History's Mysteries

• Elizabeth Clute Grandus Becker's third wife bears the name of Clute, as did her presumed mother-in-law, also called Elizabeth. The Clutes had been living in the upper Hudson valley almost as long as the Beckers and many branches of this family continue to flourish even to this day. We know nothing of the younger Elizabeth's parents. Was she a distant cousin to her mother-in-law? Was she the widow of some ill-fated Clute husband (she was already 33 when she married Grandus)?
• "Orrville" Sam King The grandfather of our grandmother Dorothy first appears in Orrville, Ohio in 1842, his birthdate. He married a Fanny Yoder and is presumed to have been a member of the Mennonite community that migrated there from Pennsylvania in the early 19th century. Who were his parents and what were their origins?
• Lemuel Churchill Years of research have left us befuddled about the origins of this Vermont farmer who was born July 18, 1808 and married Sarah Jane Burditt (1811-1880) in 1833. We have it from fellow researchers that some of their children were born in Clarendon, Rutland County, Vermont. The family moved to Illinois around 1847, where he can be found buying land in eastern Will County. A number of Churchill families had migrated to the Rutland area from Connecticut starting before the Revolutionary War. Despite multiple visits to this beautiful country and hours spent poring over birth, death, marriage and probate records, much information about the interesting Churchill clan has been gained, but none whatsoever about the parentage of Lemuel. Records in the town of Rutland from before 1850 are no longer available, those in the town of Poultney (burial place of Nathan Churchill who died in 1835 at the age of 79), from before 1862 were lost in a fire. Was Nathan the father of Lemuel? Will we ever find out for sure?

This page was last updated on July 30, 2025

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