Our family tree sometimes has what looks like tangled knots. Yesterday would have been the 132nd birthday, of Cousin Clara EATON Merritt Hibbard. She was born 9/14/1891 in Nelson, Tioga Co., PA and died there in Jan, of 1977.
Let’s look at her and her husband’s connection to our ancestors.
Descendants of Joseph Campbell, b. 1748 in Scotland, died in Nelson, 1822.
+ Mary Harper, b. 1749 in Scotland, died in Nelson, 1844.
….. Jane Campbell, b. 1790 in N. Ireland, d. 1832 in Tioga Co., PA.
+ John Hazlett, b. 1787 in N. Ireland, d. 1849 in Tioga Co., PA.
………. Eliza Hazlett, b. 1825 in Nelson, PA, d. 1899 in Nelson.
+ William Merritt , b. 1821 in Delaware Co., NY, d. 1889.
…………… Charles F. Merritt, b. 1855 in PA, d. 1916.
+ Ellen Stoddard, b. 1851 in Lawrence Twp, Tioga Co., PA, d. 1933 in Nelson.
……………….. William B. Merritt,
+ Clara Eaton.
….. James Campbell, b. 1798 in N. Ireland, d. 1865 in Nelson.
+ Mary Blackwell, b. 1806 in Pine Twp., Lycoming Co., PA, d. 1863 in Tioga Co., PA.
………. Robert Campbell, b. 1827 in Nelson, PA, d. 1898 in Elkland, Tioga Co., PA.
+ Emily Sellon , b. 1830 in Reading, Schuyler Co., NY, d. 1888 in Nelson.
…………… Ida Campbell, b. 1850. Nelson, PA, d. 1939.
+ James R. Eaton, b. 1851 in Lawrence Twp, Tioga Co., PA, d. 1938 in Nelson.
……………….. Clara Eaton,
+ William B. Merritt.
+ Rex Hibbard.
Clara married her 3rd cousin. Not only is she a descendant of Joseph and Mary Harper Campbell, but via Mary Blackwell she is also a descendant of Enoch Blackwell and Sarah LUGG Clinch Blackwell Campbell.
Clara and William have a long list of living descendants with at-birth surnames of Avery, Brown, Calkin, Cevette, Cheesboro, Chilson, Coleman, Demming, Duyne, Englehart, Friends, Gannon, Gurnsey, Hackett, Herrington, Howe, Jones, Krause, Lovell, Mack, Mastantuono, McDivitt, Miles, Monroe, Morgan, Navonne, Slocum, Taylor, Townsend, Weeks, Wilson, & Yuska.
What can I tell you about Clara? She attended the 1893, 1900 & 1901 Campbell Reunions. She sang at the 1904 Reunion. She was one of the young women who served dinner at the 1907 wedding of my distant cousin Lena Seely and my great-uncle, David Goodrich. There’s a square with her name in the quilt the women of Nelson sewed in the 1930s to raise money for the fire department.