Category: family

Remembering Marcus

Below are memories of Marc Rector that were given to his family ahead of the memorial service that was held on Saturday, April 1st, 2023 at The Cheese School of San Francisco.

Johannes Jacob Richter — later known as John Jacob Rector — left Siegen, Westphalia (now Germany) with his wife and first born child in 1713 to become an indentured worker in the first colonial iron mine in North America. He was a metalworker in Siegen, as were his forefathers, many of whom lived in “Truppbach,” a town across the river from Siegen that translates to “army town.” For generations he and his fore bearers worked to support the local feudal lords fighting for territory and religion in Northern Europe.

Later that century, Mary Tiffin Rector brought her children to the Ohio Territory, one of whom was named “John Rector”. One of Mary’s grandsons, Marcus Clay Rector, joined the Union Army during the Civil War. He likely faced many of his cousins who fought in the Virginia CSA cavalry and militias. His son, Marcus Clay Jr., was the formidable grandfather of my John Marcus Rector that Marc remembered visiting, along with grandma Libbie, in West Jefferson, for large family get togethers: Marcus and Libbie had nine children themselves.

Our patronymic family has a long relationship with the military, through at least seven centuries, including the US Navy which gave John Marcus Rector the opportunity to be the first in his family to graduate from a university. It also gave him the opportunity to leave Ohio and see the world, for which he was always grateful. He always spoke fondly of his time as a communications officer on two destroyers, one in the Pacific and one in the Atlantic. This indirectly lead to my own first European tour, inside my Mom who was pregnant with me when she joined a group of Navy wives following their husbands around Europe in the spring of 1964. Thank you Mom and Dad! I still remember my first taste of live baby eels fried tableside in Spain…true story, ask Carol about that sometime.

–Eric

Marcus, he drew a line around our hearts

and drew us to his home.

He shared his thoughts like hors d’oevres

to feed his passion to be known.

His ghost shall be good at craps.

His cheers scared the cats from his lap.

He sang, when the feeling found him,

and he laughed in every language.

He was the wine and football man

and because of that, still is.

No beauty ever dissappears.

He didn’t die, he lived

entirely on his own terms.

Marcus, our Bacchus,

he took his time, which took his turn;

he was so easy to remember,

like some song you can’t unlearn.

–Brian, after the stylings of cowboy poet Charles J. Quarto, frequent collaborator with Jerry Jeff Walker
Continue reading “Remembering Marcus” →

A Letter From Frank

Frank, age 86, and Wilda, age 82, in Tempe, AZ 2006

In or about 1996 Brian gave Marc Rector the basic genealogy of the Rector clan in the US going back all the way to “1666 in Truppich, Germany 2 kilometers east of Siegen.” Brian had stumbled onto the “Rector Records” book and other documents and copied out our line. Given that both his parents had died, this inspired Marc to write to his Rector uncles and aunts for additional information:

Son Brian has been bugging me again about the RECTOR genealogy…Seems he found a book on RECTOR in the New York Public Library a while back and wants to know more…me too.

The following is the Genealogy in a direct line, taken from a much broader genealogy that Frank sent me a few years ago. That one ended with MARCUS CLAY being the son of MARCUS in the mid 19th Century. I have continued it to the best of my knowledge…Many gaps need filled and specifics filled in…PLEASE FILL IN AND RETURN THE COPY TO ME.

There followed is the first outline of our Hilltop lineage that we’ve now added to and compiled in The Begats.

I’ve recently come upon the folder in which Marc stored this information. I have found (so far) responses from Frank Hodgson Rector, as well as Jane Rector Breiding. Jane glossed the MARCUS CLAY outline that Marc had sent her, including the addition of sister Margaret who died tragically (as you will read below) at age 1 1/2. Frank, however, wrote a four page single-spaced letter describing his knowledge of the family background. It was so informative, and colorful, I thought it would be good to add it to this archive:

Wednesday, September 13, 1995
from Frank and Wilda Rector
[Frank is uncle of Marc, brother of Marc’s father Wendell]

Dear Marc–

Will do my best — I am not much for “rattling bones” so my knowledge is sparse.

Starting with Marcus Rector Sr. the family was living in Rectortown, VA1 (small un-incorporated) and moved to Pickaway County Ohio — farmers — Grandmother Frances [van Keuren] lived in Big Plain [Ohio, 15 miles southwest of Columbus] after Grandpa Marcus died. For years I was told he fell from a haymow in a scuffle with a tramp, breaking his neck. Found out later that he liked schnapps and kept it in the haymow — fell out a bit drunk! Two of Dad’s brothers, John and Alva, were also tipplers!

US Navy Hellcats on Espiritu Santo island in February 1944

How do I know about Rectortown? Not on a map. I was on the island of Efate in the new Hebrides Island [now Vanuatu] late in 1942. A call came to X-Ray that a relative was at the dispensary. When I got there he was a 6’2″ 220 pound Black man. Both of us got a bang out of that. Talking to him I found out about Rectortown (a crossroads). He was from near there and said that he was most likely a decendant of slaves that had belonged to great grandfather Rittenour R!2

As to mother’s family, it is even more sketchy. Mother [Elizabeth “Libby” Hodgson] said he came over from London, England (Mildred found Hodgsons in a graveyard there on a trip). He heard about the Civil War [in the US] and came to fight on the Union side. Being a foreigner, he could only be a courier between armies and had several horses shot out from under him — but not wounded himself. He went to Ohio, married, and also was a farmer. None of the Rectors (my family) knew either grandfather, but Grandma Hodgson also lived in Big Plain.

Big Plain Methodist Church, built in 1883

Dad [Marcus Clay Rector Jr.] and Mom met at the church and were married there. My sister Margaret (born after Mildred) died [at age 1 1/2] from taking medicine that she climbed up on a cupboard to get. With party lines tied up and no one would get off Dad rode a horse into Big Plain to get a doctor who arrived too late to save her.

Dad started out as a farmer, then a blacksmith (he was too lenient on collecting for work), barber, and then carpenter. When I was born he was working on a bridge in Columbus. He left home on the Interurban Street Car (ran down the middle of Main St. West Jefferson) at 4am and returned 8:30pm or 9 that night 6 days a week. He said he only saw his kids in bed and then on Sunday.

There is not much I know about the Rector clan — so there it is.

Some Notes:

1: Spenser Rector was the last in our line to be born in Fauquier Co., VA. He died at age 28 IN Fauquier Co. in 1793 with at least three children by his wife Mary Tiffen. His son Henry Clay Rector, Sr. marriage in 1812 to Elizabeth Hotsenpillar is recorded in the Pickaway/Ross Co. OH records. There is LOTS more about this in another post, but it’s clear that after Henry Rector married in OH, his line stays in OH until most of the children of Marcus Jr. move away to other parts of the US.

2: John Retenhour Rector was the son of Henry and Elizabeth (above), born in 1813 a year after their marriage. He married Arminta Wiggins in Ross Co., OH, and was the father of Marcus Clay Sr. Given that it’s clear from census materials that he lived and owned (substantial!) property in Ohio, a “free state” before the Civil War, it is unlikely that he also owned slaves. That said, I have established that many of the Virginia Rectors owned slaves, so it is very likely that this Rector that Frank met during World War 2 was a descendent of slaves that were once owned by Rectors in that area.

Hunting Hans Richter

Dr. Brian Rector (PhD UGA) notes the following with regard to the reporting of Ruth Y. Rector posted on rector.org who says —

Hans Richter was the earliest ancestor (discovered) of the Virginia Rector family. He was probably born about the year 1550 in Saxony, and the Siegen city records show that he paid the fee for Siegen citizenship in 1585, being ‘from the country near Miessen’, from the city of Freiburg.

In response Dr. Rector notes:

Both of those town names are almost certainly misspelled because (according to the Google Maps) there is no such place as “Miessen” — only Meissen — and near Meissen there is a small city called Freiberg (with two e’s).  Both are in Saxony — not in Lower Saxony, where the “Freiburg near Hamburg and Denmark” is located, as you can see in the attached snippet.  Now why isn’t he described as being from “near Dresden”?  Well, that information was almost certainly provided by Hans himself and I’m guessing he didn’t have any kin in Dresden; only in Freiburg and the country near Meissen and it would have been a good day’s walk from either of those places to Dresden.  Then again, it’s almost 500 km from there to Siegen, so there’s no telling how he got there.  Bottom line though, is that he was almost certainly from that area of Saxony, as reported by Ruth Y. Rector, not from Lower Saxony.

Did Any Rectors Own Slaves?

John Jacob Rector 1773 Estate (partial) from Fauquier Co. Courthouse records

It was with great interest that I pulled Book 1 of over 100 bound records in the Fauquier (“It’s pronounced “Faw-KEER”) County, VA courthouse after placing all my electronic devices (including my fone) into a locker once I passed through the metal detectors in the lobby of the courthouse. Unfortunately I arrived with only 30 minutes until closing time on a Friday in May of 2022 so I had to dive in quickly. I had started with the Index book for all wills and estates recorded before 1925, and when I reached the “R” section, there were Rectors galore. I chose the earliest record I could find, which was for John Jacob Rector who died in 1773. Bingo!

And there it was in brown and white (the image I ordered and eventually received is from microfilm that is a negative of the actual image for greater contrast, I suspect):

  • Rector Inventory
    • Negro Jack
    • Negro Jude
    • Negro Sambo
    • Negro Cate(?)
    • Negro James
    • Negro Anthony
    • Negro Manuel
    • Negro Homer
    • 1 Bay Gelding … 1 Bay Stallion …

To the right of each listing are numerical values, and because this will was moved through probate in 1773, all those figures are in Pounds Sterling, Shillings, and Pennies. I’m not sure whether it’s comforting or horrifying that a man is worth more than two horses? Two men each are worth almost twice the gelding and the stallion’s total value.

Because I had to conclude my research in 30 minutes, resulting in a slip of specific pages to have them digitize and email to me, I wasn’t able to closely correlate each document with a specific member of the Rector family, specifically my personal family tree. For example, I quickly assumed that the John Jacob Rector will and estate listing I found in Book 1 represented our First Generation descendant who immigrated from Germany. However, now that I’ve been able to link it to other records, it is clearly the will and estate of JJR’s firstborn and namesake. JJR prime died in 1728/29, and those records, primarily processed as British documents before most of Virginia was organized into the counties that administrate things like this, it’s unlikely that I will find that document. On the plus side (for me) we are descended from JJR prime’s second born, Henry. I did NOT find Henry’s will and estate listing in my 30 minutes, but I continue to do research online through the VA Archives. I did find the will for Harmon Rector, JJR prime’s third born, whose will left “…to my son Harmon Rector one negro named Peter.”

As you can see in The Begats, Spenser Rector, Henry’s youngest son died young, at 28 in 1793. He and his British wife, Mary Tiffen, had at least three children before he died in Fauquier Co. Spenser’s middleborn — Marcus Clay Rector — was married in 1812 in Pickaway Co. OH, and his mother died in Ross Co. OH in 1832. So the family moved at some point, likely involving Mary’s new husband. Offhand I know that the Continental Congress was BROKE after the Revolutionary War, and decided to offer many of its unpaid soldiers land in the new states instead of their back-pay. Rectortown is located very near the trails along the upper Potomac River that would eventually become the National Road, and then the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and then the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad. I will be researching further into when/how Spenser’s family left VA and arrived in OH, though it is interesting to know that our branch of Rectors then stayed in Ohio until Amy left for the Oregon Territory(!) in the 1970s. Speaking of Amy:

To Corn & Nubbins . . . . 20 .14 —

I was FASCINATED to note one entry in JJR2’s estate, listing “Nubbins” as an asset — they have played an important and positive part of recent Rector history…but maybe they actually tie us back to old times?

I can also now add that not only did Spenser Rector move our line to Ohio shortly after the Revolutionary War, but his grandson — Marcus Clay Rector — was drafted into the Union Army in 1863 to fight against…his family, in some cases!

In fact, in my first foray to poke around Ancestry.com on my local library’s computer (CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT Ancestry.com OWNS AND SELLS OUR COUNTRY’S OLDEST PUBLIC RECORDS?!?!?!?) I found a record for a contemporary of Marcus Clay Rector — C.P. Rector of Fauquier Co., VA — who fought in F Company of the 6th Virginia Cavalry of the Confederate Army! Who, at the age of 87, applied to the state of Virginia for a military pension because he could no longer work. Amazing.

Bussie and Lizzie go BOOM

photo by Jon Hale

Sent to Carol by Jon:

Ok everyone – the details are:

The cremains will be going up in the very first two shells starting the fireworks show at this week’s Festival finale (usually somewhere in the 10 to 10:30 p.m. window).  Those first two shells will be what are called Gold Glitter Crossettes (plenty of YouTube video available upon Googling that phrase to review exactly what that variety looks like).  Attached is a photo of the actual shells I received today, nicely labeled In Memory Of.

I don’t know who all will actually be attending the concert, but Michelle and I will be at a table, should be fairly easily found as we’re in the very last row of tables (row K), on the side nearest the main entrance, table number 21.  If anyone else knows exactly – or has at least some sense of – where they’ll be onsite, let us all know so we can greet each other as best we can at some point during the evening, in what I hope will be a good sized crowd.

I hope we can all get some good photos of the Hale fireworks to share.

Continue reading “Bussie and Lizzie go BOOM” →

A Visit to the PHX AZ Rectors

Giants Spring Training — WooHoo

We went on a Road Trip, Carol and I. Our main objective was Giants Spring Training in Scottsdale AZ. Every year, I’ve talked about going to spring training and every year Carol would say, “I can’t take time off at that time of year.” Carol retired — WooHoo — so this year, we bought the Giants Spring Training package. Tickets to 3 games and hotel for three nights, tee shirts, caps and other goodies. We’re going to spring training!

After the games — around 5 on Sunday evening — we popped over to Tempe to visit my Uncle Frank, 93 and Aunt Wilda 89 and 3 of my Phoenix area cousins that I’ve hardly seen since childhood. Wilda — always full of energy and hustling around — served some snacks and a ridiculously good cherry creme dessert.

Everybody posed for pictures.

Carol Frank Wilda Marcus

Cinda, Frank, Wilda, Sam, Marla

That’s all folks…