Utah Digital Newspapers

I have been searching the newspapers of Uintah and Duchesne Counties in Utah for tid bits of information about the Scogings on the website, Utah Digital Newspapers. One surprising find was that they were known as Scroggins. Myton is about 12 to 15 miles south of Cedarview.
On May 14, 1908, the Uintah Chieftain was launched in Myton with this fanfare: "Today the Uintah Chieftain makes its bow to the settlers of the former Uintah Indian Reservation".

The Myton Free Press
Feb 20 1919 page 2
Philip Scroggins has moved back to Bennett. He occupies the Rasmusen quarters. For the past two years he and his family have resided in Cedarview.

Mar 6 1919 page 2
Leeton: Mrs Philip Scroggins left Saturday for Cedarview to attend her mothers funeral.

Sep 18 1919 page 4
Leeton: Philip Scroggins and family also Richard Colton have moved from their ranches to Bennett for the school term.

Dec 4 1919 page 4
Leeton: Phil Scroggins has started building on the town site at Bennett.

Mar 9 1922 page 4
Alton Scroggins is reported to have tuberculosis in a very bad state.

Mar 30 1922 page 4
Leeton: George Evans and Oral Scroggins left last Tuesday for Salt Lake City where they were to be united under the bands of matrimony. They got as far as Roosevelt and the mud and failure of the stage to arrive forced them to remain their several days during which time they suffered a nervous shock but recovered the following Sunday when the mud laden stage started toward Price. Everyone here wishes them well in their new undertaking.

The place names are farming or ranching communities. Indian Bench is south of, Bennett, and Leeton is north of Bennett. Cedarview is about 5 miles west of Bennett. Montwell and Cedarview is in the same area. Montwell is no longer on the map. Roosevelt was the market or main community in the area now and then.
The Scroggins were part of the land grab that took place in 1905 when the government opened up Indian land for homesteading on the Uncompahgre and Uintah Reservations. It was reported that Alton Scogings was the first white to be born on the Indian land in 1905. The land was harsh and barren. Now to look at a aerial view it is just roads and empty lots where houses use to be.

I found some articles in the Salt Lake Deseret News pertaining to Rockville that are of interest. This is where William Bye Scogings was from 1862 to 1877. Rockville is 300 miles south of Salt Lake City. There are many articles pertaining to communities throughout Utah in the Deseret News. I could not get the search engine at the website to pull up Scogging. I found the article searching for Rockville.

Deseret News 1867 Aug 21 1867 page 6
Rockville, Kane Co., July 29
Editor Deseret News: Dear Brothers: - A few words from the upper valley of the Rio Virgin, will probably be interesting to the very numerous readers of the News. The weather has been hot and dry thus far through the summer. The wheat crop is light; there was but little cotton planted, and that is late; corn and cane are excellent; fruit is average. Health is generally good, though this climate is a little severe on children. Education is progressing, though feebly as yet. Improvements are advancing steadily. Religion is reviving. Our morals are not tainted with "regenerators." The Indians are quiet, and peace prevails. The 20th anniversary of the entrance of the Pioneers into Great Salt Lake Valley was celebrated in the usual manner, with a right good will, evincing that the people here duly appreciate the labors of that noble and honored band of veterans. Finally, "Mormonism" in these craggy regions is in the ascendancy. Yours, morst respectfully, G. Spilsbury

Deseret News Aug 19 1868 page 7
Celebration of the 24th in the Settlements
At Rockville, Kane Co., the people were fully up to the times in festive matters. They wasted their full complement of gunpowder, had a procession, music, speeches &c. In the afternoon the children had a dance in which a few of the Lamanites, attracted by the sound of the violin, participated. In The evening there was a ball for the citizens. Committee of arrangements, Thomas Bowman, H.B. Scogging, J.C. Hall

H.B. Scogging is William Bye Scogings.

London Marriage Registers on ancestry.com

I have a number of marriages that I identified through the civil registration indexes in the London area. Since there are a number of churches in each district it would be unlikely that I would find the specific church the marriage took place in. I don't have access to all the church records nor the time to search them. I was going to have to buy the certificates from the registrar office.
How complete is this ancestry marriage index? I found 12 marriage records of the Scoggins that I am researching. I found almost every marriage I was looking for. This tells me that this index, linked to images, is very extensive. Yes, I was able to download the images as well. I also found a marriage not recorded in the civil registration indexes. My pioneer ancestor, William Bye Scogings, married Sarah Raper about 1850 in London. I found that marriage in the parish of St Mary, Rotherhithe. Now I have the certificate. I thought I would never find that record. He joined the Mormons in 1853. Sarah never did join. The story goes that he had to choose between his family and the Mormons. William left his family in 1859 for Salt Lake City never to see his family again.
It use to be that a methodical search was required to find most records. Now with the indexing that is going on it is increasingly only necessary to know the name and the place and the search engine finds the records. The new term added to the genealogist vocabulary is 'wild card'. The methodology of genealogical research is changing with this massive indexing effort. It pays to know the subscription sites. Library's now have subscriptions to some of these sites so it may not be necessary to buy one. The largest free site is familysearch.org and there are many others as well.
I would imgine that a small portion of the records in the world are indexed, and the subscriptions sites focus on those records of most use to the researcher ranging from census record, church records, directories, military records, etc.

John Rawling Scoging (1778 - 1827)

The will of Thomas Scoging in 1785 mentions his son Robert Scoging (1742-18??). It does not say where he is. He is not an executor in the will so it appears that he is not close-by. He is the oldest surviving son. He married Elizabeth Rawling in Ipswich in 1772. Elizabeth's father, John Rawling was a man of means. When he died in 1779 he left 20 pounds for his grandson, Robert Scogging then age 5. John Rawling had property in Lindsay. Lindsay is about 13 miles from the parish of Clare and about 13 miles from Ipswich in the opposite direction. The parish of Clare is where we next pick up the trail of Robert Scoging and Elizabeth Rawling. They had six children; Robert, Elizabeth, John Rawling,Susannah, Mary, and Thomas. Robert is married in Falkenham, Suffolk in 1796, and John Rawling is married in London in 1810 and he is a victualer. I believe that I have found Thomas in London as well. The burial record of John Rawling Scoging has recently been found in St Leonard Shoreditch. Lacking direct evidence the following clues provide convincing evidence of the connection of John Rawling Scoging in London to our Scoging family. Due to the rarity of the surname 'Scoging' and then being combined with 'Rawling' and his age being recorded on the burial record as 49, I feel certain that this must be the son of Robert Scoging and Elizabeth Rawling baptized in 1778 in Clare. His name at baptism was recorded as John Ralling Scoging. John Rawling Scoging married Elizabeth Stuckey in 1810 in Shoreditch and they had 6 children. When Harriet died in 1876 she left a fortune of nearly 5000 pounds. It appears that she inherited it from her marriage in 1829 to Daniel Hagen. This is the wealthiest Scoging family we have in our family tree. The search continues for the burial, and probate records of Robert Scoging (1742-18??). I think it may be in London.

The Will of Thomas Scoging (1709-1788)

Some weeks ago I found the will of Thomas Scoging in the Norwich Consistory Court. Prior to 1858 people had a variety of options of which court to prove their will. As these will's are indexed and put on line it will be much easier to find them. I found a reference to Thomas's will on ancestry.com.

"first I give and devise unto my son Thomas Scoging All that piece of Ground situate in Badingham aforesaid with Cottage there upon lately built.... Also I give and devise unto James Aldous of Badingham aforesaid Labourer All that piece of Ground situate in Badingham aforesaid with a Cottge thereupon lately built.... First I give and bequeath unto my son Robert Scoging and to my Daughter Elizabeth Rye (wife of Richard Rye now or late of Swilland in the said County Yeoman the sum of five shillings each....hereof I do give and bequeath the same unto my Sons William Scoging and the said Thomas Scoging share and share alike.... appoint my said Sons William Scoging and Thomas Scoging Executors of this my last Will and Testament... I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this fourth day of May in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Five."

It appears that Thomas was what would be termed an 'owner-occupier' or freehold property owner. From the generation of Thomas to his children and grandchildren times were changing. This change brought hardships on the working class. Two of the major changes were; first, The labourers were no longer living-in with farmers, and they were hired as need be; second, enclosure or the loss of common rights denied them firewood, and the animals shared in common. This met that most relied on parish relief many months every year. To compound the problem there was inflation. The labourer force was increasing and the population as a whole. Many in the following generations were classified as labourers. No probate records can be found for William, Thomas, or Robert. An excellent book pertaining to eighteenth century England is English Society in the Eighteenth Century, Second Edition (The Penguin Social History of Britain) I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about England in 1700's.
As I read this book it appears that the same problems that plagued their society still exist in our society and will always exist, i.e., inflation, unemployment, technology advances displacing workers, corruption, political scandals, crime, etc.

William McMurray goes down with the Titanic

I was surfing the web recently and discovered that one of my 1st cousins went down on the Titanic. I never could find him on the census, it was because he was a steward on steamships that crossed the ocean. He was on the steamship 'Republic' in 1909 when it was struck by the Steamship 'Florida' off the coast of New York and sunk. The nearly 2000 people on the ship were able to evacuate. William received an award on that occasion. I remember watching a documentary on the cause of the collision on PBS. William is now part of history displays and information can readily be found about him on various websites due to his fate on the Titanic. He must have been very good at his job, since he was on two of the premiere steamships of that era. What a coincidence, both sank.
familysearch.org has now indexed Cheshire parish registers and now I have his birth date as well as those of his siblings. They were all born in Birkenhead which is just across from Liverpool where there was shipyards. He married Clara Jones in 1902 in the Liverpool area. They had three children; May, Ivy, and Ernest. From a website I learned that Ernest was on the 'Laconia' in 1942 when it was torpedoed by German submarines. This is a well known incident, not only for the large loss of life but how the allied bombers responded. The submariners started rescue operations as they were unaware that 1800 Italian prisoners of war were on board. The submariners were bombed so they ceased rescue operations and changed there future policies on rescue operations. Ernest was lost. I have learned about this from web pages. I do not have any documentation nor access to it as it would be at the National Archives at KEW. The genealogy of William McMurray is on my website.

Google Earth uncovers Brown Homestead in Dry Fork Canyon

David Emanuel Brown (1851-1927) was a most remarkable man. He was a carpenter, builder, and farmer and left a mark in every community that he lived in. By wagon he traveled from Georgia to Monroe, Utah then to Marysvale, then to Dry Fork Canyon in Uintah County, Utah where he homesteaded land next a Utah State Monument, 'Remember the Maine'. It is a painting on the side of a cliff. The family arrived the same year that the painting was completed, 1898. I have the homestead case file describing the land. His nine children all lived in Uintah and Duchesne counties and have written a history of their times there. I hope to get in on the website soon. Their lives are interwoven with the lives of the Philip Scogings and Mary Elizabeth Brown, his daughter. David moved his family to Marysvale and this is where Mary met Philip Scogings. Soon after David move to Uintah County, Philip and Mary followed. Were talking a lot of cousins growing up in rural Utah, over 40. After 10 years in Dry Fork Canyon he then homesteaded the land of his daughter, Martha Jane in Cedarview. Cedarview was about 35 miles west of Dry Fork. By visiting Cedarview one can get an idea of the hardships and the wear the land had on its occupants. It was in Bennett, Utah, not far from Cedarview that the family of Philip Scogings and Mary Brown homesteaded.

Dumfries Newspaper

Dumfries first newspaper started in 1777. The newspaper article about Aucheninnes came from the Dumfries and Galloway Standard. I put a transcription of the newspaper article yesterday on my website dated January 7 1856. The key to using the newspaper is the paper index that is available. When I was at Ewart library in Dumfries, I couldn't image anyone trying to read the newspaper on microfiche. The print is small and somewhat blurry. The index gets you on the right page and cloumn.
The newspaper covers the Galloway region. The index on this page is Mckenzie's in the area in the 1840' and 1850's. In the parish of Urr there was only one Mckenzie family, that also included Dalbeattie. Dalbeattie was the most populated place in the parish. The Mckenzie's had a long lease on the Aucheninnes farm that apparently ended in 1856. I'm uncertain how long they were on the farm. The voters list for 1835 indicates that they were on the farm in 1835, so they were their at least 20 years or more. Lets hope that they digitize the Dumfries Newspaper soon and put it online.