My Mayflower Connection

With today being Thanksgiving, several Geneabloggers have been participating in the meme of listing their Mayflower ancestors.  I discovered a couple of years ago that my family has a direct connection to the Mayflower through the Hopkins line.  I'd appreciate any additions/corrections to this line.

1. Stephen Hopkins (1581-1644) and wife Mary (  -1613).
2. Constance Hopkins (1606-1677) and Nicholas Snow (1598-1676)
3. John Snow (1638-1703) and Mary Smalley (1647-1703)
4. Rebecca Snow (1676-1753) and Benjamin Smalley (1664-1721)
5. Joseph Smalley (1712-1783) and Jemima Ordway
6. Francis Smalley (1744-1811) and Sarah Hutchinson (1750-1780)
7. Thirsa Smalley (1771-1861) and Gordon Pierce (1773-1865)
8. Francis S. Pierce (1806-1881) and Rebecca Page (1806-1893)
9. Edmund G. Pierce (1837-1875) and Catherine Groenendyke (1843-1913)
10. William Francis Pierce (1865-1950) and Clara A. Penisten (1869-1906)
11. Edna Muriel Pierce (1897-1968) and Virgil Lee Wright (1894-1972)
12. William Lee Wright (1919-1973) and Bonnie Mae Lambertson (1924-1984)
13. My mother
14. Me

Stephen Hopkins has an interesting story, his page at Wikipedia gives more detail.  Apparently, he was previously shipwrecked in Bermuda, and was the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest.  Tried for treason, found guilty and sentenced to hang, sounds like my kind of ancestor.

Funeral Record : Catherine Metzner (1819-1910), Jay County, Indiana

Baird & Hardy Funeral Home Records, Jay County, Indiana, 1909-1911

Located the funeral record of Catherine (Young) Metzner (1819-1910), my paternal 3rd-great grandmother, while at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne recently.  Catherine was the daughter of Nicholas and Salome Young and the wife of John Metzner (1805-1888).

According to the record, her death occurred at Rome City, Indiana on June 22nd. This matches the facts I'd already discovered through her obituary.  She was living at the home of her daughter, Mary A. (Metzner) Huey, at the time of her death.

According to the record, she was 91 years old.  The funeral was held at 2 p.m. at Mt. Zion church and interment at Mt. Zion cemetery on June 24th. 

No other pertinent details found, nor did it name the informant.

This book is shelved at the library at Gc 977.201 J33scb 1909-11.

Will Abstract : Lewis Bland (1870) Shelby County, Ohio

Shelby County Ohio Will Abstracts Book 2 1869-1881, Shelby County Genealogical Society, Sidney, Ohio, 1999

page 24 LEWIS BLAND  9 Apr 1866  21 Apr 1870 (A-1872)

Of Jackson Tp.  Mentions wife (not named); son Geo. W. BLAND; dau Jane CLATON; the heirs of son Rolla BLAND; step sons Wm. F. & David SMITH.  Wit. William A. JONES John N.W. KIRTLEY 

Located this will abstract of Lewis Bland while at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne recently.  Lewis was the husband of Martha Lemasters (1799-1844), who was the daughter of Jacob and Hannah (____) Lemasters, making Lewis my paternal 3rd-great granduncle.

The will was dated April 9, 1866 and probated April 21, 1870.  I don't have an exact date of death for Lewis, but it must have been before April 21.  

The naming of at least three children George W., Jane and Rolla will give me more potential relatives to search.  I've not looked into the Bland family to trace the line forward.  They might have more information on my early Lemasters.  Apparently Lewis did remarry after Martha's death.  My sources say Lewis was born in 1799 in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky.  He is buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Jackson Center, Shelby County, Ohio.

Notice that the Claton surname comes back up again, this Jane (Bland) Claton might have been married to a member of the Claton family who married into the Lemasters as well.

I will be looking online at FamilySearch for the original records to see what else I can find about this probate file.