New DNA Research Points to Joseph Johnson as Ruluf’s Father
October 9, 2017
Ruluf Andrus research report Oct 2017 (PDF)
Is Eber Andrews Milo’s Grandfather? – New Research
July 5, 2017
The Milo Andrus Family Organization commissioned new research into the ancestry of Ruluf Andrus, Milo’s father. Read the report here: Ruluf Andrus research report 6_21_17 (PDF).
This report, and other research reports, can be found on the Milo Andrus website: http://miloandrus.org/genealogy/research-reports/.
The Anderson Report: Progress On Ruluf’s Family?
May 21, 2009
The Wills of Ann Brooks’ Father, Uncle, Grandfather, and Grandmother
May 6, 2009
DeLane Hyer has been doing research on Ann Brooks (Milo's seventh wife). She recently located and transcribed the wills for:
- James Simkins (Ann's father)
- William Simkins (Ann's uncle)
- Edmund Simkins (Ann's paternal grandfather)
- Mary Wyberd Simkins (Ann's paternal grandmother)
According to DeLane, these wills clear up a lot of confusion we have had in the past.
In this document (PDF) you will find transcriptions of the wills and a summary of the important information found in each one.
James Simkins (Ann's Father) Proved Will
A "proved will" is a copy of a will. The original will has been established as genuine by the court and then copied into official records.
Click each picture below to enlarge them.
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
William Simkins (Ann's Uncle) Proved Will
Page 1
Page 2
Edmund Simkins (Ann's Paternal Grandfather) Original Will
Original Will
Close-up of signature.
Elizabeth Brooks Simkins Widow Attachment – This was attached to the end of the will. It was part of Elizabeth's effort to claim her inheritance. It is the only place we can find where she calls herself Elizabeth Simkins or indicates that she was married.
The Anderson Report: Trip to Mormon Grove – March 2009
May 5, 2009
Andrus family genealogist Laura Anderson traveled with a group of researchers to Mormon Grove (near Atchison, Kansas) in late March 2009. The group was featured in an article in the Atchison Globe newspaper. Click here to read the article.
To read Laura’s full report, please see the Spring 2009 issue of the Milo Andrus Family Organization newsletter (coming soon).
Read more about Milo Andrus' role at Mormon Grove here: Milo Andrus and the Founding of Mormon Grove.
Update to Lucy Loomis’ Gravestone
November 17, 2008
The Anderson Report: August 2007 Research Trip
December 5, 2007
For this trip we had three main goals!
1. Separating out the Andrus (Andrews, Andress, Andros…) lines in Vermont.
This I did by calling all of the living Andrus families in Vermont in the hopes of doing DNA testing with them.
- One group, the Andrus name came from their mother. This line does not qualify for DNA.
- One group descended with the farm in Danby. We got a DNA sample on this line.
- One group lived in Stowe. His wife was familiar with DNA so he gave a sample.
- One knew they descended from Bildad and they were not in our area.
- One group from Rutland City left the state and went to Huron County, Ohio. We will need to track them if we do not locate a match from the tests now in progress.
We are starting to separate out the lines. The results are back on the gentleman from Stowe (so are Ray and Merrill Andrus’s Jane Munday line). They were not a match so that eliminates that line.
We are still waiting on "Family Tree DNA" for the rest of the results to come in.
2. Put Ruluf’s land in Essex County on the map.
Ruluf was Milo’s father. We found the land that Ruluf had once owned with the help of the Essex County assessor’s office. The land was located in Jay, NY. Jay was later divided off in the 1820’s and named Wilmington. Ruluf owned land in current-day Wilmington across from Fox Farm Road to the east. It consisted of 100 acres on the south side of “Lot 27”—part of a piece of land originally granted to a Nathan Mallory. Ruluf mortgaged this land in 1808 and lost it in 1809. John Smith (father of Ruluf’s future wife, Azuba), owned land across the street from Ruluf’s.
If you enter "Indian Rock Rd., Wilmington, New York, United States" on Google Maps this is what you will see:
Half way down the Indian Rock Rd. loop (off highway 12) is where Ruluf’s land was located. If you go across highway 12, to the north of Fox Farm Road that is where John Smith, Azuba’s father, had his land. (Azuba was Ruluf’s wife and Milo’s mother.)
[This photo is taken from Ruluf’s land, looking west. The mountain in the picture is Whiteface Mountain. Whiteface Mountain is just north of Lake Placid.]
3. Get as much information as possible into our digital library so research can be done at home.
We gleaned information from:
- Vermont Historical Society in Barre town and County: histories, old maps, box of original documents on Ezra Andrus family (Danby farm) containing 420 original documents—three days’ work by three people.
- Vermont State Archives in Middlesex: all Andrus and variant spelling names—one day, three people.
- Burlington Historical Society in Burlington Vermont: Andrus and Dutcher names—one day.
- Tinmouth City offices: Andrus and Smith names, especially Joseph son of Isaac of Shaftsbury.
- Poultney Historical Society: all associated names: genealogies, grave sites, tax records—especially Roswell and Isaac son of Isaac of Shaftsbury.
- Pawlet City offices: all Andrus and Dennison’s land, birth, marriage, and death records.
- Pawlet Cemetery: descendants of Ezra Andrus and other Andrus persons
- Shaftsbury Cemetery: descendants of Isaac Andrus of Shaftsbury
The Trip
As for the actual trip, this trip did not go as planned!
The Anderson Report: Milo’s Children Photo Project
October 29, 2007
From family researcher Laura Anderson:
I am working on a project to locate pictures for each of Milo’s children who lived to adulthood and their spouses.
This picture is of 19 of Milo’s children. It is fuzzy but may help with this project if we can identify them all. Please look at this picture and see if you can recognize any of them! (Click here for a larger version of this photo with each person numbered.) Leave a comment below if you recognize anyone. Here is what we currently think: #3 James Andrus (Daley line), #6 I think is Laron (Alexander line), #7 is Lewis I think (Alexander line), #13 is Mary Jane Andrus Hendricks (Daley line), #12 is Amanda Ann Andrus (Daley line).
Below is a list of Milo’s children and their spouses that I have no known picture for. If you have pictures of any of these people, please send them to me (paffanatic10@yahoo.com). Or, if you have any leads on where we might find these pictures, leave a comment below.
To see the pictures I currently have, visit the Andrus Family online research library.
Thanks, Laura
The Anderson Report: Would the Real Ruluf Please Stand Up?
October 1, 2007
From family researcher Laura Anderson :
Here is an E mail I got that I thought many of you would be interested in! Laura
Dear Laura,
I googled Ruluf Andress to see what information was out there. It appears to me that the best sites are the ones that have your name attached to them. I do have a question or two and I’m betting you probably know the answer.
Some sites list Joseph Andrus and Sybil Andrews as Ruluf’s parents. Others list Ruluf Andrus Sr. and Azuba White. Still others indicate no parentage can be found. Which one do you think it is?
Also, was young Ruluf the "Ruluf Andrus" placed under the Guardian Bond or not? One site says no with 99% surety, but another says that was before you knew the guarantor of the bond was Sybil’s brother-in-law. Of course, if Sybil is not Ruluf’s mother, the whole issue is solved.
Thanks for all the information you have posted, not only on Ruluf and his family, but also on Milo and his numerous wives as well. With Milo having the 4th largest family in the LDS church, there are many people who are indebted to you — including me! (Wife #1 Abigail Jane Daley through daughter Mary Jane)
Thanks for your help with these questions. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.
Stefenee Hymas
Hello and glad to meet someone who is studying the issue. I believe there is a Ruluf and that he probably is the son of Sybil and guardian bonded to Joseph Johnson but I see absolutely no evidence that any of that group ever met any of our group.
I have traced Ruluf to a logical family but as the records in Poultney burned and therefore we have no evidence we are turning to a Y-chromosome test from one of the known descendants of that line and are awaiting the results from it. If that is a match then we know which family to study. The Sybil theory came from the finding of the Guardian bond and went back from there.
The Ruluf and Azuba White theory was originally purposed by a grandaughter of Ruluf through Carlo. I am still confused by that one as anyone who put the dates together would know it could not work. There is no Ruluf Andrus coming in to the country at the time he was supposed to, he never shows up in a single record anywhere. I have put that one on a back burner until something leads me in that direction.
At this point all I can say is that in the past all people could do is guess. With DNA testing now we can know 100% when we get into the correct line and for us that day is coming soon I hope.
Bye for now! Laura
The Anderson Report: DNA Research Trip
August 27, 2007
From family researcher, Laura Anderson:
I am leaving on the 23 of Aug 2007 for a 17 day research trip to Vermont and New York where I will be trying, among other things, to get DNA data on Andrus families that have stayed in that area to match against our Andrus males. I project this trip will cost $600 for airfare, + hotels + $700.00 for the car + gas and, DNA kits at $195.00 Each. That will come out to around $3,000. If you appreciate the work we are doing please help with a tax detectable contribution! They can be sent to the Milo Andrus 503B Corporation in care of the Secretary Don Andrus:
Don Andrus
540 West Kim Drive
Perry, Utah 84302
Thanks to all those who have helped in the past!
Laura Anderson
PS I have set up this site I am not sure how to use it yet but thought people might be interested! Laura
http://www.relativegenetics.com/genomics/search/projectprospect.html?pid=54428
Ray B. Andrus (Jane Munday line) is having his DNA done on the new 43 marker test and I am taking at least one 43 marker test to try to establish the Lt. John Andrews of Ipswich line. The descendants of his son John are the ones that took the "Andrus" spelling to differentiate them from all the "Andrews" and "Andros" lines. Some of them lived in Poultney, Vermont in 1800 which is the first time we see Ruluf. Also from the neighboring town of Pawlet there are Andrus’. This is where the Hancocks lived. (Azuba’s sister Polly married Uriah Hancock).
Original Documents Timeline
June 8, 2007
From family researcher Laura Anderson:
I have a great interest in accuracy and so was excited when I located a site where there were over 200 original documents that had Milo Andrus as a name on it. I started with that information and have added things out of LDS.org and other sources. These are original source documents about Milo.
If you locate an original source document about Milo that is not on this page please send it to paffanatic10@yahoo.com and we will eventually post it here.
(Some documents may be in an abi word 2.2 format, this is the word processor I use, it is open source so free to download.)
Have fun with this!
Do You Know Anyone in this Picture?
May 26, 2007
This picture is from the 1948 family reunion held in Ucon, Idaho. We are trying to identify everyone in the picture. Do you recognize anyone?
The Anderson Report: Report of the March 3, 2007 Meeting
March 14, 2007
We had a meeting of the Milo Andrus Family Organization Board of Directors at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, on March 3, 2007. I felt it was a success and much was accomplished.
We went over plans for the family reunion June 15 and 16 (see details here on miloandrus.org), reviewed what was happening in genealogy research and then went to a computer lab where each person had a computer in front of them.
While in the computer lab we looked at miloandrus.org and at the genealogy site. Spoke about why we need each wife line to complete a down line PAF file (the file will allow us to put documents, histories, obituaries, and pictures on the web for each person) and went over how to do that. To get involved with this ask your wife line person for an assignment. Or if you have a PAF file of your family send it to the rep.
We then went through boxes of original documents for the wife lines. Some of them acted like little kids at Christmas: "Oh look at this history," or, "Look at this, my dad is offering to be the wife line rep…," or, "look at this original document it is a certified copy of Milo’s marriage to Abagail Jane Daley" (February 14 not 21 as Milo had reported). I promised to stay till the last person was through and so I left the library about 8:00pm it was a long day but a worthwhile day.
I just wish Satan had got out of the way. I burned CDs and they did not work. I came home and burned them some more and everything is just fine now. I will get them out to the wife line people in the next week.
Laura
The Anderson Report: Upcoming Meeting
February 27, 2007
From family researcher Laura Anderson:
We will be having a meeting at the computer lab at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 3, 2007 from 12:00 to 2:00. We will be showing the miloandrus.org web page, the phpgedview web page and giving instructions on how to do the inputing of the family groups. I will also have files of things divided into wife lines from the more than 15 boxes that I have now gone through. These documents will be available after 2:00 on for research and copying. We are asking that the files not leave the building for obvious reasons, however I will stay as long as anyone is still interested and working in the files.
Don’t forget the family organization executive board meeting will be from 10:00-12:00 that same day.
Laura
The Anderson Report: February 2007
December 29, 2006
From family researcher Laura Anderson:
Christmas has come and gone and here it is 2007. I remember a teacher in grade school about 1960 telling us how by 1980 cars would be flying and computers whatever they were would know everything about people and keep track of us all. Well she was 1/2 correct but by 2007.
How is our research going? Right now I am taking a little time to go through boxes (15 to be exact) of things done years ago and put into boxes. I located the first one from Elena Goodworth back in 2001, 3 from Uncle Hyrum Andrus (Jane Munday) in 2006, 5 from the secretary’s collection in 2006, 2 more from Uncle Hyrum in late 2006, and 4 more from the Minnie Fisher Ellsworth collection in possession of Jill Scott of the San Diego area. Most of the persons involved in creating these are long since dead (we are happy that Uncle Hyrum is still with us) so no one has known what has been done.
Here is a list of a few of the interesting things I have found:
The Anderson Report: December 2006
December 22, 2006
The Andrus Organization has made it possible for Laura Anderson to spend a total of 12 weeks back in Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas Etc., and more recently 4 weeks in Vermont and New York, following Ruluf’s descendants to where they settled, obtaining pictures of headstones, and obtaining life histories of Ruluf’s children and descendants in the hopes that one of them can shed some light on our ancestry.
