Between
May 1983 and January 1991, John C. Philley, a college professor from
Morehead, Kentucky, edited and distributed a newsletter called The
Filley/Philley Phamily Newsletter . Done mostly before the
age of computers on mimeograph stencils, he dutifully mailed the
newsletter each month. In it he published all the family information he
could get from his own and other family sources. This effort on his
part was undertaken with only a small contribution from
subscribers and is of immense value. It includes many personal stories
hardly ever obtainable in normal research. One that needs to be told is
the brief tale of Hannah Filley, Remembrance and Hannah
Hubbard Filly's third child and her rather interesting husband, Peter
Andress. The story came from a Philley in Texas.
Hannah was born June
25, 1791. She is described as short, plump, sandy haired, freckled, and
blue-eyed. She married, probably around 1810 in Herkimer County, New
York, Peter Andress who was born of a German or Swiss father and a
Native American mother. He was described as of medium build, with black
hair that never turned grey, and black eyes.
Peter and Hannah
had nine children only six of whom can be traced; Isaac,
Roxanna, Maria, Nancy, Edward, and Jesse. In addition, Peter
had a brother who wandered in and out of the family's lives. Known by
no other name than Injun Doctor, he was not very welcome in the homes
of Peter and Hannah's relatives and children either because
they had no room or because they thought him too "Injun". This was
particularly true of sister-in-law Roxanna Barnum who was
quite taken with her own social position. Peter and Hannah
spent most of their time traveling from one relative or
child to another. Injun Doctor spent the winter of
1865 visiting Jeremiah Philley, his nephew where he found a
warmer welcome.
Isaac was their
firstborn. He was named after his uncle Isaac Barnum. Isaac
married a woman named Rebecca and they had a son Theodore. They lived
briefly in Chenango County, New York and then moved to Woodland
Michigan where many of the family settled. There Isaac died at
age 39 and Rebecca and Theodore went to live with brother - in
- law Edward, who never married. Unfortunately, Theodore also died at
age 20. He was said to have been a talented singer and
songwriter.
Roxanna, their first
daughter, married Bethuel Webster and they had eight children by 1860.
They also lived and farmed in Woodland,
Michigan.
Maria was born next.
She married Thomas Goland who was an immigrant from England and they
lived and farmed in Lorain County, Ohio where they raised a son and
three daughters.
Nancy,
their third daughter, was tall and slim with black hair and
eyes and a fair complexion. She was very pretty but had no education
and no social standing. Nevertheless, love is blind to those
considerations, and Rufus Murray Turner was attracted to her. The
Turners were from a long line of Scotch - English doctors, teachers,
statesmen, and professional men. Rufus' father was a doctor
and married to Lydia Murray Turner. She was not blind to the
considerations of education and standing. Rufus was their only
son and showed promise as an artist or writer. Imagine the reaction
when, at age 18 he left college and married Nancy, a "Quarter blood
Indian girl" and a seamstress at that! There was friction between Lydia
and Nancy as can be imagined. Still, the couple managed to produce six
children the first of whom was named after Rufus' mother Lydia.
(nothing like a namesake grandchild to soften her up.) Rufus worked as
a joiner and died early. Nancy later married Joshua Peck and had three
more children by him.
Edward became a farmer
and settled in Woodland, Michigan. He was to care for
his brother's widow and son and his elderly parents
until their deaths which occurred at his home.
Jesse is the last son
about whom we have information. He was an adventurer who went
on the "Gold Rush". The story is that Jesse and some of his friends set
fire to a neighbor's haystack. When the sheriff arrived Jesse jumped on
a horse and took off. He wound up in California and did not return for
several years. When he did he brought gold with him. Presents were
given such as a gold ring to his uncle John Turner, and gold beads to
Ella Barnum.
Jesse is said to have married a girl named Kate and legend has it that
both drowned in a ship wreck on a river in California weighed down by
the gold they were carrying. This sounds more legend than fact, but who
knows?
By far the most
interesting member of the family is the father of these children, Peter
Andress. He was always ready for a "put on" and it was hard
to tell when he was serious. He loved a sensation and was
willing to make it. When he was making a trade for a horse or anything
else he would resort to "romantic flights of imagination" to get his
opponent's mind off the deal at hand and get him flustered. If he was
dickering with a blacksmith then Peter was a blacksmith too. If his
partner in conversation liked stories of adventure, he would detail his
wanderings in the forests.
Peter loved to pick on his brother - in - law Isaac Barnum and his wife
Roxie who I referred to earlier as "snooty". Here's how it was
described in the newsletter:
"When the Baptist Church was established in Woodland Township, about
1850, Roxanna and her husband Isaac were made Deacon and Deaconess of
the church. Now, it was in the Barnum blood to do innumerable things
for their own aggrandizement and the downfall of the other fellow;
quietly, skillfully, and with the most angelic face and manner. Peter
knew this and his intense searching eyes and almost uncanny intuition
saw much that Isaac would have preferred to keep hidden."
"It was Peter's delight to attend the church services (being Baptist,
Lutheran, Unitarian, Methodist, or any other kind of "ist" to suit the
occasion) Sitting with his cane between his knees, his hands clasped
over the head of the cane, and his chin resting on his hands, his eyes
gleaming like holes of light in his head, he would watch the minister
intently, storing in his wonderful memory every thought and phrase."
"After Sunday dinner he would walk over to Roxey's and engage Isaac in
a discussion of the sermon. Isaac, like a good Deacon would stoutly
uphold the minister. Again and again Peter would lead his brother - in
- law into deep water, and then remind him wherein his daily life was
inconsistent with his professed beliefs and his preacher's teachings.
Needless to say the Barnums were not comfortable with him around and
tried to even up by sticking their noses in the air, shrugging their
shoulders, and sniffing, "Them Andresses"."
Peter was both the
torment and delight of his grandchildren. He would come at them with
sinister noises and gestures and corner them only to then cuddle them
and tell them wonderful "bugaboo" yarns of fact and fancy until "their
little feelings were racing up and down like a glass ball in a
fountain." I'll bet they loved him dearly. However, everyone
agreed, "he was a very strange man."
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