Family History

Gold Diggers, We!
By Sherlene Hall Bartholomew

After reading my last column, Internet cousin Allen Leigh wrote to ask whether I planned to tell you readers about treasure in “The Search” of a more concrete sort.

I guess gold was on Allen’s mind since, as discussed in that column, the deputies who rounded up the Harpes Brothers for murdering our Langford relative Thomas found his personal belongings in the robbers’ possession.  But all the gold that Thomas displayed at the Inn–for which he was murdered, was nowhere to be found!

My first instinct was to tell Allen I intend to keep to myself all secrets about gold to be found.  However, since James Jackson, another ancestor who buried treasure, was called to head the “Order of Enoch” (United Order) in the early Toquerville, Utah area, I suppose that, staying true to his legacy, I can tell you about his gold.

(The United Order, in case you didn’t know, was an early effort by “The Saints” to share and share alike, with the rich and poor voluntarily sharing their resources, so that all, while equally yoked in labor, could enjoy an improved standard of living.  Some of those in the Order turned out to be Latter-day Ain’ts, so the practice finally went down, as it likely would today.)  I do admire James, though, for heeding the call and at least trying to make it work.

According to Toquerville town historian, Dr. Wesley P. Larsen, [i] James owned five hundred acres–more than anyone else in town, getting a beautiful yield from his land.  It’s my guess that he was invited to head up the Order because he stood to give more than most, with all this sharing.

Known for his disciplined industry, James was one of those few who were prosperous enough to be invited to enter the practice of polygamy–before it was made illegal, that is.  Besides his first wife, Annis Bedford (my ancestor), he was also sealed at the Endowment House in Salt Lake City to two additional women, Martha McFate and Sarah Ann Stapley.  His three wives bore him twenty-three children, for whom he provided well.

Always one to magnify his legacy, James made sure his daughter Rose Ellen, my ancestor, continued the practice.  When James Harvey Langford Jr. came asking for Rose Ellen’s hand, James granted it–on condition that James also marry her older sister, Mary Lydia, the same day.  And that’s how the never-boring Langfords came into our family!

[Do you see a similarity between James Harvey, Jr.’s photo here and Elza Langford’s image, displayed at the head of my last column?]

I don’t know how those early pioneers made a living out of all that sand.  Our car battery went dead near the Toquerville Cemetery and in that blazing heat, I wondered how anybody lived long enough to die and be buried in that place!  James must have had great faith to accept the call when Brigham Young sent him and others there, as called to the “Wine Mission.”

Practical man that he was, Brigham declared that if the Gentiles were going to buy wine, they might as well buy it from “the Mormons.”  Since the Word of Wisdom was not as emphasized then, it might be said that it was not only Gentiles who helped the industry prosper, but we won’t go into that now.  The important point is that James Jackson’s grapes were a good source of income, as were other products of his fields and orchards.  As Larsen relates:  “Like many other Dixie pioneers, James hauled, with team and wagon, fresh fruits and vegetables to nearby towns, principally the mining towns of Silver Reef in southern Utah and Pioche in eastern Nevada.  He received five cents per peach, which at that time was a large price. His son Jesse Jackson relates:

Highway Robbery 

Through the years, James Jackson spent considerable time traveling between Dixie and Salt Lake City by team and wagon, hauling dried fruits, sorghum, wine, etc.  Then he would bring home clothes and other household items for his large family.  Among the things he brought home was a large box of shoes, called “ankle-jacks,” of assorted sizes from which each boy could select his own size. . .

One time Father took . . . one of these trips to Pioche with a load of produce.  After selling out and making preparations to return home, Father noticed some men watching him.  See, in those days there were no greenbacks, the money being all in gold and silver.  He carried his money in a buckskin bag.  Being suspicious, Father nailed the bag of money on the underside of the “reach” of the wagon.

Sure enough, when they had traveled some distance from Pioche, they were held up at gunpoint by this group of highwaymen who ransacked the wagon thoroughly, but could find no cash and so had to let Father proceed.”

James might as well have let himself get robbed, for all his family realized of that and his other gold.  It was exciting for our family that day in 1995, when Wes Larson walked us through town to show us the now white-stuccoed home at 132 North Toquer Boulevard that James Jackson Jr. built, in which my ancestor Annis lived (he built a separate home for each wife).  Unfortunately, the house seemed deserted; its windows staring blankly back at ours. 

As we stood there, Dr. Larsen pointed out a lot to the right of the house that also belonged to James. Explaining that there was no bank in town, he retold a legend I had heard before–that James buried his gold in that empty lot, but died without telling his family where to find it.  Larsen said folks in town dug all over that lot, trying to find where that gold was planted.  I poked around a bit, myself, but it didn’t sprout up and present itself to this worthy descendant.

There’s another reason cousin Allen has gold-dust on his brain.  Shiron Wordsworth, another Internet “find” I mentioned last time, had written him a letter, also copied to me that I guess I’ll let you in on.  Writes Shiron:

Noises in the house

Will the coincidences never end?  Rockcastle Langfords have their own delicious combination of ghosts and gold.  Grandmom had two Langford ghost stories.  The one I’ll share with you here involves Liberty Langford, Elza’s grandfather.

According to our family legend, Liberty buried his cash money for safekeeping.  To keep it completely safe, he told nobody where it was buried–not even relatives.  Unfortunately he was suddenly stricken in his old age and rendered unconscious before he could tell anyone where the gold was buried.  And since he could neither read nor write, he didn’t have the option to leave a note as to where the Langfords could uncover his hoard.  Shortly after his stroke, Liberty died.

A few nights after his death, there were strange and persistent noises in the house, including banging in the fireplace, the sound of footsteps walking the hall-the usual sensations ghostly visitors evoke to make their presence known.  These noises continued night after night.  Grandmom said that Liberty’s daughter mentioned the disturbances to some fellow citizens of Rockcastle.  Well, I guess!  One night of such fun would have motivated me to relocate-and pronto! 

The good citizens of Rockcaste assured her that this was her father, trying to communicate with her, and that when the noises began again, she should say, “What in the name of the Lord do you want?”  Liberty’s ghost would then be compelled to answer her.

Plucky Langford that Liberty’s daughter May was, this sounded like a good plan.  The noises did come again in the night, and this time May spoke up:  “What in the name of the Lord do you want?”  This time Liberty came through.  He told her specific directions about where to find the cash, telling her to go a certain number of paces to a large tree and to dig down so many feet to a large rock.  Beneath the rock, a few feet down, the gold would be found.

According to Grandmom, Langfords dug all over Pine Hill and under every tree that could possibly be described as large.  No treasure.  Grandpa Liberty must have felt that he’d done his duty–he never banged in the fireplace or walked the halls, after that.  I guess he thought that if his children were too dense to follow directions, the problem of the lost gold was theirs.

It’s not odd that Liberty should have buried his money.  Mt.Vernon didn’t have a bank until 1900.  A body had to stash the loot somewhere, and to leave it lying around the house in Rockcastle County would have been foolish, indeed. The 1870 census says that Liberty’s real estate was worth $2500, and the value of his personal estate, $1,000. 

Liberty was still alive in 1880, so I assume that he might have added to the cash between 1870 and 1880.  The Mount Vernon Signal during the time span between 1887 and 1911 records an incident where a farmer’s plow turned up a stash of gold.  I don’t think it was Liberty’s because no tree was mentioned in this newspaper account, and I’ve seen Pine Hill-you wouldn’t want to try to plow it!  The discovery of buried gold does prove, however, that people buried their money before there was a bank in Rockcastle.

So now we have Thomas’ sterling in Crab Orchard and Liberty’s cash somewhere on Pine Hill.  And, Sherlene, you say your relative’s stash is in the desert?  What are we waiting for?  I say, “LET’S DIG!”

By now you know the real treasure involves new cousins found-not to mention learning more about our kin.  So let’s dig, indeed!  We promised last time to tell you how to unearth these fascinating cousins, while probing your ancestry.  It’s so easy. Here’s how:

I found most of the fascinating Internet Hall cousins I told you about in other columns by posting a query on the Allen County, Ohio website.  Many counties now include a link on their site for county history and genealogy, where you can post a query.  It is important to read other queries relating to your surname-some reader may have already answered your question.

For example, I thought it would be fun to try and find out more about this Thomas Langford who was murdered, so I looked for a Mecklenburg County, Virginia website by doing a search on Google for “Mecklenburg County.”  After entries came up, I noticed that the fourth site listed was “Mecklenburg County, VA Genealogy,” which helpfully explained that the county was formed in 1765 from the Lunenburg County seat.  There was a section titled “Shortcuts to Neighboring Counties of Mecklenburg” that also could be very helpful to researchers.  The site advised me that I was their 147,809^th visitor! 

Looking through other listings on this county site, I found a “Queries” link, which instead of routing me to a local page, as did my Allen County search, forwarded me to a search on Rootsweb.com, where I could access a Mecklenburg Message Board or “All Boards.”  Not finding anything that seemed to apply on the Mecklenburg search, I tried “All Boards.”   In the “Search” box I listed “Langford.”  Up came 2,000 queries!  That was more than I wanted to search through, so I did another search for “Thomas Langford,” which still brought up a very long list, so this time I got more detailed and tried “Thomas Langford murdered.” To my great interest, a reader there volunteered an account about his murder by the Harpes brothers that reported a new item of Thomas’ clothing, found in the possession of the robbers–an expensive white-linen shirt, with the victim’s initials embroidered on it, through which a bullet-hole had traveled.  As source, this helpful reader indicated another history I can read, detailing the event.  In this account, the robbers supposedly did have Thomas’ gold in their possession! 

Another interesting item that came up at Google were entries for a Mecklenburgh County in North Carolina.

So I looked for Langfords there in case, by chance, this Thomas came from there, instead of Virginia.  There I found an account of a George Langford who was hanged for killing his wife, after which various members of his family moved out of state!  I think I’ll go back to searching for my people in Virginia.

I need more information to post an intelligent query about this Thomas Langford, so will see if I can learn more about him before posting a query.  It is most helpful to those relatives who would like to trade information, if we keep our questions simple and are as specific as possible about the ancestor involved, as in:  “I am looking for the parents of my 3^rd ggf Peter Staley, b. 19 Jan 1794 in Berkeley Co., VA, d. 16 Jan 1854 in Lafayette, Allen, Ohio.  He m. Hannah Hall, thought to be the daughter of James A. Hall and Keziah Kain.”  It is also helpful to indicate your willingness to exchange family and research information. 

Researchers all over the world can now pick up the names in your query, as they search the Internet, looking for their ancestors.  As they respond to your question, you can compare information and identify those who are new-found cousins.  As you correspond back and forth, you will soon become friends with some, sharing fascinating information about everything from talent and temperament proclivities to recipes that have come down in the family.  Shiron Wordsworth and I recently compared notes, only to learn that skin cancer is prevalent in both our Langford lines-another indication that we are related and reinforcement to schedule regular visits with our dermatologists.  In such ways, “The Search” not only brings life, but can even save life!  

Mann’s the MAN!

Alan E. Mann, A. G., is a popular speaker at BYU family history/genealogy conferences.  I attend as many seminars of his as possible, because he makes computers and the Internet sound logical–even to a non-techie like me (actually, the problem with computers is that they’re too logical-especially for . . . er, creative types like me, but that’s another story).

Making his teaching accessible even after-the-fact, Mann posts the main points of his lectures on the net for his conference audiences, updating his syllabus with new or changed links and emerging, cutting-edge information.

At this year’s confab, Brother Mann gave a seminar titled “Internet Search Techniques for Genealogists.”  One section in this talk, “Use Unknown Relatives,” tells how to contact others also doing research on our lines and names specific sites where we can find them.  He has graciously consented to let me share his copyrighted site with you, even though it is technically there for conference attendees who have paid for the privilege.  Find his very helpful suggestions and read it all at www.alanmann.com/articles/search.htm Then tell us about what you find!

Uniform approach

While doing all this, you might want to wear the official genealogist’s uniform.

A few years back, Cyndi Howells, indefatigable compiler of the famous “Cyndi’s List,” was a featured speaker at BYU’s Genealogy/Family History Conference.  She walked out on the stage, before a packed assembly hall, in her bathrobe and pink, bunny slippers!  To roaring applause from a knowing audience, she declared: “I find it entirely fitting, at a conference like this, to model the standard genealogist’s uniform.”

She was, of course, referring to the fact that once we are possessed by this magnificent obsession, we family historians have a hard time remembering to eat, never mind get dressed in the morning!  After all, we dig for buried treasure of the lasting sort!

Sherlene Hall Bartholomew, copyright 2003