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Subject: WE FINALLY FOUND THE INFORMATION WE WANTED ON THE LEWIS FAMILY-My grandparents actual names were John L. Hanks born in Ohio, and Grace E. Maupin born in Culpepper, VA. My maiden name should have been Hanks, not Lewis!
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 13:59:38 -0500
This is a story about my and my sister's Quest to find the Genealogical information on my Grandparents Kate Ethel Maupin/Lewis and John Henry Lewis.
My sister and I only knew a few things about my grandparents to begin with. We knew my grandmother's maiden name and where we thought she was born. I only found information on the 1910, 1920, and 1930 US Census, and we had found where my grandparents lived and the cemetery where they were buried. We traced them to a Methodist Church in Millersville and they were buried in the cemetery next to the church. They are the only ones in the cemetery, I think, that doesn't have a headstone stating who is buried there (just a plain white stone is marking where they are buried). Only the records that the church had, which my sister and I had researched, was the only paperwork that showed they existed at all!
I knew that eventually I would have to try and find death certificates for them both if I could find the time to go down to the Maryland Vital Statistics in Annapolis, Maryland. My sister and I did go down there this weekend, but then I'm getting ahead of the story.
I had asked my sister, who has more time to look up things on the Web, to look up anything she could find on my grandmother's maiden name, Maupin, from Culpepper, Virginia area. She went on Geeves.com and found someone who invited anyone to e-mail her if they had any questions about the Maupin line, and that she would try to answer anything she might know-if it connected to her line of the Maupins. She mentioned that there are three Maupin lines that come out of Virginia. She returned my sisters e-mail, in which my sister had written the story about trying to find where my grandmother was from, and stated that she didn't know anything in her family history but that she could direct us to an historian of the Maupin family in Virginia. She sent our information onto him and he got back to us almost immediately.
He stated that he thought there was a strong possibility that my grandmother, Kate E. Maupin/Lewis, was actually a missing daughter of the Maupin family, and that her name could possibly be Grace E. Maupin. He had given up on finding anything on her in his research 12 years before! One of the e-mails he sent us was a list of the descendants that had the Maupin family name in it, which listed Grace E. Maupin and her parents and siblings names. He stated that the story went that she had ran away with a neighbor of hers and she had never been heard from again. But even more unbelievable was that she had ran off with a married man (which was my grandfather), who had two children, and on top of that, the person he was married to was actually my grandmother's Aunt (my great grandmother's sister). She was only 18 at the time, and my grandfather was around 30. No wonder she was disinherited from her family, it was around 1900 when all of this happened, and especially back then it was unheard of for anyone to do anything like this.
When they ran away they apparently didn't want anyone from their families to find them, so they changed their names. My grandfather's name is actually John L. Hanks, and my grandmothers was Grace Ethel Maupin. My grandfather had picked the name of John Henry Lewis and he worked for the B&O Railroad. Grandfather had also lost a leg working on the railroad cars. There is a famous story about a man named John Henry, who is connected with the railroad, and this man worked on the Lewis tunnel. I like to think that is why he had picked this name as his first name was actually John, I'll never know for sure, but it sounds like he could have done this.
We were so very excited and overwhelmed with all the information we were finding out. If it was all true then the gentlemen who had e-mailed my sister stated he could connect us with a family member, my second cousin, who is 84 years old. His name is Edgar, and he was getting just as excited as we were, as no one knew of what happened to Grace.
The only way of finding out if any of this was actually true, and we were praying for this, was in the hope of when my grandmother died, that he would have put her parents names, and maiden name on the death certificate. Now you have to know that my father, nor any of his siblings, had any inkling of what my grandparents had done, so unless he had given the correct information on the death certificate, the only other alternative would possibly be a DNA test to prove that the Maupin family was actually our relatives. My father and all of his sisters and one brother have all passed on, and the rest of the family, which weren't many, have gone to parts unknown. There was no paper trail, no pictures, no SS #'s , no stories to pass on- nothing that we could go on to carry on our research.
Not 5 minutes after we had gone down to the Maryland Vital Statistics building in Annapolis, Maryland, one of the staff was able to bring up my grandmother's death certificate. And low and behold we found the information we were so wanting to know! It was the written proof of our connection with the Maupin Family from Culpepper, Virginia. It lists my grand father's name, Horace Maupin, and my grandmother's name, Emma Pendleton. My grandfather must have not been sure exactly how to spell her name because it was actually Minnie Pemberton. But I think he just didn't remember her actual name, but I think it's close enough. We were ecstatic I can tell you, becoming teary eyed and everything!!!!!
My sister wrote back the gentlemen who had sent us the descendant list and told him what we had found on the death certificate. He e-mailed my sister back with our 84 year old cousins phone # and address. My sister called him last night. He was so happy to hear from us. He went onto say that they all had thought she had run away with a Union Officer from the Civil War. He stated that my grandfather, Horace Maupin, had been a confederate soldier in the Civil War, and that they still have the saber that he use to carry. He went onto say that the Homestead is still standing, and that it was right next to the river. He stated that he would be delighted to show us it when we come up for a visit, once the weather breaks, and that we could meet some of the other family members who are still living and also visit the cemeteries where our relatives are buried.
As far as my grandfather John L. Hanks, the genealogical lists him being married to Nannie Pemberton with two children. It also lists my great grandparents as Mrs. Vermont born Hanks and Mr. New York born Hanks. With the help of Ancestry,com, it possibly shows that Cyrus R. Hanks and Sarah Hanks as being my great grandparents, and John L. Hanks as being their son. And from there is Uriah Hanks., etc.
I tell you this is a story to write in the books. I thought with anyone interested in doing genealogical research you might think so to.
If anyone has any information on Cyrus R. Hanks, and Sarah Hanks I would greatly appreciate you contacting me.
Sincerly,
Jeannette
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