John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1495

I was going to look at the sponsors for the children of Daniel and Nancy Beemon (Böhme):

  1. Susanna:  Eva Beemon, John Smith, Delila Breil (Broyles).
  2. John:  John Yager, Philip Chelf, Elisabeth Beemon.
  3. Catherine:  John Yager, Catherine Smith, Margaret Weaver.
  4. Joshua:  Herman Wayman, and his wife.
  5. Nancy:  John Yager, Mary Yager, Margaret Smith.
  6. Rosina:  John Yager, and his wife, Susanna Yager
  7. Daniel:  John Yager, and wife Mary,
  8. Maria:  The parents
  9. Anna:  The parents

These make some sense if we take a look at the families of Barbara Yager, the daughter of Adam Yager.  Barbara married, first, Peter Clore, and, after he died, she married Philip Chelf.  How does this help?  First, we assume that the Nancy who married Daniel Beemon was a Chelf, the daughter of Philip Chelf.

Since Barbara Yager Clore had several children before Peter Clore died, namely Adam, Solomon, Moses, Delilah, Elizabeth, and Susanna, we could readily believe that she was in her early 30's.  Most men are also married by their early 30's, and probably even have children.  We would expect that.  It appears to me that a widow (Barbara Yager Clore) married a widower (Philip Chelf), and each of them had children from the previous marriages.  Nancy was raised in the same home as the children of Barbara and Peter Clore.  It appears she was on good terms with her step-siblings.

Therefore, when Delilah Broyles was a sponsor, this was a stepsister.  When John Yager and his wife were sponsors (four times for John, and three times for Mary), this was a step-uncle and a step-aunt by marriage.  When Philip Chelf was a sponsor, this was Nancy’s father.  Harmon Wayman married Elizabeth Clore, a stepsister of Nancy.  The Susanna Yager was either the wife of Nicholas Yager (step-aunt by marriage), or Susanna was a stepsister, more likely the later.

So, Nancy seems clearly to be a daughter of Philip Chelf, which makes Philip an ancestor of those Beemons in Boone Co., Kentucky.  Now to find out something about Philip, and that is a good question.  He and Barbara did not have their children baptized.  And he did not have Nancy baptized and confirmed because Nancy could not take communion with her husband for a few years.  So I expect he did not have the typical background of the Robinson River inhabitants.  His origins are, to put it bluntly, obscure.
(10 Oct 02)

We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.