Monday, January 17, 2011

Amanuensis Monday - My Original Creeden Quest

About 11 years ago, my Dad asked me to see what I could find out online about our Creeden family. One of my uncles had been researching my Mom's family and said there were a lot more resources online than when I had originally started searching in the 80's.

My Dad wrote down a few things he remembered and some Creeden info he had found in the library:

My Dad's thoughts on the Creeden family (click to enlarge)

A Timothy Creeden is documented in Orlando FL. library G.R.B. I, PA. Nat. Records 974.811 - 9292 P252 as entering the U.S. as of 3-25-1867.  I believe this is not my great-grandfather as my grandfather was born in 1886 at Celina, Ohio. Possibly T.C. my G.G.F. came over during the potato famine. T.C. - My G.G.F owned a section of land and farmed in Indiana & moved to Ohio around 1886 or before. A land grant may have been involved, denoting Civil War service??

The Guion Miller Roll (1906) was commissioned by U.S. Congress as a record of payments made to Cherokee's that were moved to Oklahoma. Proof of blood was very strict & those refused are listed in the roll w/ reason's for refusal. No Creeden or Creedon was listed in the refused pages.

My Grandfather (C.A.C.) always alluded to Indian blood & his fathers Civil War service. He (C.A.C.) was vague about brothers & sisters, as so many died of smallpox, etc.


Center boxes:
Timothy Creeden Circa 1840?
Charles A. Creeden 1886-1958
Robert F. Creeden 1912-1995
R. Timothy Creeden 1934 To Present

Right boxes: 
Brothers & sisters of Charles A. Creeden
Joshua Creeden
Dan Creeden
Idabelle Creeden
Julia Creeden
12-15 children?

Left boxes with ?s linking them to Timothy's box:
Ida Creeden Age 50+ in 1906
Nellie Creeden Age 40+ in 1906
Source: Guion Miller Roll 1906
(see below)

I did a few searches online and quickly lucked out in finding Timothy's tree posted by a step-son of one of Timothy's granddaughters! That gave me Timothy's birth year (1846), more of the children's names, Timothy's wife's name (Mary Ann Matson) and lots of descendants to work with.

I ordered the paperwork for the Guion Miller Roll reference my Dad had found and he was correct that this was not our Timothy. The paperwork was very interesting though, so I'll have to transcribe that in a future post.

There are still a lot of mysteries on Timothy. I haven't been able to find any evidence that he served in the Civil War or that there was a Cherokee connection. None of the records give any clues on where he came from in Ireland or who his parents or siblings were. I look back on this record though and realize how much I have learned about my family over the past decade!

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