Tag Archives: Douglass family

John Douglass: So Far Away (52 Ancestors #6)

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John Douglass seems so distant. He was born and married far from me. He and his young family traveled far from their home. And he died far from where his wife and children ended up.

John Douglass, my 4th-great-grandfather, married Susannah Howey on 4 June 1790 in Kirknewton parish, Northumberland Co, England.1)Parish registers for Kirknewton, 1784-1960, Register of Marriages 1790-1806, FamilySearch microfilm 252590. In 1818, John, Susannah, and six of their children came to the United States.2)Minnie Kendall Lowther, History of Ritchie County, (Wheeling, WV: Wheeling Litho, 1911), p. 175. According to History of Ritchie County, John caught a fever and died in Philadelphia a week after arriving.3)Lowther, History of Ritchie County, p. 176.

Susannah and the children eventually ended up in Ritchie County, (West) Virginia.4)Ibid.

From England to Pennsylvania, but couldn’t follow the family to the wilds of western Virginia. John Douglass was so far away.

There is a lot yet to discover about this family. I just found this record yesterday at the Family History Library before the start of the FGS 2015 and RootsTech conferences. (I even had to go far away to get this record!)

John Douglass and Susannah Howey marriage record, Kirknewton parish records, Northumberland, England.

John Douglass and Susannah Howey marriage record, Kirknewton parish records, Northumberland, England.

References   [ + ]

1. Parish registers for Kirknewton, 1784-1960, Register of Marriages 1790-1806, FamilySearch microfilm 252590.
2. Minnie Kendall Lowther, History of Ritchie County, (Wheeling, WV: Wheeling Litho, 1911), p. 175.
3. Lowther, History of Ritchie County, p. 176.
4. Ibid.