Letter from Howard Vallance Jones of Cedar Falls, Iowa
to Mabel Elvey - November 26, 1976
Dear Cousin Mabel
I'm very sorry to be so slow in answering your letter of 23 August, but it has been a terribly busy fall here, and too many good letters like yours have just had to wait.
I'm delighted that you have some interest in our ancestry. Searching for ancestors is one of my favorite hobbies, and I'm always glad to welcome co-workers and to share information with them.
My great-grandmother was Sarah Elizabeth Vallance, who married the Rev. William Lee Jones. My father was thus a first cousin of Virginia Curtice, and you and I are something like second cousins once removed. Thus we share a Vallance ancestry.
The Vallances so far have proven somewhat elusive. The father of Jane Vallance Elvey and Sarah Elizabeth Vallance Jones was John Vallance, who apparently lived in Licking Creek Township, near Knobsville, Pennsylvania. He and his wife are buried there, and I have visited the graves. John was born 16 jan. 1789, according to his own family Bible, which I have, and died 18 Oct. 1856 from an infection in his arm from being kicked by a horse. Where he was born, I do not yet know, but in the census of 1860, he specified that it was Pennsylvania.
John married in Dublin Township, which is the same location really, April 19, 1810, Anna Arick, who was born c. 1789, died 8 July 1873. Anna is a problem. The only source of her maiden name is the Bible, and the name could be Arick, Anick, Arich, Anich, or some variant of that. No families of that name are visible in Bedford or Fulton County, and so we have no lead at all on who her parents might have been. The name looks to be German, and it is perhaps significant that the two of them are buried in what is now called the Brethren Cemetery -- this may have been their church.
They had 9 children: 1 - Catharine, b. 1811, m. John Miller; 2 - Anna Marie, b. 1814 and m. John Glunt; 3 - John A. b. 1815; 4 - Jane, b. 1818, m. Norris Elvey; 5 - Adam V., b. 1821; 6 - Susanna, b. 1824, m. William McFarlin; 7 - Margaret, b. 1828, m. James Blakey; 8 - Martha Ann, b. 1830; and 9 - Sarah Elizabeth, b. 1834. I know a bit about most of these, and have some of their children listed.
The father of John Vallance seems to have been Adam Vallance, who died in Fulton Co. in 1830. His wife was Catherine, maiden name unknown, They had 9 children, per his will of 1830, and I know next to nothing about most of them.
Adam is presumably buried on his family farm, which I have visited. There is a family cemetery there, but none of the stones are inscribed. The farm is near Knobsville, on the road to Harrisonville. It now belongs to Miss Pearl Bishop, a descendant of Anna Maria Vallance Glunt, and I have had several visits with Pearl, and we pool our family data when we can.
Pearl reports, by the way, that one of the Elveys has written something on that family, and I am supposed to get a copy of it, but it has not arrived as yet. I hope that it will, although I do not expect it to shed any further light on the Vallances.
That's about where we are on the research, and I'll be glad to answer questions about it and fill in details if you want them. It's very baffling just now, for John Vallance says that he was born in Pennsylvania -- and yet Adam Vallance, his father, does not show up in either the census of 1790 or of 1800. Vallances are there in both, but not Adam. Also, John was clearly in Fulton County (then Bedford County) by 1810, but does not show in that census either (nor does Adam). It may be that they were living in someone else's household at the time, perhaps Adam was a hired hand or something, and only later did they get land and set up their own home --the land grant came in 1826 or so.
The questions are fairly obvious. I'd like to fill in more about the descendants of Adam Vallance in the first place. Second, I'd like to know who Anna Arick was. Third, of course, I'd like to track old Adam Vallance down further. My guess is that he was Scotch, and that he might well have been born in Scotland.
I'm much interested in your mother's books of clippings and pictures. There might be some good clues there which would help in the search. I would be grateful for anything you can find there which you think might be useful to us. Wish I could see the books myself and pour over them, but I. Don't see any easy way to do that, as I am sure you would be reluctant to loan them out, and as close as Freeport is, we never seem to get there. Maybe some day -- it would be fun to meet you.
Well, there's a start for you, and I hope I didn't bury you with all the sudden information. I'll look forward to hearing from you again, and will welcome anything you can contribute to the search.
Sincerely yours,
Howard
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Margaret Wilson Gardner daughter of Robert and Martha Wilson Gardner was born April 2, 1860 in Rock Springs PA.
Margaret married George Washington Elvey December 5, 1894 in Freeport, Illinois by Rev. E. P. Hill, D.D. officiating
(License #239).
