Show ANCESTRY OF HEBER C KIMBALL the NEWS willingly gives space for the following document not only because it relates to the ancestral history of one of the greatest leaders ever raised up among the latter day saints but because of the incidental suggestions that tend to show how genealogies are traced in the united states MAY irth 1896 elder solomon F kimball dear brot brother ther to you as the representative senta tive of the family of heber C kimball Kimbal lj respectfully submit the following report ot of my efforts to trace the ancestry of the kimball family of utah and the results so far accomplished I 1 began researches about three years ago in the usual way I 1 had searches made at sheldon franklin co vt where heber C kimball was born and at st albans the county seat but not the faintest clue resulted I 1 afterwards wrote and sent remittances to expert genealogists in boston who are familiar with the records and genealogical literature of new england but still no clue was found to the antecedents of solomon farnham kimball the lather father of heber C kimball in the course of my genealogical work in new england during the last eighteen years I 1 have often met with the name kimball and have long been convinced that all bearing the name in that region descended from two brothers named henry and richard who were among the early settlers of massachusetts but members of your fathers family told me with much apparent confidence that heber C kimballs Kimb Kim alPs balls grandfather came from scotland to canada and that the family came thence to northern vermont where heber C was born this theory was in contradiction to the deductions naturally to be drawn from history for no tide of emigration took such a course yet it might possibly be true again the biography of heber C kimball states that his grandfather and a brother blotner came from england in time to assist in gaining the independence of the colonies notwithstanding the high esteem in which I 1 hold this work I 1 have always believed this statement to be erroneous also and that an ancestor much more remote than his grandfather founded in america the line from which heber C kimball descended but every effort to correct or confirm either this statement or the other respecting the alleged migration from scotland to canada and thence to vermont tailed failed completely as did every attempt made by me in utah and in the east to learn even the name of heber C kimballs Kimb Kim alPs balls grandfather A member of the family in utah told me he believed it was thomas and that the la latter tt e besides solomon F had a son C charles bar afes but this information was agoch and as later developments proved utterly without foundation in fact I 1 had been pursuing my investigations about a year when I 1 learned that professor S P sharples sharpies Shar pies ts of boston was compiling a genealogy of the kimball family descended from richard and henry I 1 corresponded with him but he could give me no information tending to show the line of descent of solomon F father of heber C kimball about a year ago when in boston I 1 called on the Po professor fessor and examined his manuscript with his assistance but our combined efforts tailed failed to bridge the gap that intervened ter in the line I 1 sought to connect with his material I 1 found him an expert genealogist of extensive experience and scrupulous conscientiousness he like myself was confident that the utah kimballs Kim balls descended from the family he was compiling but the trouble was to establish the exact connection during my travels in new england I 1 made thorough searches in the libraries of boston and among records in many different towns in massachusetts new hampshire rhode island and connecticut but totally without success I 1 did not get a clue to the missing link I 1 was in search of I 1 next went to mendon monroe co new york where heber C kimballs Kimb Kim alPs balls parents solomon F and anna spaulding kimball died and where their grandson homer kimball resides the latter received me with much kindness but was totally unable to aid me in closing the gap in his ancestral tr alline line my efforts at monroe like all others I 1 had made were utterly futile so far as supplying the hiatus was concerned but I 1 came home from there more convinced than ever that my theory of the descent of heber C kimball from one of the two brothers named above was correct and that I 1 would ultimately verity verify it in november last I 1 again left utah lor for the eastern states partly on business and partly to get genealogical records on arriving in boston I 1 again visited professor sharples Shar pies who had since my former cormer visit greatly augmented his kimball collections but stid he could give no clue to the missing link I 1 spent about a week in boston making a thorough search of works in print likely to contain a clue but found not the s tightest one never before in all my experience had I 1 been so completely N fil ed notwithstanding that I 1 had repeatedly written to sheldon vt the birth place of heber C kimball and to st albans the seat of the county embracing sheldon and had bad been answered by the town clerk ot of the former and probate judge of the latter town that their res did not give the information I 1 sought I 1 decided to visit those towns and make a personal search I 1 belt Bs baston in the fore fare part of last month and a few days later arrived in fieldon Sn Si eldon having stopped to make searches on the way the earliest church record in sheldon dates back to about 1835 and the earliest town records of births marriages and deaths are some years later these are all too recent to contain what I 1 wanted and were mere fragments until a few years ago the village cemetery did not con tain a kimball grave marked as such and several aged people life long residents ol of the place on whom I 1 called could give me no aid the land records were my only resources these I 1 searched thoroughly taking full notes putting together such facts and reasonable deductions as these records afforded I 1 constructed the following hypothesis but was unable to fully confirm it james kimball and his wife Meri meribah bab evidently an aged couple settled in sheldon in 1796 about five years after the first house was built there in or immediately immediate lv after that year six other settlers named kimball appeared in sheldon as buyers or owners of land voters etc their names were john solomon F james moses stephen and ana jesse from transactions that took place and contracts that were made among and between jimes james J imes and meribah and the other six kimballs Kim balls I 1 became convinced that they were one family father mother and six sons from sheldon I 1 went to Eno shing falls a village some miles distant to visit some persons named pained kimball of whom I 1 had heard in in the hope that they were of the above family and could supplement the facts I 1 had I 1 first called callea on mr fernando Cor CoT kimball about fifty three years old who received me very kindly the moment I 1 saw him I 1 was struck with his bis resemblance to lo some of the sons of heber C kimball this resemblance was not only seen in his features and physique but extended to his language and mental qualities from him I 1 obtained a record as far back as his grandfather but no farther his grandfather was james brother to soloman F and uncle to heber C kimball he did not know this however and had never heard of heber C kimball nor the lat father mr fernando Cor kimball Kim balls s grandfather james had gone from sheldon to dunham canada some fifteen miles north where his family was reared while heber C kimballs Kim balls father about the same time removed to western new york thus these branches ot of the family lost track of each other mr fernando Cor kimball referred me to a young man a relative of his also a resident ol of osburg enosburg En falls who he said could probably give me additional anfor iha rha tion the name of this young man was james burton kimball and he was a great grandson of james brother of j solomon F the latter being father of heber C kimball he readily gave me the history of his branch of the family as follows the ancestor of the kimballs Kim balls of sheldon had formerly lived at enfield edfield N H he had there joined a shaker community which held all property in common and had deeded to it two tracts ot of land one of 50 50 and the other of acres after remaining a member of the corn com about a year he left it the 50 acres were deeded back to him but the were nota not and boston lawyers had offered to his descendants to try to re cover them on a contingent fee after afier leaving the shakers he removed to shel don accompanied by six sons one of whom was great grandfather grand father to my in formant and was named james my informant could remember the names ot of two others of the six viz viz john and moses this was a striking confirmation of the theory I 1 had formed alter after S searching ear ching the land records at sheldon I 1 com munica ted fed these facts to professor sharples sharpies Shar pies and they were sufficient to esta establish lish connection with his bis material and then came an easy explanation of the difficulty I 1 had experienced in finding the grandfather 9 randi ather of heber C kimball the birth of his bis father solomon F had not been recorded by the 04 town clerk of hop HOD kinton N H where he was born he was one of a family of eleven children the births of nine of whom are properly recorded but his name and that of a younger brother jesse are omitted from the birth record it has always been suppo supposed ed that the birth record of this family was complete hence solomon F was not supposed to belong to it and hence the difficulty of connecting him with his parents this connection made the line was complete and perfect back to richard kimball who was born in 1595 in rat tl aden esden suffolk county england and w who with his brother henry came to massachusetts in 1634 this richard had benjamin born 1637 he had david born 1671 he had bad jeremiah born 1707 and he was father of james born 1736 who married meribah and settled in sheldon vt and among whose six sons was solomon F father of heber C kimball the latter was sixth in descent from richard the immigrant and the seventh generation of his line who had lived in america I 1 regard legard the correctness of this pedigree as being well authenticated but am corresponding with members of the family in the east with a view to further confirmation and information I 1 particularly desired to learn more of the uncles of heber C kimball As stated above I 1 have a lull record of the posterity ot of uncle james but I 1 was able to learn little or nothing of the others in respect to their progeny what I 1 learned at sheldon led me to surmise that they went to canada and I 1 consequently went to montreal but got gol no trace of either of them there I 1 found two men named kimball in montreal they belonged to the new england family but not V t the sheldon branch at enosburg Ea En osburg fals fal s I 1 was given the address of reverend james edwin kimball an aged resident of webster city cily hamilton county iowa as likely to have valuable information he is a son of 0 james kimball brother to kS t solomon olmon F and consequently is first cousin to heber C kimball he remained in or near sheldon until past middle age and no doubt can give some acco account of his uncles and aunts who were the children of james and meribah kimball parents of the sheldon family I 1 have written to him and am awaiting a reply As fast as I 1 collect records I 1 am turning them over to professor sharpies sharples Shar pies to be incorporated in his bis book the early pages of which have been printed and which will be out of the press in in two or three months by adding my material to his both is made more complete and printing the whole in a book insures its preservation better than any other way richard and henry kimball the immigrant ancestors though brothers corning coming to america about the same time diner wonderfully in the number of their posterity the names of all or what is known to be very nearly all of henrys descendants have been collected and they number not more than from three to four hundred but of the posterity of richard who was ancestor of heber C kimball the names of more than ten thousand have been obtained and it is knan thit that the record is still far from complete Descend descendants pints bearing the surname of kimball are here meant professor sharpies sharples Shar pies book carries the family back several generations prior to the settlement of new england traces the history and etymology of the name and completely disproves the th the that it is scotch or was derived fin campbell as has been supposed some the connection with the an am aral stock in england is so well t tra as to lay a broad foundation for harbor of tracing out the branches of kimball race in that country a work vast magnitude with the names their kindred that have already b gathered and with the openings aar alre made for continuing the labor of electing records the descendants of ber C kimball are today confronts coffron with a work to be done for their d del whose extent is greater than they e even comprehend and in its prosecute prose cuti cut I 1 most cordially wish them the brigett briga degree of success very respect lri your brother B F CUMMINGS J jr i |