John Comly Past (1817 - 1876)

Born 17 Oct 1817 in Buckingham Township, Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret Kinsey (Swain) Past — married 1 Dec 1838 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Died 25 Sep 1876 at age 58 in Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas, United States

Biography

Name & Birth

John Comly Past (aka "Paist") was born on his parents' farm in Buckingham Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on 17 October 1817. He was a son of John C. Paist, 1774–1841, and his wife, Alcesta (Kinsey) Paist, 1779-1867. They were married about 1797 in Bucks County or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The Kinsey family were Quakers; the religious affiliation of John's family is not known.^[1]

Marriage and Children

On 1 December 1838, in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John C. Past married Margaret Kinsey Swain (1817-1900). Born in Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, Margaret was his distant cousin as John's maternal grandmother was Rachel Kinsey, 1779-1851. The Kinseys were a large devout Quaker family who had immigrated to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, around 1683 when William Penn founded that Quaker-friendly English colony. Margaret was a Quaker when she married John "Out of Meeting" and was disciplined for it. Later, in 1866, she joined the Church of Christ. ^{[1] [2]}

The couple lived in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, until about 1850, when they moved to Wilmington, Delaware for a short time. John was in the lumber industry; specializing in the building and running of lumber mills. Before his marriage, as a young lumberjack, he'd lost his right arm in 1834 in Pike County, Pennsylvania, in an industrial accident.^[3]

After the birth of their son, Charles N. Past, in 1851, they left Delaware for Tidewater, Virginia, where John worked for the US Naval Shipyards in Southampton and Norfolk. In the late 1850s, perhaps sensing the coming of the North-South conflict and rejecting slavery (Quakers opposed any human being "owing" another), John & Margaret Past packed up their family and moved to the North-west frontier, settling near what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota had become a non-slave US State in May 1856. ^[3]

The 1860 US Census recorded both John and Margaret Past as 43 years old [b: 1817], living with their 5 children: Edward Swain, 19; Marcus Aurelius, 17; John Howard, 12; Margaret Elfreda, 7; & baby, Arthur C. Past, 5 years old, on a homestead in Brooklyn Township, Hennepin, Minnesota, USA. John C. Past was called a "Manufacturer" and his land and personal property were valued at $3,500 US dollars, a good sum for that time & place. His was the highest single valuation on the US Census sheet for their neighborhood. Edward helped his father in his lumber-mill business but did not declare an occupation. Edward and his next 2 living siblings were born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, while the 2 youngest children were born in Southampton, Virginia. Charles N. Past, born in Delaware, had passed away in 1855 in Virginia.^[4]

John and Margaret (Swain) Past had 9 children:^[1]

1. Gertrude Past, 1839–1839
2. Edward Swain Past (1841-1914)
3. Marcus Aurelius Past, 1843–1863
4. Louisa Flitcraft Past, 1845–1849
5. Sarah Alcesta Past, 1847–1848
6. John Howard Past, 1849–1884
7. Charles Newton Past, 1851–1855
8. Margaret Elfreda Past (Bodle), 1853–1948
9. Arthur Comly Past, 1856–1912

After the US Civil War ended in 1865, John and Margaret Swain moved back to Pennsylvania, settling briefly in rural Clinton County, where their eldest son, now married with his own family, had become an agent for the Philadelphia & Erie Rail Road at Glen Union, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. He also worked part-time with his father in the lumber and grist-mill building businesses there. ^[5] In 1869, after Nebraska gained its US Statehood (in 1867), Edwin and Mary Ann (Whiteman) Past left Pennsylvania and moved to south-east Nebraska. They were recorded living in Beatrice, Gage County, Nebraska, with their children, plus Edwin's younger sister, Margaret Elfreda Past, 17 years old, on the 1870 US Census. ^[6] Although no record of his parents, John C. and Margaret (Swain) Past, have been found in any state on the 1870 US Census, Margaret's 1900 Obituary states that, "she with her husband became members of the Church of Christ in 1866, and during their residence in Beatrice [Nebraska], she and her husband were the mainstays of the church of that city." This indicates that the couple also moved to Beatrice, Gage, Nebraska, at about the same time as their son, Edward, and daughter, Margaret Elfreda. ^[2]

Before moving to Nebraska, John and Margaret Past had purchased 120 acres in Thayer county, Nebraska, on January 21, 1871. At that time they still gave their address as Clinton County, Pennsylvania. Thayer County was originally part of Jefferson County and not "organized" until late in 1870. It was 20 miles west of Beatrice. Hebron, founded in 1869, was the county seat. It's not known why John & Margaret Past do not show up on the 1870 Census in Clinton, Pennsylvania (a transcription error ?). ^[7]

Death & Burial

John C. Past, in his late 50s, continued his steam-mill business and subsequent travels. From his home in Beatrice, Nebraska, he and a business partner: John Saunders, with Saunders' son, John, Jr., took the train south to Little Rock, Arkansas, in the summer of 1876. Their project was to set up a flour mill in Arkansas and they took steam-mill buildiing equipment from Beatrice with them. Margaret Past stayed behind in Beatrice, Nebraska. Unfortunately, John caught what was called "a malarial fever" that "turned into typhoid fever and caused his death". He passed away in Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas, on 25 September 1876. ^[8]

Possibly for public-health reasons, as he died from a highly-communicable deadly disease, John Comly Past, 58 years old, was buried locally at the Oakland and Fraternal Historic Cemetery Park, Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, USA. ^[9]

John's widow, Margaret Kinsey (Swain) Past, moved to Hebron, Thayer County, Nebraska, shortly after her husband's death. She was recorded living in her oldest son, Edward's, household in Hebron on the 1880 US Census. Her youngest son, Arthur C. Past, was also living there then. ^[10] Her Find A Grave biography states that she had been living in Hebron for about 20 years before her death on 22 August 1900. ^[11] Her daughter, Margaret Elfreda Past, had married Daniel Marsh in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1871. In 1880 they were living in Webster County, Nebraska, with 2 small children. ^[12]

Margaret Kinsey (Swain) Past died at 83 years old on 22 August 1900 at her home in Hebron, Thayer County, Nebraska, USA. She had been an invalid for many years but continued to see her family and church members. She was buried at Hebron City Cemetery, Hebron, Thayer County, Nebraska, USA; plot: Block 30, Lot 1.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} FamilySearch Person: L438-XZV John Comly Past
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Find A Grave: Memorial #74288653 Margaret Kinsey Swain Past
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Family genealogy of Greg Hays, a Kinsey descendant.
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1860," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4LR-C6S : 13 February 2023), J.C. Past, Brooklyn, Hennepin, Minnesota, United States
5. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #19873 Edward Swain Past. See the excellent biography on this memorial.
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHD3-FJ8 : 12 February 2023).
7. ↑ General Land Office, Bureau of Land Management records, cited on Find A Grave: Memorial #188034374
8. ↑ Beatrice Express Newspaper, Beatrice, Nebraska, October 2, 1876. Cited on Find A Grave: Memorial #188034374
9. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #188034374 John Comly Past. NOTE: Has copy of his Beatrice, Nebraska, obituary notice, with a copy of his son Edward's biography.
10. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8YG-W13 : 14 January 2022), Edward Past, Hebron, Thayer, Nebraska, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
11. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #74288653 Margaret Kinsey Swain Past
12. ↑ FamilySearch Person: L7N1-5HB Margaret Kinsey Swain
13. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74288653/margaret-kinsey-past NOTE: Memorial has a local Obituary & an excellend biography of this American Pioneer woman.

• Fell, Sarah Moore, “Genealogy of the Palmer Family in America, descended from John and Christian Palmer, who settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania 1683” Reproduced by Duopage Process, Micro Photo Division, Bell & Howell Co., Cleveland, Ohio, 1902, Pg.162