Ohio Historical Society will unveil an Ohio Historical Marker about the Tyler family, which will be placed in Goodale Park in Columbus later this year. James Seneca Tyler lived at 1107 Highland Ave. in Victorian Village with his family from the 1880s until his death in 1916.
“The Ohio Historical Society is delighted to partner with the Tyler family on this important legacy project,” said Cynthia Ghering, assistant director of curatorial services for the Ohio Historical Society. “Our collections include some significant material about the family of James Seneca Tyler and Maria McAfee Tyler. We believe it’s vitally important to continue to document this family’s history and to share it with others.”
Distinguished family members include James Seneca Tyler (1837-1916), the first African-American elected Clerk to the Ohio House of Representatives and a personal friend to former Governor Joseph B. Foraker and President William McKinley; and sons Jesse Gerald Tyler (1879-1932), an accomplished classical pianist; physician James Adolph Tyler (1871-1932); and journalist Ralph Waldo Tyler (1859-1921), the first black war correspondent to report on the activities of Negro soldiers stationed overseas during World War I. Ralph Waldo Tyler also worked as society editor for The Columbus Dispatch, cultivating as sources his many acquaintances who were servants of prominent families of Columbus. Tyler also was secretary to Robert F. Wolfe, publisher of The Dispatch and The Ohio State Journal.
In addition, James Seneca Tyler’s grandsons, all deceased, include Harold McAfee Tyler, a civil rights lawyer who defended the Tuskegee Airmen; Waldo Woodson Tyler, a pharmacist and entrepreneur who founded Tyler Drug Stores; and Ralph C. Tyler, an engineer and stand-out Ohio State University athlete who founded the Ralph Tyler Companies, an engineering and architectural consulting firm in Cleveland.
Living descendants of James Seneca Tyler and Maria McAfee Tyler include Dana Tyler, great-great-granddaughter, co-anchor for WCBS-TV in New York and a former journalist for WBNS-TV in Columbus; Lauren Tyler, great-great granddaughter, investment banker and venture capitalist in New York; Ralph S. Tyler, great grandson, lawyer and civic leader in Cleveland; Charles Tyler Collins, great grandson, former tour director for Stevie Wonder; and Collins' daughter, Tyler Collins, an accomplished recording artist currently working under the Disney label. The family’s achievements also are noted in Annette Taborn, a blues singer, and Amy Tyler Wilkins, a principal partner in The Education Trust, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to educational reform.
OHS PARTNERS WITH TYLER FAMILY IN LEGACY PROJECT
Historic African American family to meet in homecoming events Aug. 5-6 in Columbus
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Descendants of James Seneca Tyler, first African American elected Clerk to the Ohio House of Representatives, and his wife, Maria McAfee, daughter of an indentured servant who helped raise the children of the prominent Alfred Kelley family of Columbus, will meet August 5-6 in Columbus for the Tyler Family Homecoming. Many of the descendants will be meeting each other for the first time.
In the Tyler Family Legacy Project, a partnership between the Tyler family and the Ohio Historical Society, the Tyler Family Homecoming will include a reception, a small exhibit and a genealogical workshop at the Ohio Historical Center’s Archives/Library in Columbus. Staff members of the Ohio Historical Society will videotape interviews with Tyler family members, make copies for the family and place the series of recordings in the Society’s permanent collections. In addition, the Tyler family and the Ohio Historical Society will unveil an Ohio Historical Marker about the Tyler family, which will be placed in Goodale Park in Columbus later this year. James Seneca Tyler lived at 1107 Highland Ave. in Victorian Village with his family from the 1880s until his death in 1916.
“The Ohio Historical Society is delighted to partner with the Tyler family on this important legacy project,” said Cynthia Ghering, assistant director of curatorial services for the Ohio Historical Society. “Our collections include some significant material about the family of James Seneca Tyler and Maria McAfee Tyler. We believe it’s vitally important to continue to document this family’s history and to share it with others.”
Distinguished family members include James Seneca Tyler (1837-1916), the first African-American elected Clerk to the Ohio House of Representatives and a personal friend to former Governor Joseph B. Foraker and President William McKinley; and sons Jesse Gerald Tyler (1879-1932), an accomplished classical pianist; physician James Adolph Tyler (1871-1932); and journalist Ralph Waldo Tyler (1859-1921), the first black war correspondent to report on the activities of Negro soldiers stationed overseas during World War I. Ralph Waldo Tyler also worked as society editor for The Columbus Dispatch, cultivating as sources his many acquaintances who were servants of prominent families of Columbus. Tyler also was secretary to Robert F. Wolfe, publisher of The Dispatch and The Ohio State Journal.
In addition, James Seneca Tyler’s grandsons, all deceased, include Harold McAfee Tyler, a civil rights lawyer who defended the Tuskegee Airmen; Waldo Woodson Tyler, a pharmacist and entrepreneur who founded Tyler Drug Stores; and Ralph C. Tyler, an engineer and stand-out Ohio State University athlete who founded the Ralph Tyler Companies, an engineering and architectural consulting firm in Cleveland.
Living descendants of James Seneca Tyler and Maria McAfee Tyler include Dana Tyler, great-great-granddaughter, co-anchor for WCBS-TV in New York and a former journalist for WBNS-TV in Columbus; Lauren Tyler, great-great granddaughter, investment banker and venture capitalist in New York; Ralph S. Tyler, great grandson, lawyer and civic leader in Cleveland; Charles Tyler Collins, great grandson, former tour director for Stevie Wonder; and Collins' daughter, Tyler Collins, an accomplished recording artist currently working under the Disney label. The family’s achievements also are noted in Annette Taborn, a blues singer, and Amy Tyler Wilkins, a principal partner in The Education Trust, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to educational reform.
The Homecoming will bring together about 60 of James Seneca Tyler’s descendants, most of them meeting for the first time, said Kelly McCoy Williams, a Tyler descendant and director of business development for icrossing Inc. in Chicago.
“Tyler descendants share a legacy of achievement that has not only impacted the state of Ohio and the city of Columbus but also illustrates the contributions of an African American family to Ohio’s rich history,” said McCoy Williams, co-chair of the project. “The Homecoming is a great opportunity for the descendants who live in Ohio and in other parts of the country to come back to Columbus and our roots. We are pleased to have the support of the Ohio Historical Society in documenting, preserving and sharing our family’s fascinating history.”
McCoy Williams said the Homecoming project began last summer after she and her family visited COSI in Columbus and saw a picture of an old mansion in an Ohio Historical Society exhibit now belonging to the Columbus Historical Society and on display at COSI. The mansion was the Alfred Kelley home on East Broad Street, which was demolished in 1961.
“I knew something of my family’s connection to that house, through Maria McAfee’s mother, Ann Fowler,” McCoy Williams said.
In 1817, when Ann Fowler was five years old, Major Melancthon Woolsey Welles separated the child from her mother and gave her as “wedding gift” to his daughter Mary Seymour Welles and his new son-in-law Alfred Kelley to accompany them on their journey to the Ohio frontier and to serve as nurse for their future children. Ann and her mother were the property of Welles of Lowville, N.Y., when slavery was still legal in that state.
Alfred Kelley was among the first 50 settlers of Cleveland, its first mayor and a major property owner. Kelley’s Island was named after him. He served in the state legislature and moved to Columbus in 1830 as he developed Ohio’s canal system. Alfred and Mary Kelley had 11 children, nine of them born before Ann Fowler married William L. McAfee. The McAfees’ daughter, Maria McAfee, married James Seneca Tyler in 1859.
“When I saw the picture of the Kelley mansion, I knew that my ancestor, Ann Fowler, had helped raise the Kelley children,” McCoy Williams. “My husband encouraged me to delve deeper into my family history, and I did.”
In addition to a reception at the Ohio Historical Center on Friday, Aug. 5, reunion activities include a genealogical workshop on Saturday morning at the Ohio Historical Center and a keynote talk Saturday evening, at Embassy Suites Dublin, by Larry Lorenz, a journalism professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, who recently published, “Ralph Waldo Tyler: the Unknown Correspondent of World War I,” in Journalism History, an academic journal.
The Tyler Family Legacy Project is the first in-depth partnership between an Ohio family and the Ohio Historical Society. The Tyler family reunion Aug. 5-6 follows another African American family reunion hosted at an Ohio Historical Society site this summer. On July 16, descendants of President Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings met at Adena Mansion & Gardens in Chillicothe in the family’s first reunion outside of Virginia.
For more information on the Tyler Family Legacy Project and homecoming activities, visit www.tylerfamilylegacy.com or contact Kelly McCoy Williams at 888.232.1906.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Tyler Family Legacy in google index
The family website now appears in Google, Yahoo, Dogpile, MSN and a few other search engines. We currently rank for keywords such as "Tyler Family Legacy", "Ralph Waldo Tyler", "Ann Fowler McAfee". More rankings to come.....
Ohio Historical Marker approved
The Ohio Historical Society Local History Dept. Has reviewed and approved the text for the James S. Tyler/Tyler Family Legacy Historical Marker. This is an exciting announcement for the project.
The Homecoming Committee is currently working with the City of Columbus and the Victorian Village Preservation Commission to get approval for the marker to be placed Goodale Park which is 3 block away from the site of the former family home at 1107 Highland Ave.
The Marker will be unveiled at the Friday reception at the Ohio historical Society. The formal "dedication' will happen later in the fall once we receive approval for placing it in Goodale Park.
Thanks to all family members who made a financial contribution towards the purchase of the Marker.
The Homecoming Committee is currently working with the City of Columbus and the Victorian Village Preservation Commission to get approval for the marker to be placed Goodale Park which is 3 block away from the site of the former family home at 1107 Highland Ave.
The Marker will be unveiled at the Friday reception at the Ohio historical Society. The formal "dedication' will happen later in the fall once we receive approval for placing it in Goodale Park.
Thanks to all family members who made a financial contribution towards the purchase of the Marker.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Karen Taborn makes additional research discoveries!
Here's more from Karen on her genealogical research........
I'm very excited for what I found at the Schomburg Library's online list of holdings. They have copies from the first decades of the 20th century of the Cleveland Advocate, the Ohio State Journal, The Cleveland Gazette and I've already looked at the Schomburg's holdings from BT Washington's National Negro Business League --all holdings include documents by or about RW Tyler. So as soon as possible I will start researching these and I'm sure I'll be able to update and enlarge the bio......
Karen
I'm very excited for what I found at the Schomburg Library's online list of holdings. They have copies from the first decades of the 20th century of the Cleveland Advocate, the Ohio State Journal, The Cleveland Gazette and I've already looked at the Schomburg's holdings from BT Washington's National Negro Business League --all holdings include documents by or about RW Tyler. So as soon as possible I will start researching these and I'm sure I'll be able to update and enlarge the bio......
Karen
From cousin Karen Taborn of NYC
Karen Taborn writes from New York...............
Dear family members,
I am the daughter of Jeannette Taborn. Jeannette is the daughter of Ralph Tyler II. My mother, other members of my family and myself are planning on meeting you all in Columbus in August. I'm thrilled with the work Kelly and the Homecoming Committee members are making toward are upcoming August 5-6 meeting. I've been reading the articles by and about RW Tyler posted on the Ohio Historical Society's website and information housed at the Schomburg Library in New York City and hope to update my brief bio on RW Tyler on the Homecoming site within the coming weeks.
Best wishes to you all and I'm really looking forward to meeting you this summer!
Karen Taborn
Dear family members,
I am the daughter of Jeannette Taborn. Jeannette is the daughter of Ralph Tyler II. My mother, other members of my family and myself are planning on meeting you all in Columbus in August. I'm thrilled with the work Kelly and the Homecoming Committee members are making toward are upcoming August 5-6 meeting. I've been reading the articles by and about RW Tyler posted on the Ohio Historical Society's website and information housed at the Schomburg Library in New York City and hope to update my brief bio on RW Tyler on the Homecoming site within the coming weeks.
Best wishes to you all and I'm really looking forward to meeting you this summer!
Karen Taborn
Monday, March 21, 2005
Family tree update from Katherine Tyler
Email received from Katherine Tyler, daughter of Ralph & Zoe Tyler of cleveland Heights, OH....
Hi im Katherine Sydney tyler (daughter of Ralph and Zoe). Im 16 and from cleveland and found the web site...very cool. just some additions to help you out..
1) Ralph Harrison Tyler = my older brother, born January 5, 1986
2)my sister Mariel Elizabeth and i are twins and our birthday is April 5, 1988
3)My older sister Sarah Louise Tyler birthday is Decmber 6, 1979
4)our cousins (daughter of Kim Tyler and Micheal Wright (who is deceased) ) are Leah Wright whose birthday is June 30, 1978 and her younger sister Chaney Wright whose Birthday is May 25, 19 they have a younger brother named Kendall Pleasant born November 10, 1994
5) Lauren and Steve Mersereau have one more child ...her name is Cole Anne Mersereau born April 9th, 2002
Hi im Katherine Sydney tyler (daughter of Ralph and Zoe). Im 16 and from cleveland and found the web site...very cool. just some additions to help you out..
1) Ralph Harrison Tyler = my older brother, born January 5, 1986
2)my sister Mariel Elizabeth and i are twins and our birthday is April 5, 1988
3)My older sister Sarah Louise Tyler birthday is Decmber 6, 1979
4)our cousins (daughter of Kim Tyler and Micheal Wright (who is deceased) ) are Leah Wright whose birthday is June 30, 1978 and her younger sister Chaney Wright whose Birthday is May 25, 19 they have a younger brother named Kendall Pleasant born November 10, 1994
5) Lauren and Steve Mersereau have one more child ...her name is Cole Anne Mersereau born April 9th, 2002
Email from Eve T. Wikins re: Everett Tyler
Thanks to cousin Jeanette Taborn for making the connection for the Everett Tyler branch of the family. The following email was received today from his daughter, Eve T. Wilkins........
Everett Tyler's mother died when he was very young, he spent many of his youth with his maternal grandparents in Cleveland, where he graduated from East Tech High School where he was on the track team He graduated fom Ohio State. Returning to Cleveland. he graduated from the John Marshall School of Law, while a student there he worked as a sportswriter at the Cleveland Call and Post. In 1928, following her grauation he married Edna Mayer. (b. 1908, in Washington, D.C.) when she was a student at Oberlin College. They met at the home of Gerald Tyler where she along with other Oberlin students lived with Gerald Tyler and his family.
Following their marriage Everett and Edna settled in Cleveland and had one child, EveEstelle Tyler, (b. 1933). Everett practiced law there and Edna, after receiving her Masters in Social Work, worked in Department of Welfare. Both Everett and Edna died in 1991 in Cleveland.
Eve graduated from the University of Michigan in 1955, married Roger Wilkins in 1956, divorced in 1976. They had two children:
Amy Tyler Wilkins, b. 1959, Booklyn NY, married Lane Davenport --1 child, Tyler Edward Davenport b.2002
David Earl Wilkins b. 1964
Eve recently retired from the US Department of State, Office of Protocol, she has lived in Washington since 1973.
Eve, Amy and her family live in Washington
David lives in Baltimore.
I will try to answer any questions, thank you for all of hard work.
Eve Tyler Wilkins
Everett Tyler's mother died when he was very young, he spent many of his youth with his maternal grandparents in Cleveland, where he graduated from East Tech High School where he was on the track team He graduated fom Ohio State. Returning to Cleveland. he graduated from the John Marshall School of Law, while a student there he worked as a sportswriter at the Cleveland Call and Post. In 1928, following her grauation he married Edna Mayer. (b. 1908, in Washington, D.C.) when she was a student at Oberlin College. They met at the home of Gerald Tyler where she along with other Oberlin students lived with Gerald Tyler and his family.
Following their marriage Everett and Edna settled in Cleveland and had one child, EveEstelle Tyler, (b. 1933). Everett practiced law there and Edna, after receiving her Masters in Social Work, worked in Department of Welfare. Both Everett and Edna died in 1991 in Cleveland.
Eve graduated from the University of Michigan in 1955, married Roger Wilkins in 1956, divorced in 1976. They had two children:
Amy Tyler Wilkins, b. 1959, Booklyn NY, married Lane Davenport --1 child, Tyler Edward Davenport b.2002
David Earl Wilkins b. 1964
Eve recently retired from the US Department of State, Office of Protocol, she has lived in Washington since 1973.
Eve, Amy and her family live in Washington
David lives in Baltimore.
I will try to answer any questions, thank you for all of hard work.
Eve Tyler Wilkins
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Family Research continues.....
Details are really moving along and I'm going to be adding posts more frequently to help let everyone know how all aspects of the homecoming areprogressing. In addition to focusing on event details, keeping the family research moving forward is something I really enjoy.
Ancestry.com has bee an excellent tool for researching the family. They continue to add more and more records so something I searched for 6 months ago may be in their databases now. I've been able to find census, military and birth-death records for many of James S. Tyler's children. I found his Civil war pension record as well as listings in Columbus, Oh directories that showed several of his positions such as cook, watchman and clerk. Many of his sons worked as porters at one time or another. James A, who was the doctor showed up as a porter in the 1880 census. Ralph W. shows up in the 1880 census as a grocer.
AnnMcAfee, James S. Tylers mother-in-law shows up in the 1850,1860 and 1870 census as a widow, so I'm still not certain when her husband, William Logan McAfee died. Did you realize that James S. Tylers mother as well as mother in-law were names Ann?
Another question is confirmation that Mariah (James S. Tyler's wife) had a sister names Clara who appears to have married her husband's brother William H. Tyler. Also living in Oberlin around the turn of the century were Mariah's daughter Ethel, who eventually married a Taborn (So did cousin Jeannette, she'll have to fill us in on the relation) and her son Jesse Gerald who was the first African American graduate of the Oberlin Music Conservatory in 1904.
It seems that Clara and William H. had several children who died either at birth or early in childhood according to birial records from Greenlawn Cemetary. One son appears to have lived to adulthood, William H. Tyler Jr. who seemed to have lived with his Uncle James. He shows up on the 1880 census as "nephew".
The Tyler's family home was located at 1107 Highland and all 12 children were born there. Census records also indicate the family having lived at 25 Highland as well. Interesting is that in all the articles written about family members they reference that they lived in a "brick home". That must have been a big deal for colored folk to live in a brick home.
The most interesting discovery of late was made over the weekend in relation to Britton Green. It is known fact that James Seneca's family came from Dinwiddie County Virginia. Britton Green was James S. Tyler's Grandfather. According to an article written in 1902, Britton and Sylvia Green along with their daughter Ann and her husband Walter Tyler were manumitted from slaverly sometime in 1837, possibly even in September and traveled to Columbus Ohio that month. Ann apparently was 9-moths pregnant during their journey as she gave birth to James Seneca Tyler on Oct. 13, 1837.
By chance I did a search for Britton Green and discovered him in the 1830 census in Dinwiddie County Virginia!!!!!!! What was fascinating and intriguing at the same time is that for him to be included in the census, he had to have been a free person of color. So was he free and Walter was still a slave? Oral history and included in an article about James S. later in life is that his father served in the Mexican War of 1846-1848. So he had to have been free too. Maybe it was Britton wh owas manumitted sometime earlier and they thy decided to leave. The only problem was that Virginia law at the time stipulated that all recently manumitted slaves had 30 days to leave the state after their manumission or they risked being returnd to slavery.
I have an made initial contact with the Historical Society of Dinwiddie as well as the county recorder of deeds and hope to gather more information on their manumission and find out who owned them.
Uncle Paul's family tree traces the McAfees back to a Dinah Henderson born in 1763. Accounts of William Logan McAfee state that he was from Virginia and was a "very bright mulatto". I was asked by a co-worker what mulatto meant. It was a common word for mixed race Americans taken from Mule, for hybrid. Several family members were listed as "mulatto" even in the census including Ralph W. Tyler, Mariah Tyler and James Adolph Tyler.
My ultimate goal is to discover our first ancestor who arrived in America. It boggles my mind that we have ancestors that were free as early as 1830. Something to think about......
Ancestry.com has bee an excellent tool for researching the family. They continue to add more and more records so something I searched for 6 months ago may be in their databases now. I've been able to find census, military and birth-death records for many of James S. Tyler's children. I found his Civil war pension record as well as listings in Columbus, Oh directories that showed several of his positions such as cook, watchman and clerk. Many of his sons worked as porters at one time or another. James A, who was the doctor showed up as a porter in the 1880 census. Ralph W. shows up in the 1880 census as a grocer.
AnnMcAfee, James S. Tylers mother-in-law shows up in the 1850,1860 and 1870 census as a widow, so I'm still not certain when her husband, William Logan McAfee died. Did you realize that James S. Tylers mother as well as mother in-law were names Ann?
Another question is confirmation that Mariah (James S. Tyler's wife) had a sister names Clara who appears to have married her husband's brother William H. Tyler. Also living in Oberlin around the turn of the century were Mariah's daughter Ethel, who eventually married a Taborn (So did cousin Jeannette, she'll have to fill us in on the relation) and her son Jesse Gerald who was the first African American graduate of the Oberlin Music Conservatory in 1904.
It seems that Clara and William H. had several children who died either at birth or early in childhood according to birial records from Greenlawn Cemetary. One son appears to have lived to adulthood, William H. Tyler Jr. who seemed to have lived with his Uncle James. He shows up on the 1880 census as "nephew".
The Tyler's family home was located at 1107 Highland and all 12 children were born there. Census records also indicate the family having lived at 25 Highland as well. Interesting is that in all the articles written about family members they reference that they lived in a "brick home". That must have been a big deal for colored folk to live in a brick home.
The most interesting discovery of late was made over the weekend in relation to Britton Green. It is known fact that James Seneca's family came from Dinwiddie County Virginia. Britton Green was James S. Tyler's Grandfather. According to an article written in 1902, Britton and Sylvia Green along with their daughter Ann and her husband Walter Tyler were manumitted from slaverly sometime in 1837, possibly even in September and traveled to Columbus Ohio that month. Ann apparently was 9-moths pregnant during their journey as she gave birth to James Seneca Tyler on Oct. 13, 1837.
By chance I did a search for Britton Green and discovered him in the 1830 census in Dinwiddie County Virginia!!!!!!! What was fascinating and intriguing at the same time is that for him to be included in the census, he had to have been a free person of color. So was he free and Walter was still a slave? Oral history and included in an article about James S. later in life is that his father served in the Mexican War of 1846-1848. So he had to have been free too. Maybe it was Britton wh owas manumitted sometime earlier and they thy decided to leave. The only problem was that Virginia law at the time stipulated that all recently manumitted slaves had 30 days to leave the state after their manumission or they risked being returnd to slavery.
I have an made initial contact with the Historical Society of Dinwiddie as well as the county recorder of deeds and hope to gather more information on their manumission and find out who owned them.
Uncle Paul's family tree traces the McAfees back to a Dinah Henderson born in 1763. Accounts of William Logan McAfee state that he was from Virginia and was a "very bright mulatto". I was asked by a co-worker what mulatto meant. It was a common word for mixed race Americans taken from Mule, for hybrid. Several family members were listed as "mulatto" even in the census including Ralph W. Tyler, Mariah Tyler and James Adolph Tyler.
My ultimate goal is to discover our first ancestor who arrived in America. It boggles my mind that we have ancestors that were free as early as 1830. Something to think about......
Monday, January 03, 2005
Welcome to the Tyler McAfee Family Blog
Greeting family and friends!
Happy New Year!This is a new feature added to the Tyler Family Legacy website. I've had the opportunity to talk to and email with so many family members and hopefully this blog will allow the conversations to flow beyond me so that more folks can experience the growing excitement about the Homecoming.
This blog will be a great way to interact and stay abreast of plans for this summer event. Hopefully, the blog will also be a way for people to ask questions, share family photos, memories and connect. I plan to post what's been taking place with event details and and invite everyone to join the dialogue!
Kelly
Happy New Year!This is a new feature added to the Tyler Family Legacy website. I've had the opportunity to talk to and email with so many family members and hopefully this blog will allow the conversations to flow beyond me so that more folks can experience the growing excitement about the Homecoming.
This blog will be a great way to interact and stay abreast of plans for this summer event. Hopefully, the blog will also be a way for people to ask questions, share family photos, memories and connect. I plan to post what's been taking place with event details and and invite everyone to join the dialogue!
Kelly
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