Wellman Women

Blessing Sisters Story Part 1
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Blessing Sisters Story Part 1

This is the first post in the Blessing Sisters story. Anna Eliza Blessing Winney is my direct ancestor. I’ve previously written posts about her son, Leonard James Winney and his wife, Elizabeth Wellman Winney.

The Blessing family in Virginia

When I first wrote this story in 2018, my limited knowledge of Abraham Blessing was that he ended up in Wisconsin Territory around 1830 with his young daughters, Elizabeth Jane and Anna Eliza, in tow, then abandoned them a few years later. I had the image of a cold man who was estranged from his parents and siblings and didn’t treat his daughters well.

There were very few records to find out more and stories passed down seemed to corroborate this image. Then, as they say, everything changed. In November 26, 2019, I was given access to a private collection of 6 original letters from Abraham Blessing to his family in Ohio, which has enriched this story considerably and shown me that my 4th great grandfather was the complete opposite of what I had imagined. Continue reading →

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Elizabeth Wellman Winney’s Journey from Orphan to Matriarch Part 3

1919 Winney

The Winney family at the Winney Ranch in Anaheim, CA, 1919. Back row L – R: Lou, Elizabeth, Leonard, Abe Front Row L – R: Annie, Mae, Alice, Marie, and Rena.

Elizabeth’s Story

Part 1 of Elizabeth Jane Wellman Winney’s story took Lizzie from the 1860 Census living with her mom, Mary, and sister, Josephine, to 1870 where she’s a 14 year old orphan living with her grandmother, Stephania DeViche Heuertz Gaus, and her family in Bloomington, WI.

In Part 2 of Lizzie’s journey we saw her and Leonard James Winney move from Wisconsin to Iowa around 1883 to have a baby and eventually get married.

Now we move into the next chapter of life for Lizzie, Leonard, and their growing family. Continue reading →

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Elizabeth Wellman Winney’s Journey from Orphan to Matriarch Part 2

Elizabeth’s Story

Elizabeth Wellman and Leonard James Winney family

Elizabeth & Leonard Winney Family

We left off in Part 1 of Elizabeth Jane Wellman Winney’s story in 1870 with Lizzie being 14 years old and living in Bloomington, WI with her grandmother, Stephania DeViche Heuertz Gaus; her step-grandfather; her aunt, Angeline Heuertz; and half-sister Katie Lorenz (Update 1/16/19: my original post said they were cousins. I later found family information that Katie is her half-sister and not her cousin).

Talk about a blended family! I don’t know how old she was when she first started living with them, but I wonder how Lizzie felt to be in this house with this hodgepodge collection of loosely related people. Continue reading →

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Elizabeth Wellman Winney’s Journey from Orphan to Matriarch Part 1

Elizabeth’s Story

Elizabeth Wellman Winney_1919_200px

Elizabeth Wellman Winney, Anaheim Ranch, 1919

Elizabeth Jane Wellman Winney is one of my family mysteries. She’s actually somehow entwined with another mystery for a Kathryn Lorenz that I’ll be writing about shortly.

Elizabeth, or Lizzie as she was known, was born on June 3, 1867 in Clayton County, IA. After months of searching I still I haven’t found any records of who her parents were, with one small exception – the 1870 Census.

According to that Census, taken on June 1, 1870, Lizzie is 3 years old and living in Guttenberg, Iowa with her 2 year old sister, Josephine Wellman, and her mother Mary Wellman. Mary is 28 years old and is listed as being born in Luxembourg.

Lizzie’s father isn’t living with them, and the 1870 Census doesn’t ask if someone is married or not, so I don’t know if Mary is till married to him, his first name, or what’s become of him. Continue reading →