George Franklin PETTIBONE

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• FamilySearch ID: LVZ2-YBJ

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• FamilySearch ID: 9W9Z-N75

John married Elvira E. SPARHAWK. Elvira (daughter of Sylvanus SPARHAWK and Arvilla RIGGS) was born on 25 Oct 1826 in New York; died on 30 Mar 1874 in Illinois; was buried in Lake Avenue Cemetery, Crystal Lake, McHenry, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: MF6J-ZCR
• Name: Ester Elvira SPIRIAK
• Residence: 1855, Lanesborough, Berkshire, Massachusetts
• Residence: 1860, Lanesboro, Berkshire, Massachusetts
• Residence: 1870, Illinois

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• FamilySearch ID: GMTH-7J4
• _UID: 3EF9212A4CBE47D79BE309E09C564C227145

Sylvanus married Arvilla RIGGS. Arvilla (daughter of Edmund S. RIGGS and Elizabeth Susannah ROBY) was born about 1809 in Washington County, Ohio; died in 1840 in Pittsfield, Pittsfield, Somerset, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: 9VK2-WRT
• _UID: 460FA010836C45CF8098A8BCE2DA0A6BB5EB
• Alt. Birth: 1808, New Hampshire

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• FamilySearch ID: GMT4-RCT

Timothy married Mary CONANT. Mary was born on 10 Feb 1759 in Acton, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died on 21 Jan 1834 in Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: GMT4-KD2

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• FamilySearch ID: GMT4-B9X
• Military Service: ; War of 1812
• Name: Edmond RIGGS
• Name: Edmund S RIGGS
• _UID: 6CE8206120A847EF928A1575FD305A323271
• Census: 1830, Tyler Co., WV; Roll 200, p. 180
• Census: 3 Sep 1850, Dist. 61, Tyler Co., West Virginia; Roll M432_979, p. 368
• Occupation: 3 Sep 1850, Dist. 61, Tyler Co., West Virginia; farmer
• Census: 28 Jun 1860, Pleasants Co., WV; Roll M653_1371, p. 651
• Occupation: 28 Jun 1860, Pleasants Co., WV; farmer
• Census: 30 Jun 1870, Union Dist., Pleasants Co., West Virginia; Roll M593_1697, p. 484
• Occupation: 30 Jun 1870, Union Dist., Pleasants Co., West Virginia; farmer

Notes:

From Bruce Varner's work:
Nancy Ann Varner (1841-1934) had four children, all of whom grew up with Nancy's maiden name Varner. Family members never openly spoke of why this was the case, and none of the long dead early descendants passed on any clues.
Therefore everyone who descends from any one of Nancy's four children falls into the same category. Nancy's four children were:
John Lawrence Varner (1866-1951)
William Owen Varner (1869-1937)
Eurelda Varner Newton (1871-1959)
Mary Varner Clemons Cove (1877-1956)
Y-DNA tests were conducted in 2012 by Bruce T. Varner (1951-), father Edwin Dale Varner, grandfather Bert Lonzo Varner, great-grandfather John Lawrence Varner, son of Nancy Ann Varner. This test revealed that genetically, John Lawrence Varner was fathered by a Riggs. Therefore all direct male to male descendants from John Lawrence carry Riggs Y-DNA.
Y-DNA tests were conducted in in 2013 by William Ray Varner (1943-), father Otto George Varner, grandfather William Owen Varner, son of Nancy Ann Varner. This second Y-DNA test revealed that genetically, William Owen Varner was also fathered by a Riggs.
Bruce T. Varner and William Ray Varner are a zero deviation Y-DNA match to each other.
Subsequent research into the Riggs families of Miller County, Missouri revealed that three brothers lived in Miller County during the same timeframe as Nancy.
Calvin Riggs (1810-1863)
Owen Riggs (1813-1875)
Edmund Riggs (1819-1877)
Since the completion of testing, evidence has proven that John Lawrence and William Owen were both fathered by a Riggs, one might assume that the two girls (Eurelda & Mary) could have been fathered by a Riggs also.
Since both Calvin and Owen Riggs were dead by the time the final daughter Mary was born, that leaves Edmund Riggs as the most likely father of the four.
Estate documents for Edmund Riggs proved that Nancy Varner worked for Edmund Riggs up until Edmund's time of death.
Antidotal evidence from family lore has long stated that Nancy Ann's parents, George and Harriet Varner were living "on the old Riggs place" when they were killed around the start of the Civil War.
Additional Y-DNA results surfaced from four descendants of James Riggs (1662-1744). These four James Riggs descendants showed close Y-DNA matches to Bruce & William Varner. The four Riggs descendants are:
Fredrick L. Riggs (1937-) [1 deviation]
Charles L. Riggs (1954-) [2 deviation]
Lawrence B. Riggs (1932-) [1 deviation]
Michael D. Riggs (1958-) [0 deviation]
Fredrick and Charles Riggs MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) is William Riggs (1750-1833).
Lawrence and Michael, along with our Edmund Riggs MRCA is James Riggs (1742-1815).
Both William Riggs and James Riggs are two generations descended from the Riggs family patriarch James Riggs (1662-1744).

Transcription of text in Obituary for Edmund Riggs:
Riggs? February 15th, at his residence, foot of Long Reach, Pleasants county, W. Va., EDMUND RIGGS, in the ninety-third years of his age.

Mr. Riggs was born in 1783, in Bedford county, Pa. He came in October, 1799, to the Ohio with his father, who settled in what is now Washington county, Ohio. This region was then literally a "howling wilderness." He has killed eighteen panthers, and bears and wolves without number. In 1815 he came to his late place of residence, then Ohio county, Virginia. Of his eleven children only four survive him. He was a man of the strictest integrity, and was universally respected.

Grape Island, W. Va., Feb. 16, 1876

Edmund married Elizabeth Susannah ROBY in Feb 1806 in Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland. Elizabeth (daughter of Otha Owen ROBEY and Susannah BARTHOLOW) was born on 22 Apr 1788 in Washington County, Maryland; died on 11 Jan 1857 in Tyler, West Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• FamilySearch ID: GMT4-VTM
• _UID: E18932B4AA1C481CAA6C2898AEDAE0D890F9
• Residence: 1850, District 61, Tyler, Virginia
• Residence: 1850, Tyler county, part of, Tyler, Virginia
• Census: 3 Sep 1850, Dist. 61, Tyler Co., West Virginia; Roll M432_979, p. 368