I haven’t succeeded in doing the 52 Stories from FamilySearch, nor the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. I was pretty good for a couple months with the #genealogyphotoaday. So I was trying to think, what would hold my interest and generate stories about my family history? Tomorrow is my grand nephew’s birthday so I thought, “hmm, I can generate a birthday report on RootsMagic.” It is so cold here in Chicagoland that we can’t go outside, so what else is there to do but Genealogy?! And there you have it. That is how Happy Birthday, Ancestor! was born. And of course the one who is up for the first day has almost nothing researched.
Happy Birthday, Jacob Cook Fleming!
Blacksmith and general hard worker
Jacob Cook Fleming was a young man when he left the family farms in Oxford Furnace, Warren County, New Jersey. What I know of him comes from a treasured copy of Family Genealogy by Publius V. Lawson published in 1903. This is a book that I took off the shelf every time I visited my Aunt Helen’s home in Indiana. But I was only concerned then about my direct line. There will be many entries in this Happy Birthday, Ancestor! series that draw information from this book.
Jacob is the second of eight children born to William and Elizabeth Cook Fleming. He is named after his maternal grandfather, Jacob Cook. From letters transcribed in the book, it seems that Jacob was a good correspondant with his family once he moved into New York State to pursue better pay in the trade of blacksmith in July of 1824.[1]
The book contains ten letters or extracts thereof that Jacob wrote to his parents and siblings documenting his travels to his new residence, the places he lived and his wages. They contain clues to who other names are that are in my tree, but who are unknown to me. The letters are annotated with parenthetical descriptions of relationship and demographic information on the locations Jacob mentions. In his first letter he mentions that he was offered “ten dollars a month on a farm, which I think better than five and a half in New Jersey.” In November of 1824 he mentions working at the smithing business earning $8 a month[2] He had a fondness for his maternal grandmother, ending most of the letters “Remember my love to Grandmother Cook.” Jacob relates working in farm fields when smithing work was scarce, for which he seems to have been well paid. In a letter dated January 6, 1826 to “Honored Friend and Relatives” that he is living and working in the village of Pittsford, working with Thatcher at Thatcher & Cole smithing business. They worked entirely on boats that would be on the Erie Canal which was to open in the spring. He earned $20 per month in cash and received board and washing as well.[3]
As might be imagined of a blacksmith, Jacob was a large man. He is said to have had black hair, grey eyes and a large head. That may be expected perhaps of a man who was also described as an “immense, powerful, muscular man,” standing 6’4” tall. He sported a beard but no mustache. For Sunday dress,
He wore boots, long trousers, a swallowtail coat, with long tail and narrow at the waist, not coming together at the front; also wore a high hat. His vest was long and buttoned up to the collar. His clothes were black or brown; wore a white shirt which had a turn over collar made on it, with which he wore an immense stock, or often wore a black kerchief twice around his neck. [4]
On 8 September 1828 Jacob Cook Fleming married Lucinda Baird. In a letter from Pittsford, NY dated 13 May 1828 to his brother Andrew and sister Joanna, Jacob ends with the familiar ‘Remember my love to Grandmother Cook,’ and then adds, “I Think it will be inconvenient for me to invite you to my wedding or ask your consent, as we are so far apart.” [5] After describing Jacob’s physical appearance and his dress, it is stated that Lucinda “wore the same clothes as other people of the period, a wide bonnet and very wide dresses.” Not surprising, she was smaller and not nearly as tall as her husband![6]
Jacob was a brother in the Masonic Lodge of Freemasons, being issued a certificate dated 15 May 1851. He was a frequent member of the local school committee, and was elected captain of the militia company in the town of Williamson. There is nothing in the genealogy that indicates he served in any conflict.[7]
Jacob lived in the Pultneyville area all of his adult life. He died in a tragic accident on 2 May 1873 at the age of 72. He was helping to move a building up a slight incline. The building had been placed on rollers and was steadied by ropes. At some point, a rope “gave way” causing the house to roll backwards and onto Jacob’s legs. He died from the shock of the accident and pain. He is buried in Lake View Cemetery in Pultneyville, New York on the shores of Lake Ontario.[8]
Genealogy of Jacob Cook Fleming and Lucinda Baird Fleming[9]
1. Jacob Cook Fleming, b. 31 January 1802, Township Oxford, Warren County, New Jersey; m. 8 September 1828 to Lucinda Baird, b. 27 February 1809, d. 1 December 1890; d. 2 May 1873, Pultneyville, Wayne, NY.
Children of Jacob Cook Fleming and Lucinda Baird:
i. Elizabeth Fleming. b. 27 February 1830; still living in 1903.
ii. William Fleming. b. 22 September 1832; d. 23 Oct 1863.
iii. Clarissa Fleming. b. 13 April 1834, Pultneyville, NY; m. 26 September 1852, Daniel Throckmorton Grandine; still living in 1903.
iv. Joanna Fleming. b. 5 February 1837, Sodus, NY; still living in 1903.
v. John Wesley Fleming. b. 13 March 1839; d. 19 April 1849.
[1] Publius V. Lawson, Family Genealogy (Menasha, WI : P. V. Lawson, Publisher, 1903), 46-47.
[2] Lawson, Family Genealogy, 48.
[3] Lawson, Family Genealogy, 50.
[4] Lawson, Family Genealogy, 54.
[5] Lawson, Family Genealogy, 52.
[6] Lawson, Family Genealogy, 55.
[7] Lawson, Family Genealogy, 56-57.
[8] Lawson, Family Genealogy, 58.
[9] Lawson, Family Genealogy, 58 – 60.