Discovered an interesting distant relative

[John Winn]

I was tidying up the family tree and made a fun discovery. My first cousin four times removed married (when he was 75) the aunt of Edmund Kirby Smith's wife. Gen. Smith's wife's grandfather was an extremely wealthy (like $75 million in today's dollars) Lynchburg, Virginia tobacco grower. Gen. Smith's wife inherited $500 (about $18,900 in today's dollars).

A fun day finding that.

And for all you genealogy buffs who just have to know the details:

Gen. Smith married Catherine "Cassie" Seldon. She was the daughter of Samuel Marshall Seldon and Caroline Elizabeth Hare of Lynchburg, Virginia. Caroline was the daughter of Jesse Hare the tobacconist. Caroline's sister Mary Jane married my cousin Benjamin Joseph Jordan when she was 70 and Benjamin was 75. Benjamin died three months after the marriage.

Benjamin's father was a founder of the town of Lexington, Virginia and did the brick work on Monticello and built my ggg grandfather's house (which still stands) in Charlottesville. His father married my ggg grandfather's sister who he met when building ggg grandpa's house. He and his sons owned iron mines that supplied Tredegar in Richmond. Benjamin and my avatar guy worked together at Tredegar before joining the army (CSA). Great grandpa John Winn lived for a short time with Benjamin and his first wife (John's first cousin) after the war (in Charlottesville, VA).

So that's my connection.

 

[lupaglupa]

It's fun when you stumble across an interesting story!

 

[John Winn]

It's fun when you stumble across an interesting story!

Yeah, it is. Second only to solving a real mystery. I didn't know about the late-in-life marriage and discovered that by chance and that's what led me to the Gen. Smith connection (it was in the marriage announcement). Took a little bit to follow the branches but Jesse Hale is one of the local famous people so there's a lot about him out there. Just took me a while to make my way back to Jesse and link up Gen. Smith. Way fun.

 

[river444]

I was tidying up the family tree and made a fun discovery. My first cousin four times removed married (when he was 75) the aunt of Edmund Kirby Smith's wife. Gen. Smith's wife's grandfather was an extremely wealthy (like $75 million in today's dollars) Lynchburg, Virginia tobacco grower. Gen. Smith's wife inherited $500 (about $18,900 in today's dollars).

A fun day finding that.

And for all you genealogy buffs who just have to know the details:

Gen. Smith married Catherine "Cassie" Seldon. She was the daughter of Samuel Marshall Seldon and Caroline Elizabeth Hare of Lynchburg, Virginia. Caroline was the daughter of Jesse Hare the tobacconist. Caroline's sister Mary Jane married my cousin Benjamin Joseph Jordan when she was 70 and Benjamin was 75. Benjamin died three months after the marriage.

Benjamin's father was a founder of the town of Lexington, Virginia and did the brick work on Monticello and built my ggg grandfather's house (which still stands) in Charlottesville. His father married my ggg grandfather's sister who he met when building ggg grandpa's house. He and his sons owned iron mines that supplied Tredegar in Richmond. Benjamin and my avatar guy worked together at Tredegar before joining the army (CSA). Great grandpa John Winn lived for a short time with Benjamin and his first wife (John's first cousin) after the war (in Charlottesville, VA).

So that's my connection.

Is this your cousin Benjamin Jordan?

 

[RobertP]

I was tidying up the family tree and made a fun discovery. My first cousin four times removed married (when he was 75) the aunt of Edmund Kirby Smith's wife. Gen. Smith's wife's grandfather was an extremely wealthy (like $75 million in today's dollars) Lynchburg, Virginia tobacco grower. Gen. Smith's wife inherited $500 (about $18,900 in today's dollars).

A fun day finding that.

And for all you genealogy buffs who just have to know the details:

Gen. Smith married Catherine "Cassie" Seldon. She was the daughter of Samuel Marshall Seldon and Caroline Elizabeth Hare of Lynchburg, Virginia. Caroline was the daughter of Jesse Hare the tobacconist. Caroline's sister Mary Jane married my cousin Benjamin Joseph Jordan when she was 70 and Benjamin was 75. Benjamin died three months after the marriage.

Benjamin's father was a founder of the town of Lexington, Virginia and did the brick work on Monticello and built my ggg grandfather's house (which still stands) in Charlottesville. His father married my ggg grandfather's sister who he met when building ggg grandpa's house. He and his sons owned iron mines that supplied Tredegar in Richmond. Benjamin and my avatar guy worked together at Tredegar before joining the army (CSA). Great grandpa John Winn lived for a short time with Benjamin and his first wife (John's first cousin) after the war (in Charlottesville, VA).

So that's my connection.

John, have you ever posted a pic of your ggg grandfather's house? Would love to see.

 

[John Winn]

Is this your cousin Benjamin Jordan?

View attachment 532927

Yep, that's him. But that's not from my tree. Are you related ?

 

[river444]

Yep, that's him. But that's not from my tree. Are you related ?

It's my tree. I'm related to his wife Elizabeth Paxton.

 

[John Winn]

John, have you ever posted a pic of your ggg grandfather's house? Would love to see.

At your service, sir.

The house was built about 1820. It originally was two-story with one-story side wings but my gg grandfather (son of John Winn who built it) added a second story to the two wings about 1840. Also, the original house didn't have the columns. Those were added in the 1940s. The estate was known as Belmont and the plantation (about 550 acres) is now the Belmont neighborhood in Charlottesville. It's been an apartment building since the 1960s.

The family cemetery was nearby but everybody got moved to Riverview Cemetery in the late 1890s when the estate got subdivided (by Slaughter Ficklin, an interesting man).

The Belmont plantation bordered Jefferson's Monticello plantation. John Winn was postmaster and he also owned a large dry goods business. John was on the committee with Jefferson that formed what is now the U. of Virginia.

 

[John Winn]

It's my tree. I'm related to his wife Elizabeth Paxton.

I know about the Paxtons. They were part of the iron mining that the Jordan brothers were involved in. Another of John Jordan and Mary Winn's sons (Edwin) married Mary Jane Paxton of the same family.

 

[donna]

Great find. Beautiful house. Thanks for posting.

 

[RobertP]

At your service, sir.

The house was built about 1820. It originally was two-story with one-story side wings but my gg grandfather (son of John Winn who built it) added a second story to the two wings about 1840. Also, the original house didn't have the columns. Those were added in the 1940s. The estate was known as Belmont and the plantation (about 550 acres) is now the Belmont neighborhood in Charlottesville. It's been an apartment building since the 1960s.

The family cemetery was nearby but everybody got moved to Riverside Cemetery in the late 1890s when the estate got subdivided (by Slaughter Ficklin, an interesting man).

The Belmont plantation bordered Jefferson's Monticello plantation. John Winn was postmaster and he also owned a large dry goods business. John was on the committee with Jefferson that formed what is now the U. of Virginia.

View attachment 532929

Outstanding. He did a perfect job matching the brick for the second story wings. Love it!

 

[John Winn]

Outstanding. He did a perfect job matching the brick for the second story wings. Love it!

From the side of the house you can make out the additional bricks but it was a very good job. We don't know who added the wings but it very well may have been John Jordan who built the original house. He built a number of buildings in Lexington at the time (and his house there still stands).

 

[CharlesBrightly1864]

I was tidying up the family tree and made a fun discovery. My first cousin four times removed married (when he was 75) the aunt of Edmund Kirby Smith's wife. Gen. Smith's wife's grandfather was an extremely wealthy (like $75 million in today's dollars) Lynchburg, Virginia tobacco grower. Gen. Smith's wife inherited $500 (about $18,900 in today's dollars).

A fun day finding that.

And for all you genealogy buffs who just have to know the details:

Gen. Smith married Catherine "Cassie" Seldon. She was the daughter of Samuel Marshall Seldon and Caroline Elizabeth Hare of Lynchburg, Virginia. Caroline was the daughter of Jesse Hare the tobacconist. Caroline's sister Mary Jane married my cousin Benjamin Joseph Jordan when she was 70 and Benjamin was 75. Benjamin died three months after the marriage.

Benjamin's father was a founder of the town of Lexington, Virginia and did the brick work on Monticello and built my ggg grandfather's house (which still stands) in Charlottesville. His father married my ggg grandfather's sister who he met when building ggg grandpa's house. He and his sons owned iron mines that supplied Tredegar in Richmond. Benjamin and my avatar guy worked together at Tredegar before joining the army (CSA). Great grandpa John Winn lived for a short time with Benjamin and his first wife (John's first cousin) after the war (in Charlottesville, VA).

So that's my connection.

That's a great and very interesting find! Glad you discovered it! We have been to the Segui-Kirby Smith House several times in Saint Augustine (We live about an hour away). It is General Kirby's childhood home and his mother lived there during the occupation of St. Augustine. Here are two pictures we took and a link to the home for fun!

https://www.battlefields.org/visit/heritage-sites/segui-kirby-smith-house