The Greenlun's in America

Family Line Links: (WikiTree.com)(Ancestry.com)(FamilySearch.org)

This post follows my daughter's paternal Greenlun line in America. The earliest record of the line I have is for James Greenlun, who served as a Washington Co., PA Ranger during the Revolutionary War. (Ref 1, Note 1). According to census records, he was born in Pennsylvania in about 1764 (Note 2). It is unknown for certain where this line of Greenluns came from originally. However, most of the early permanent white settlers to southwestern PA were English who came from Maryland and Virginia. The surname itself does not offer many other hints. It is a spelling variation of the surname Greenland, which unsurprisingly is just a location based surname for someone who lives by land that is green. It comes from England originally, but is found throughout the UK, and is not very common or particular to any given region. Today it is actually more common in America than in Europe. Interestingly though, the Greenlun spelling variation is by far most common in Minnesota (71%), which seems to be due to my daughter's father's family, as they appear to be the only family with that surname who settled there.

The Greenland Surname Coat of Arms- not sure about the random arm holding a bomb at the top. Supposedly the way the crest faces, "dexter" in this case, tells you something about the tournament rank of a family (gentleman or peer for this family, rather than knight or sovereign). But perhaps they took the phrase Coat of Arms too literally? 

Historical Background

In remote frontier locations like Washington Co., PA (which did not even become a county until 1781), much of the fighting for Revolutionary troops was between Americans and Native Americans, rather than Americans and British. In the decades prior to the war, the British had formed many political and economic trading alliances with Iroquois (Six Nations), Cherokee, and Catawba tribes. Additionally, tensions between the American colonists desire for more land, and the competing British desire to limit Indian-Settler conflicts, had been brewing for some time. Because the British were more likely to treaty with the Native Americans for protection of their lands, the majority of Native Americans sided with the British. Thus, the Revolutionary War was fought on both an eastern and western front line, and James Greenlun was a part of the western line at the future PA-OH border, just southwest of Pittsburg.

Artists depiction of American Revolutionary troops on the frontier encountering Native Americans at what was then the western border of America.

Having sided with the British had devastating consequences for Native Americans once the war was lost (though ultimately, even those who allied with the Americans did not fare much better). In the 1783 Treaty of Paris, the British gave up rights to all land east of the Mississippi River and south of the Canadian boarder. Land that was, of course, occupied by Native Americans, who were now mostly abandoned by the British. The new American government used the previous Native American-British alliance as justification for aggressive territory expansion policies. These policies did little to distinguish between which side a particular tribe had been on. One area where this expansion was particularly intense was that of the newly created Ohio Territory.

Orange line shows the Ohio River boundary line that Native Americans hoped to protect from future White settlement. Yellow line shows a previous "Walking Purchase" boundary line that had been agreed upon before the Revolutionary War.

After the war, many Native American groups joined together to form the Northwestern Confederacy alliance, with the goal of preventing White settlement from encroaching past the Ohio River. From 1785-1795, American frontier troops were continuously called upon to fight against Indians of the Ohio Territory, with the goal of establishing this new land claim. Soldiers were incentivized to participate in these battles by the plan for military bounty land rewards to be paid out of the conquered Ohio territory land. By August 1795, the Americans were successful, and the Native Americans were forced to sign the Treaty of Greenville, giving up their rights to much of the Ohio Territory. James Greenlun was one of the soldiers who fought for this new territory, and thus was later granted an Ohio land claim for his service (Ref 2). 

Artist's depiction of the Signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795

Greenlun Family Line

As this conflict was coming to an end, James Greenlun was nearing his 30's and getting down to the business of starting a family. In about 1793, he married a woman from Pennsylvania named Judith (last name unknown). He and Judith would go on to have a family of 7 children. Their 6th born child, Thomas Greenlun (b. about 1809), is the direct line. As his family grew, he must have been anxious to be able to claim a new homestead for them. The United States Military District in Ohio was opened to settlement for Revolutionary War veterans in June of 1796. However, it was not until 1800 that land surveys allowed for small enough plots to give lower level soldiers (Privates) the 100 acres they had been awarded (Ref 3, p.39-41). James Greenlun was issued one of these grants in Muskingum County (now Guernsey County) on 28 Dec 1802 (Ref 4). It is unknown exactly when they first moved from PA (Note 3), but at minimum their youngest child, John Henry, was born in OH in 1813.

Approximate location of James Greenlun's land grant, then part of Muskingum Co. but 

now part of Guernsey Co.

James died in 1818 (Ref 5), in his mid-50s. Meanwhile, Judith, still in her 40's, had 5 children who were not yet adults, the youngest of which was only 5 years of age (this line's ancestor, Thomas, was 9). Luckily, Judith's oldest son, Peter, was already 22 and able to help out financially. They ended up moving back east a bit to Green Twp., Harrison Co., OH, which is closer to the PA border and was probably easier to homestead from than the remote Muskingum Co. interior. There she is found listed as head of household in 1820, with all but her oldest daughter Ruth (who had just married) still living at home with her. The family remains in Green Twp. on the 1830 census, but by now her son Peter has assumed head of household. Peter seems to have married and has one daughter. Judith's youngest son, John, is now 17, and her other two daughters, Catherine and Margaret, have married and left home (Note 4). Her second born son, Daniel, has purchased his own land and moved to the county of Coshocton, but 21 year old Thomas, this line, is still single and working the family farm.

Sometime in the mid-1830's, the family chose to relocate about 85 miles northwest to Vermillion Twp., Ashland Co., OH (then part of Richland Co.). The families of Judith's married daughters, Margaret and Catherine, moved there as well, but her oldest daughter Ruth's family would end up heading to Iowa instead. Vermillion Twp. was growing steadily from the 1820's onward and attracting many new settlers. The town of Hayesville, which it encompassed, was newly laid out in 1830. Although the family does not seem to have participated much in government or business interests, they show up in many records pertaining to military and religion. They seem to have been a part of the Evangelical Christian movement that was sweeping through America after the end of the Revolutionary War (see Note 5). Often called the Second Great Awakening (1790-1840), this was a period of religious revival that spread through many Protestant denominations, including Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists. Membership in these churches swelled as people became inspired by the fervent preaching of rural circuit rider preachers, and the festive and expressive atmosphere of revivalist camp meetings, which could provide fellowship and entertainment for several days at a time.

Depiction of a camp meeting held in Burbank, OH in 1839. These gatherings were known for eliciting high emotion from the many in attendance, who would often cry out, sob, faint, or appear in a trance-like state of spiritual conversion.

Though Thomas (this line), also originally moved to Vermillion Twp., by 1850 he and his wife Lydia (Kearns) had moved about 25 miles south to Knox Co., OH, near the town of Amity. They had a family of 10 children, though their first two, a boy and a girl, died while young (Note 6). Their 7th born child, James F. Greenlun (b.1852), was the direct line. They were members of the Berlin Methodist Episcopalian Church near Fredericktown, where Thomas and Lydia are both buried. Sadly, Lydia's death would come earlier than expected. She died at the age of 40 when her youngest daughter, also named Lydia, was only 1 year old. Although somewhat common at the time, an event like this was very disruptive to a family, particularly when a mother died (Ref 8). If there was no older sibling or grandparent who could step in, then in order to continue providing for the family, a father with young children would often have to at least temporarily send them to live with extended family or neighbors, until or unless he could remarry (Ref 7). The oldest female child in the Greenlun family, Raliefa, was only 8 at the time, and even the oldest son, Marion, was only 15. So Thomas, who was a farmer, had to rely on others to take in his 4 youngest children, who were not yet of school age. What was unusual though, was that even after Thomas remarried a year later to a woman named Isabella Johnston, the decision was made for all but the youngest of the 4 children, Lydia, to remain with their new families. This included James F. (this line), then age 5, and his twin younger siblings Samuel and Ester Jane (then age 3) (see Note 7).

In the mid-1800's, the death of a parent was sadly a fairly common occurrence, happening to about 10% of children. Factors such as kinship networks, financial constraints, and remarriage could have major impacts on the physical and emotional well-being of the children in both the short and long-term (Ref 8).

In the early 1860's, just as things were settling down for the family again, they started to heat up for the nation on the eve of the Civil War. Politically, Ohio was fairly split on the issue of slavery. In southern Ohio, trade across the Ohio River with the slave states of Virginia and Kentucky was an important economic driver. At the same time, the newer settlements of northern Ohio (where the Greenlun's lived) had important familial and industrial ties to Pennsylvania and the northeast. The struggle for moral right was playing out within the churches Ohio as well. Most of the state's population was against succession, however, and when war broke out in April of 1861, Ohio joined the side of the Union. Due to its central location and large population, it was a logistically important state to the war effort, and ended up providing more soldiers per capita than any other state. The Greenlun family was definitely a part of this call to service.

The 8th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment in Gettysburg on 3 July 1863

The Union recruitment drive came to nearby Mansfield, OH on 3 Oct 1861. On 14 Oct 1861, Thomas' two oldest boys, Marion and Wesley, aged 20 and 17, signed on joined the war effort as part of the 65th Ohio Infantry. One month later, despite being over 50 years of age, Thomas decided to join as well. On 14 Nov 1861, the newly formed unit began to march towards Louisville, KY. Five months later, Thomas would be dead from one of the many diseases that raged through military encampments at that time. A year after that, Wesley died as well, due to a battle injury sustained in TN on 22 Feb 1863. However, that did not deter their younger brother Michael from joining the war effort only 6 months later, at the age of only 15. Their father Thomas did manage to make it back home before he passed, and was able to take care of his end of life arrangements (Ref 9). In his will, he bequeaths $100 (about $3000 today) to all but the youngest of his 8 living children, (Lydia), including those that went to live with other families. He also calls for the immediate sale of his real estate to pay for his debts and the bequeaths to his older children, and he directs his personal property and the remainder of the sale balance to his wife Isabella. Additionally, he gives instruction that Isabella is to continue providing for Lydia (then age 6) out of the money given until she reaches 18 years of age (Note 8). It is unclear where the remaining family is living in 1870 (Note 9), but by 1880, Isabella has remarried and moved to Iowa, while at age 18, Lydia married to another Ohio orphan (William H. Hunter), and started a family of her own. Thankfully, both Marion and Michael made it home safely when the war ended in 1865, and both went on to marry and have families of their own.

Grave marker for Thomas Greenlun (d.1862) a the Berlin Church Cemetery in Fredericktown, Knox Co., OH

Grave marker for Wesley Greenlun (d.1863) at the Nashville National Cemetery in Madison, TN, who died 2 weeks after an injury sustained while stationed in Murfreesboro, TN. Soldiers were moved to this cemetery beginning in 1867, after being removed from the temporary burial grounds around Nashville's general hospitals.

We don't know where James F. (direct line) was during the war. He and his younger siblings were not old enough to have joined up during the fighting. Like Lydia, Samuel and Ester Jane stayed in Ohio to raise families of their own. James, however, took a different path. In 1876, we find him again at age 24 in Minneapolis, MN, where he has married a woman named Ida Jaax, whose parent were from Germany. Land in Minnesota west of the Mississippi had officially opened for settlement in 1855. In an effort to attract new settlers, the government initially offered 160 acres of land for $200 to anyone who would come and clear an acre of the land for farming, as well as build a dwelling that was at least 8x10 ft. and contained a door, window, stove, and bed. Ida's parents were one of Minneapolis, MN's early pioneer families, and made their home on Medicine Lake (Ref 10). After their marriage, James worked at a variety of jobs, initially beginning as a poorly paid Teamster, which back in those days meant transporting goods and people by horse carriage. Next, for about 10 years he worked as a laborer in the gas and coal industry. Around 1894 though, he started working at a bakery on Central Ave. NE, that probably shipped its goods through the nearby train terminus. Finally, in 1897 he took out a loan and became the owner of a small nearby hotel. In 1899, his brother Marion, who seems to have separated from his wife, came to live with them. 

Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1879. Central Ave NE is marked in red. Note that the area north of about 7th Street N, where the map ends, was still primarily farm land at that point. The hotel that James Greenlun owned was at 2831 Central Ave. NE.

James F. and Ida (Jaax) Greenlun had 5 children, though 2 of them died in early infancy. Their last born child, John Edward Greenlun (b.1890) was this direct line. He was born about 8 years after his next oldest sibling, Mabel, so he may have been a bit of a surprise, though Ida was still in only her early 30's at that point. They lived in north Minneapolis until about 1908, when their kids had all finished school. Then they moved to Coon Rapids, Anoka Co., MN, where James took up farming. Interestingly, the farm they lived on there seems to have been in Ida's name (Ref 11), even though she did not work at a job that provided a wage, so perhaps her parents helped them with the purchase. Her parents also seem to have paid for the remains of James and Ida's two children who died in infancy, Wesley and Maud, to be moved from the St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, to the Jaax family plot at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in 1910 (Ref 12-13).

Central marker for the Jaax family plot at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Minneapolis, MN

John Edward Greenlun, who went by Ed, moved with his parents to Anoka Co., MN when he was 18. In 1915, he married a woman named Clara Swanson, whose parents were from Sweden. They bought small house about a mile south of Ed's father's farm, but then later took over the big farm after Ed's father passed in 1930. In addition to managing a large herd of cattle, they also had two children, both boys, Leonard and Ronald Greenlun (b.1922, direct line). Sadly, Leonard died of pneumonia just before reaching his 11th birthday, leaving Ronald, then age 7, as an only child. Eventually, Ed and Clara gave up farming, and Ed began to work for the school district as a bus driver and janitor. He also did road construction work and helped to set up new silos for local farmers. After Clara passed in 1952, Ed went to live with his son Leonard in Zimmerman, MN. He and Clara are buried at the Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery in Minneapolis, MN.

Clara and Ed (2nd and 4th person going left to right) with unknown family members on their wedding day in 1915.

Notes

1) He was part of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Company, who were soldiers from Cecil Twp., Washington Co., PA serving under Captain Andrew Swearingen.

2) This is based on a combination of his wife Judith's year of birth on the 1850 census (about 1774) and the fact that he must have been at least 16 at his time of initial service (1781) in the Revolutionary War.

3)  Many veterans either sold such land warrants immediately or held on to them for land speculation purposes, rather than actually setting foot on it. James Greenlun shows up in tax records there beginning in 1806 though, so we know he did not immediately sell it. On census records, his first 6 children claim to have been born in PA (the last of which was born in about 1809), while his youngest, John Henry (b. Feb 1813), states OH, though these are not always correct. I have been unable to locate an 1810 census record that matches the family in either PA or OH. If we assume that they came to OH between 1810-1812, that would match the census data. But they could have come as early as 1803, which would match the land record data. Of note, they are not listed as one of the families of Green Twp., Harrison Co., OH from before 1815 in Eckley, H.J, (1921), pp.444-5 (Ref 6), so I do not think this is where they were initially, but they were definitely there by 1820.

4) The household composition on the 1830 census is a bit different than expected. It is listed as 1M 30-39 (Peter, aged 34), 2M 20-29 (Thomas, aged 21, and ???), 1M 15-19 (John, aged 17), 1F 50-59 (Judith, aged 56), 1F 20-29 (Peter's wife), 1F <5 (Peter's child). Peter's wife and daughter are present again on the 1840 census at the expected age ranges. Margaret and Ruth are clearly married by this time and appear in census records for their own households. As near as I can tell, Daniel is unmarried, but has purchased land out in Coshocton Co. back in 1827, and is probably living there. Regardless, he is about 32 in 1830, so unless coded incorrectly, he cannot be the extra male on the census. I cannot find a marriage record for Catherine, though census records show that she was married to William Bryan (whose first wife died in 1840) by 1850. But it is likely that she was previously married and living elsewhere during the 1830 census. Unless she is incorrectly coded as a male?? Most likely though, the unknown male is a just farmhand of some sort, but it is difficult to say for certain without names.

5) Of the 6 children from this generation who remained in Ohio, 2 (Peter and Catherine) were buried in the Synagogue Church of God Cemetery SE of Hayesville (now next to Grace Fellowship Church), 1 (John) was buried in the Redhaw Evangelical Church Cemetery NE of Redhaw (now next to the Redhaw United Methodist Church) and 1 (Thomas, this line) was buried in the Berlin Methodist Episcopal Cemetery NE of Fredericktown (now next to the Berlin United Methodist Church). 2 (Daniel and Wesley) were buried in Veterans Cemeteries, befitting their Civil War service. Only 1, Margaret, is buried in a non-religious civic cemetery within the city of Ashland.

6) The 1840 census shows Thomas and Lydia Greenlun in Vermillion Twp. with 1 boy and 1 girl who are less than age 5. However, the 1850 census shows their oldest child, (Marion), as only 7 years of age, rather than 10-15, as would have been expected if the first 2 children had lived. I have been unable to find grave markers or names for these first two children.

7) Though there is no record of it, it is likely that the youngest, Lydia, was initially fostered out as well, but returned to the family by 1860 after her father had remarried. There seems to have been special provisions made for her in Thomas' will to ensure that Isabella would continue to care for her after his death, which, combined with not taking the other 3 children back in, makes me wonder about Isabella's willingness to take over as a step-parent for the previous children. Samuel and Ester Jane were sent to live with the Covert family in nearby Lake Twp., Ashland Co., OH. I have been unable to determine where James was placed. 

8) It is also a bit unusual that he chose to sell his real estate immediately, to pay his debts and children, rather than waiting until his wife died. Granted, she was quite a but younger than him, and only 11 years older than his oldest living child, so perhaps that was not practical if his goal was to help give his children a start in their lives. Or perhaps he had a lot of debts that needed to be paid. But it does make me wonder again if Thomas trusted Isabella to put her step-children's best interests to heart.

9) It is also a bit confusing as to where Raliefa (age 13) and Michael (age 14) would have been at this time, since Thomas does not mention anything about their ongoing care, despite them still being minors. Perhaps they were living with other families at this point too? We do know that Michael ended up joining the war effort when he was 15, and then moved to TX when it was over, where he married and had 2 kids. Meanwhile, Raliefa married in OH just before turning 19, but died young, at the age of 33, and had no children. Of note, Isabella and Thomas also had a child together, a boy named Franklin, who died in 1861 at 2 years of age.

References

1) "Pennsylvania, U.S., Veterans Card Files, 1775-1916". Pennsylvania State Archives; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File; Series Number: 13.50. Name: James Greenland; Rank: Private; Enlistment Date: 1775-1783; Enlistment Place: Pennsylvania, USA; Muster Date: 10 Mar 1781; Regiment: Washington Co. Rangers.

2) "U.S., Compiled Service Records, Post-Revolutionary War Volunteer Soldiers, 1784-1811". National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served from 1784 to 1811. Name: James Greenland; State or Territory: USA; Service Year: 1791; Military Unit: Second Regiment; Rank: Private.

3) Knepper, George W. (2002) "The Official Ohio Lands Book." Columbus, OH : The Auditor of the State. : . https://ohioauditor.gov/publications/docs/OhioLandsBook.pdf : 2023.

4) "Ohio, U.S., Homestead and Cash Entry Patents, Pre-1908". Original data: United States, Bureau of Land Management. Ohio Pre-1908 Homestead & Cash Entry Patent and Cadastral Survey Plat Index. General Land Office Automated Records Project, 1996. {{Ancestry Record|2077|96650}} (accessed 11 November 2023). Name: James Greenland; Warrantee Name: James Greenland; Land Office: Ohio; Total Acres: 100; Signature: Yes; Canceled Document: No; Issue Date: 28 Dec 1802; Metes and Bounds: No; Statutory Reference: 1 Stat. 480; Multiple Warantee Names: No; Act or Treaty: 1 Jun 1796; Multiple Patentee Names: No; Entry Classification: United Brethren Warrant Act; Land Description: 1 3 US MILITARY SURVEY No 2 N 2 W 3.

5) "U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900". Original data: Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files (NARA microfilm publication M804, 2,670 rolls). Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15. National Archives, Washington, D.C (accessed 11 November 2023). Name: James Greenland; Pension Year: 1818; Application State: Pennsylvania; Archive Publication Number: M804; Archive Roll Number: 1125; Total Pages in Packet: 20.

6) Eckley, H.J.; History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio, (Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing, 1921). Volume 2, pp.444-5. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/576876/?offset=1#page=464&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=Greenland : 2023.

7) Thane, Pat (2010) "Happy Families? History and Family Policy". The British Academy Policy Centre, pp.45-47, https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/249/Happy-families-History-family-policy.pdf : 2023.

8) Alice Velková & Petr Tureček (2022) Influence of parental death on child mortality and the phenomenon of the stepfamily in western Bohemia in 1708–1834, The History of the Family, 27:3, 434-452, DOI: 10.1080/1081602X.2021.1986738 : 2023.

9) "Ohio, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998". Probate Case Files, Ca. 1808-1920. Isabelle Greenlun probate in 1860-1868.

10) From the obituary of John Jaax dated 30 Jun 1906: "John Jaax, one of the pioneers of Minneapolis, died in his home, 803 Spring street northeast, June 27. Mr. Jaax was born in Germany in 1833 and came to this county in 1854. He lived in Milwaukee about two years, where he married Mary Ries. He then came to Minneapolis with his bride and located on a farm at Medicine Lake." 

11) "U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918". Collection Number: G&M_71; Roll Number: 71{{Ancestry Record|1127|2891957}} (accessed 18 November 2023) Owner's Name: Ida E Greenlun; State: Minnesota; County: Anoka and Hennepin; Town: Anoka; Year: 1914.

12) See bio of "U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current" Original data: Find a Grave. Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi; URL: {{FindAGrave|139287412}} (accessed 18 November 2023). Maud Greenlun burial (died on 9 Apr 1879) in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States of America. Born in Jan 1879.

13) See bio of "U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current". Original data: Find a Grave. Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi; URL: {{FindAGrave|139287382}} (accessed 18 November 2023) Wesley Michael Greenlun burial (died in Jul 1880) in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States of America. Born in May 1880.

1.