January 8, 2009
Dear Melissa,
This is mostly about your Great Great Grandmother, Alice Mooreland Darby Hynson whose urn that you are now enjoying. I collected this information especially for you. Happy Birthday!
Love,
Mom
Alice Mooreland Hynson (Darby) was born on December 30 1864 in Baltimore Maryland. She was the child of David Darby and Matilda Darby. http://www.genforum.genealogy.com/Gatrell/messages/71.html. See item 239
Family lore has it that she was considered to be an international beauty. She married Percy Ringgold Hynson on October 23, 1888. Percy was born in Still Pond, Eastern Shore, MD, the son of Nathaniel and Anna Hynson. H died on March 16,1910 in Mexico City, Mexico. Both the Ringgold and the Hynson families are among the early influencers during the development of Maryland. It appears that the Darby family had a similar reputation. See entries 1,2,16.17 of the above genforum (there is probably more but I stopped after the first couple of pages.)
This is where some of your early American ancestors lived. http://www.whatsupmag.com/home-garden/home/08-11-24/Chestertown_s_Hynson-Ringgold_House_Adds_to_Washington_College_Legacy.aspx
As a married woman, Mrs. Alice Darby Hynson was a member of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) as is grandmother. Her DAR identification number is number three, I think. Grandfather, Uncle Kit and possibly Uncle Greg are members of the Sons of the American Revolution. That tells us that both grandmother and grandfather were related to people who fought during the American Revolution. I would imagine that they had to trace lineage, and that the DAR and the SAR associations records would be good sources of additional genealogy information. There is a Hynson section in the Maryland historical Society, reputedly to have pictures as well. A probable good source of more social information could be found at the main Baltimore library which seems to be the repository for the Baltimore Sun and other older periodicals.
The family moved to Ohio. I saw evidence on the Internet that the Percy R. Hynson Company had some dealings with Low Moor Iron Company of Ohio. There is a Guide to the papers of the blueprint of the Low Moor Iron Company that gives some reference to the Percy R. Hynson Company. I presume that the business was successful enough to allow the family to immigrate to Mexico where the father established a very successful tent factory. They seem to have been members of upper crust society while in Mexico, probably due to affluence. As a child, I remember seeing a trunk with beautiful dresses and a top hat. That led to stories of a ball at the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City. Conserved Mexico City periodicals of the time would probably give more information.
It appears that the father died at a fairly young age. I am guessing it was a heart condition. The family was used to living well. During these times, affluent families often did not send their children to college. It appears that social unrest in Mexico was the cause of the family losing their main source of income and their social and financial status. I am tempted to say that it was the Poncho Villa revolution that was the cause, but I'm not sure that the time sequence is correct. The family immigrated back to the United States through Ellis Island (http://www.ellisisland.org/search/matchMore.asp?LNM=HYNSON&PLNM=HYNSON&first_kind=1&kind=exact&offset=0&dwpdone=1).
It appears that Alice lived in Washington DC until her death. Ancestry.com shows her death records to be in Maryland. I'm not clear how she was funded as the children were trained to live as gentlemen and had doubtful skills in making a living.
I don't know if Percy Ringgold Hynson (12/07, 1897 – either Percy or David’s date of birth is wrong) and Francis Hynson (b. 12/18/1894) were born in Maryland or in Ohio. I believe they were all born in the United States, and eventually moved to Mexico City. Charles Darby Hynson (b. August10, 1889 in Baltimore, MD) died in a hotel in GA? of a cerebral hemorrhage when I was 6 years old (1950?) David Hynson (b. 8/7/1897, Laurel, MD) must have died fairly young. I never heard his name mentioned.
Alice Mooreland Hynson was a very proper Victorian woman. We have letters speaking of her husband as Mr. Hynson. She seemed quite skilled in social graces. Her son, Charles Darby Hynson, married Mina Lisette Nitzschke, (parents were Louise Krieg Nitzschke and Richard Nitzschke) from an influential business family in Utica, New York. Mina’s family was highly creative, well educated, adventuresome intellectuals and probably did not have Victorian manners, even though there were several doctors, a dentist, and a founder of the Moravian church in the United States, teachers and nurses in her family of origin. Mina’s parents were immigrants from Hanover, Germany and another community in Prussia). The union of the Hynsons and the Nitzschkes created significant conflict in family cultures. One was very social and status conscious and the other was highly intellectual and creative
Some time, presumably after re-entry into the US, Charles Darby Hynson, proudly served in the US Army during WWI. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery, as is Mina Lisette Nitzschke Hynson. His early attempts to be a good provider were thwarted by a factory burning down and the Great Depression. He eventually became a traveling salesman for Time Watches, a popular brand of the time. The family lived in scarcity and saw him at special holidays but not a lot in between, although, apparently, there was daily written communication between him and Mina.
Alice Louise Hynson (Born June 23, 1922), named Alice for Alice Hynson and Louise for Louise Krieg Nitzschke, beloved grandmother known to her family as the angel, was the only child after about 10 years of marriage.
http://www.corax.org/webcards/wc09/wc09_304.htm - needs flushing out lots of ministers in this family
(http://www.ellisisland.org/search/matchMore.asp?FNM=LOUISE&LNM=KRIEG&PLNM=KRIEG&first_kind=1&kind=exact&offset=0&dwpdone=1) She changed her name to Toni. when she was about 13 years old (legally as an adult some time after her early 30s), probably to avoid the constant reminder of the conflict between her mother and her father’s family and to establish herself as different from both.
Toni was required to visit her aunt and her grandmother every Friday in order to earn her allowance. When she visited her grandmother and her Aunt Francis, she was taught Victorian manners and matters of” breeding”. Apparently, her grandmother and her aunt were both very good cooks, and enjoyed entertaining her with their family dinners with an emphasis on manners and good breeding issues. It appears that they were a bit critical in the way they taught Toni as became rude in the way she taught manners to the rest of her family. It was probably the reflection of the way she was taught.
Percy Ringgold Hynson lived in the Philadelphia area, with his wife Mabel, who was in poor health. I don’t know what he did for a living. There were no children born to this union. I would guess that they are both buried in the area.
Apparently, Percy eventually had a relationship with the woman who cared for his home and his wife and produced two children, Charlene Rust and Percy Rust, who look a good deal like Percy. Reports are that they always wondered why they didn't look like the rest of the children in the family they grew up in. Charlene became a travel agent, apparently fairly successful. (getawaygal@comcast.net +18123769490) Percy apparently suffered greatly from the loss of his father, Percy, and suffers from depression. I believe he had a career as skilled tradesmen. Toni did not know of their existence until about 2002 when Charlene made contact with her. They live in Ohio. Uncle Kit knows more about them.
Aunt Francis had a short experience with marriage, and never married a second time.
During the Great Depression, Toni's family moved a great deal. At one time, the family lived with Uncle Percy, and Aunt Mabel. I am not clear where Alice Mooreland Hynson, and her daughter, Francis Hynson lived during that time. The spelling of Mooreland might actually be Moreland
**************************************
Through Alice Mooreland Darby Hynson, we are apparently related to Roger eighth Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, who was born in 1287. later, through his ancestors, we are related to the person who killed King Edward II, reigned on the throne of England for three years and then was killed himself by King Edward III. Charles Darby Hynson seemed to have reason to believe that his family was related to the very bright, thoughtful and beheaded, Kathryn Paar.
We know, through the Wyatt line, that we are related to signers of the Magna Carta, possibly the father of Queen Elizabeth the first, Sir Francis Wyatt, Judge Silas Wyatt and who knows what other dignitaries….seemed to be a lot of judges.
It appears that the named Mooreland is Irish, although there seems to be significant presence in Scotland. http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Mooreland-places-origin.ashx
However, Moreland is Scottish and northern English: habitational name from any of various places, notably in the Borders region and in Kinross, named Moreland, from Old English mor ‘marsh’, ‘fen’, ‘moor’ + land ‘land’.
http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx/moreland-family-crest.htm
The name Darby is both Irish and old English coming either from Lincolnshire or Derby Shire. The name derives from old Norse, djur, meaning deer, and byr, meaning farm or settlement as in Deer Park. Coincidently, that seems to have some relationship to the word Wigmore (as in Baron Mortimer of Wigmore), which seems to derive from either Wicga’s Moor or the Welsh Gwig Maur or Big wood.
In Kent county Directory 1878 there was an entry that indicated that Old Hynson’s Chapel was located on Baker’s Lane in Lankford, Kent County, Maryland. I think that it began as Catholic and then became Methodist. I would imagine that the city or county archives would have more on this.
I saved a dozen or so websites, which I will send on to you as an addendum to this information…just don’t have time for more before your birthday.
