Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Recent Genealogy Find about an Ancestor

This weekend on Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, the assignment is:

1)  Share a recent genealogy find about an ancestor or family, such as a new name, document or even a clue towards cracking a brick wall.

2) Tell us about your recent genealogy find in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status  post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

In my mother's line, there is a family of the surname Sunderland.  My maternal great-great grandmother was Sarah Ann Sunderland, daughter of Benjamin Sunderland and Margaret Emeline Weller [1].

There is, among the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, a letter to Lincoln from a friend, another Illinois lawyer named Major Wellman Packard, my great-great-great granduncle [2].  Major is his given name, not a military rank, but in the family he is generally known as Wellman, and he often signed his name as M. W. Packard.  In this letter to Abe Lincoln, Wellman Packard mentions his brother-in-law, N. S. Sunderland.  In researching him, I found marriage documents and other original sources, including his father-in-law's will [3].

My research revealed that Wellman Packard was married to Ellen Harris, daughter of Israel Harris [I have not yet identified Ellen's mother] [4].  N. S. Sunderland [Nathaniel Strong Sunderland] was married to Ellen's sister Rachel [5].  N. S. was the son of Peter Sunderland and Nancy Ann Robbins [6].  Benjamin Sunderland (Sarah Ann Sunderland's father, remember?) was also the son of Peter Sunderland and Nancy Ann Robbins [7].  So N. S. Sunderland was my great-great-great granduncle, the brother of my great-great-great-grandfather.  Thus, the Sunderland family is related to both my mother's line and my father's line.

N. S. Sunderland and Major Wellman Packard both appear, in the form of their attestation of having received their wives' inheritance on their behalf, in the will of Israel Harris, the father-in-law of both men [8].  

Here is the receipt signed by Nathaniel Strong Sunderland and his wife, Rachel [Harris] Sunderland:

 

And here is the receipt signed by M. W. Packard and his wife, Ellen [Harris] Packard:  

 

I find it interesting that both men added a little flourish after the terminal "d" in their surnames, that looks something like an "l" or an oversized "e."  Note that M. W. Packard includes on his statement the place and the date.  He was a lawyer, remember?

The bequests are not as paltry as they look on first blush.  $304 and $305 in 1858 are worth around $10,000 in 2023 dollars, the latest year available in The Inflation Calculator.  It appears Israel Harris was well-off [9].

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[1]  Sarah Ann [Sunderland McKee] Rogers, Death certificate.  Indiana State Board of Health, Registered No. 225.  Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1922; Roll: 12. Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60716/images/44494_350189-01738?pId=4985273.  (Last accessed 21 January 2025)  Also: Allen County (Indiana) Probate Will Record, Volume 7, 1890-1903, page 59.

 [2]  Library of Congress, Abraham Lincoln Papers:  Series 1, General Correspondence.  1833-1916: Major W. Packard to Abraham Lincoln, Wednesday, February 22, 1860 ("Florville's Taxes").  https://www.loc.gov/manuscripts/?q=%22florville%27s+taxes%22 (Last accessed 21 January 2025).

[3]  Last will and testament of Israel Harris.  Montgomery County, Ohio, Estate Files, Ca. 1810-1887; Probate Place: Montgomery, Ohio.   Ohio, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998: Montgomery County, Estate Files, Volume C, page 477. Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8801/images/005885619_00381?pId=11232916. (Last accessed 21 January 2025)

[4]  Marriage certification, Major W. Packard and Ellen Harris.  McLean County, Illinois, Marriage Records Book C, page 331.  "Illinois, Marriages, 1815-1935", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HSKB-VCT2 : 13 January 2020), Major W Packard, 1857. (Accessed 21 January 2025)

[5]  Marriage certification Nathanial S. Sunderland and Rachel Harris.  Montgomery County, Ohio, Marriage Records, Volume A-2, page 180.  "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XD26-GHG : Sat Mar 09 09:55:39 UTC 2024), Entry for Nathaniel S. Sunderland and Rachael Harris, 06 Apr 1841. (Accessed 21 January 2025)

[6]  Last Will and Testament of Peter Sunderland, d. 2 Oct 1841.  Ohio, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998.  Montgomery [County], Will Records, Volume A-D, 1805-1850, pp. 202-203.  Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8801/images/005876827_00912?pId=15608996  (accessed 21 January 2025).

[7]  Last Will and Testament of Peter Sunderland.

[8]  Last Will and Testament of Israel Harris.

 [9]   Figures derived from The Inflation Calculator (http://westegg.com/inflation).