mtaggartIt was a surprise to learn a few years ago that the John Monroe Ganus family had lived in Manassa, Colorado for almost 13 years. I knew that they had lived in Georgia and that they had eventually moved to and settled in Oklahoma. I also knew that my grandfather, Heber, along with his two brothers, Orson and Earnest, had been sent to Colorado from Oklahoma to live with his mother’s brother when they were orphaned . But my first clue that the John M. Ganus family had lived in Manassa came when I was researching at a local archive and had a chance meeting with a woman whose ancestors had also lived in Manassa. This woman shared a map with me entitled “Pioneer Map of the First Survey of the Town of Manassa in Conejos Co., Colorado , Showing the lot location of the original owners and residents of this settlement.”
Below is a copy of a portion of the map of original lot owners for Manassa. Notice that John Monroe (shown as “Old Father Ganus”) and Olivia lived on lot # 40, as did their married son, John T. and his wife Mary (Chisenhall) . Frank Ganus and wife Sally (Faucett) lived on lot# 10. John and Olivia’s younger sons, Roderick, Newton and Robert were not married at the time and would have been living with their parents, John or “Old Father Ganus” and Olivia .
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| Portion of map from in the back pocket of “The Life and Ministry of John Morgan” Arthur Richardson, Historical Research Nicholas G. Morgan Sr. |
As a follow up to my last post, I have corresponded with the woman who submitted the Old Manassa Cemetery information to the website, “Findagrave,” and she indicated that she had a copy of the sexton records for that cemetery and that the following information was recorded for the Ganus babies buried there:
Ganus, Blanche E. 16 Feb 1891 1891
Parents: W. Frank Ganus & S. E. Faucett
Ganus, Parley L. 18 Feb 1889 2 Feb 1890
Parents: W. Frank Ganus & S.E. Faucett
Ganus, Morgan L. 20 Oct 1887 1888
Parents: John T. Ganus & Mary M. Chisenhall
Ganus, John William 1882 1889
Parents: John T. Ganus Mary M. Chisenhall
As always, the more answers I find, the more questions I have.
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I love your blog…and it's beautiful! This post on Manassa caught my eye. I live in Canon City, Co and knew that my husband had a cousin living in Manassa at one time. I looked at your plot map and found him! Would you mind if I save the map photo for my own file? Keep up the good work…I look forward to following your posts! Becky Jamison
http://ajoyfulspirit.weebly.com
You are certainly welcome to save the map. This map was in the back of the book "The Life and Ministry of John Morgan" by Arthur Richardson. It's an older book and I found it through Eborn Books which carries old and rare books. If you tell me the name, I can look and see if your husband's cousin is mentioned in the book. Thank you for stopping by!
I love the antique look of the blog. Didn't you mention some research in NC?
Thanks and thanks for stopping by TJ. I had ancestors in Bertie, Martin and Pitt North Carolina. So far my research has been limited to the documents I can access online and in libraries, but I sure hope to take a research trip in the not too distant future. Did you have ancestors in North Carolina?
I live in North Carolina and most of my ancesters were Virginians who arrived in this area, along the Yadkin, Rocky and PeeDee Rivers in the mid-to-late 1700's. My counties of knowledge and experience are Anson, Stanly, Montgomery, Cabbarrus, Rowan, Davie, Davidson and Union counties in North Carolina and Marlboro and Chesterfield counties of South Carolina. I love connecting with other researchers whom I might be able to assist or vice-versa.
Sounds great TJ. Let's stay in touch!
Hi Michelle. Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog. I will forward it to a couple of bloggers I know. Oh, I see you have Bessie's blog Ancestral Ties on your sidebar. The other one would be Bruce's Amateur Mormon Historian.
http://amateurmormonhistorian.blogspot.com/
I don't see Tennessee listed in your locations of interest, but you may be interested to see the work Bruce has done on the history of the Church in Tennessee.
Thanks so much Amy. I had ancestors that migrated to Colorado from Tennessee, so I will check it out. Thanks for stopping by. I love your blog!
I'm a Manassa resident descended from Southerners. Happened upon your blog and thought you might like this photo: http://www.themanassaproject.org/Old%20Manassa%20Cemetery%20Project/OMC_Photos/439.jpg
It's from the site themanassaproject.org.
Thank you Wendy. I spent many summers there in valley, so maybe we met.