52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week #34
Prompt: Newest Discovery
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The Clemmons and Sloan girls both die of consumption in 1859. They are not our only family members who had died from “consumption” over the years.
It was not an uncommon occurrence to lose multiple family members to consumption. With the onset of tuberculosis (TB) throughout the 1600-1800’s many families lost multiple members. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) it was first named in 1834 by Johann Schonlien, although it had been around for as long as “3 million years”. Tuberculosis had other names attached to it depending on where in the world you lived. TB was one, it also went by such names as phthists, tabes, schachepheth, consumption and the captain of all these men of death.
Our family had, over the years, lost several members from consumption. So what makes the Nancy (Sloan) Smith and Malinda (Clemmons) Fueston girls interesting?
Well, glad you asked! A little history ....I’d been searching high and low for anyone who may have a picture of my 2x great grandmother Ursley (Smith) Fueston (1838-1915). Every single chance I had to ask if someone had a picture of the Smith Family, or Ezekiel and Ursley Fueston family I'd ask. Generally these requests are through hits on Ancestry. And generally someone will have a picture or a tree with Ursley on it and so I will send a message to that person and try to find out if they have photos, specifically photos of Ursley or Ezekiel Fueston.
Last week I spotted this photo that listed Nancy Sloan (Ursley’s mother's name) on it so I reached out to the the person who had placed the photo on a Find A Grave memorial site and would perhaps know details about it. Here was my message:
“HI there. I’m inquiring about a photo you have posted for Reuben Sloan on Find a Grave. It is mentioned
that Nancy Sloan (my 3x great grandmother) is" left of father" Can you tell me who “father” is and who
else is in this photo please. I have been searching high and low for a photo of Ursley Smith, Nancy
Sloan’s daughter, my 2x great grandmother. Is she in this photo?”
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(second row first lady is Nancy Sloan next to her "Father" Reuben Sloan)
I then waited for a response. It turns out the person I had reached out to is one of our many cousins. Here is her response:
Hi Barbara
My name is Kathy Hill Dorn, I live in FL. As I'm sure you already know our Sloans are from William and
Matilda Sloan, Va. to Wayne co.ky. The photo came from a world root project on the Sloans our Sloans.
This Rebun Sloan is the Son of William and Matilda. I do believe the people are his daughters and son
and son in laws. The Nancy Sloan in the photo is Mrs Peter Chriswell.
Your Nancy Sloan Smith would be this Reuben is sister.
You can imagine my disappointment to learn this Nancy Sloan in the photo is not my 3x great-grandmother but she is the daughter of my/our Nancy’s brother Reuben. In other words Reuben named his daughter after his sister Nancy. So back to the hunt for photos of Ursley and Ezekiel Fueston.
A few days later I get another email from cousin Kathy Hill Dorn. There was an attachment she sent that she thought I might want to have. It was the recorded death record for Nancy Sloan, my 3x great grandmother.
I took one look at the document and knew that I knew it very well because I’d just extracted information from it for Malinda Fueston also my 3x great-grandmother. I wondered why she thought I’d want this and then thought perhaps she had sent the wrong document because this belonged to Malinda.
And then I spotted it.
This document records the death of BOTH of my 3x great grandmothers, 8 lines apart!
I was familiar with this document because I had just looked at it to extract information from it for timelines and movement of our families. I never noticed Nancy (Sloan) Smith’s name on the document before.
It never occurred to me that both of my 3x great grandmothers died the same year.
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What I did know from reading and extracting census sheet was that Ezekiel and Ursley (highlighted on census document below) lived next door to her father Robert Smith. He is now a widow in 1860 with the loss of his wife the year before. Bottom line is Ursley and her husband lost their mothers in the same year, a few months apart, both from the consumption. The questions that remain are where is Nancy Sloan buried, did Ursley’s and Ezekiel’s mothers stitch quilts together or can tomatoes or just hang out as grandmothers to their grandchildren? Or were they just unfortunate enough to both contract the same disease at basically the same time.
Robert Smith is a widow. You can see him on the third line on this page of the census record. As stated he is living with and caring for his 5 children who are still at home….but that is about to change. And that is a story for another time. A teaser: imagine you are a widow and have a family to fed, a farm to work and a son whose wife has a sister who is a spinster and probably capable of rearing more children for him? Oh the possibilities.
And that’s another wrap!
Barbara Fueston Grandon
The Self-proclaimed Family Historian
1- Ancestry.com, Reuben Sloan
2-Kentucky, U. S. Death Records, 1852-1965 for Malinda Fenston, death records 1852-1910 >All> film 994057;
Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster received from cousin Kathy Hill Dorn 2023
3- Ancestry Tree for Barbara Fueston Grandon 2023
4-1860 United States Federal Census for Ezekiel Fenston, (sp) Kentucky>Wayne
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