Nancy Ann (Barclift) Walton Vernatti

Family of Nancy Ann:

Nancy Ann Barclift Walton Vernatti, her husbands Timothy Walton III and Jacob Vernatti, and their children: James Barclift Walton 1831–1865, Edward Wilson Walton 1833–1911, Emily Walton 1838–1841, Lucy Elizabeth Walton [Gruver] 1840–1903, Sarah "Sallie" Ann Vernatti [Pickett] 1843–1934, Mary Isabelle "Belle" Vernatti [Blanchard] 1845–1931, John Dempsey Vernatti 1847–1922, and William Jacob Vernatti Sr. 1856–1893.

Nancy Ann Barclift Walton Vernatti died on December 11, 1896, in Montgomery City, Montgomery County, Missouri. Her marker in the city cemetery is an imposing one, however, it has her year of death as 1897, which was off by a year.

Photo:

There is a much treasured photo of Nancy Ann Barclift Walton Vernatti with many of her family surrounding her attached: In the photo, as identified by Esther Vernatti (wife of Bill Vernatti Jr.) and others are: Back row (standing, left to right): Edward Wilson Walton, William Jacob Vernatti (holding daughter Maude Vernatti). Sarah Ann Vernatti Pickett, John Dempsey Vernatti; Front Row (standing and seated, left to right): Daughter of Edward and Hester Walton, Hester Eberman Walton, Elizabeth "Bess" Pickett with her hand on Ann's shoulder and her brother Frank James Pickett next to Ann, Ann Barclift Walton Vernatti (with arms folded), Nealia Vernatti (with hand on shoulder of Ann V.), Mollie Sparks Vernatti holding daughter Mayme (Mollie is wife of William Jacob Vernatti), three daughters of John Dempsey Vernatti and (seated) Sally Sparks Vernatti with son at her side (Sally was the wife of John Vernatti and sister of Mollie Sparks Vernatti.) William "Bill" Watts (descendant of William James Vernatti Sr.) added this note to the photo: "I am not sure but I think the boy seated next to Ann Vernatti is Frank Pickett, son of Sarah Vernatti Pickett and I think the girl standing behind him is Bess Pickett Allen, daughter of Sarah Vernatti Pickett".

Letter to Ann from her mother:

Dempsey Barclift 1778-1822, and Martha Sutton 1781-1846, were the parents of Nancy Ann Barclift. A transcribed letter from 1841 exists from Martha to her daughters Ann and Sarah (Stanton) who were in Monroe County, Illinois. In part it read: "Dear Daughters, I am alive yet and do enjoy tolerable smart health considern my old age and a heart full of trubble. Oh my children I am greeved to think that after raising so many children and then are all gone. But George. Oh if I could see you more I think I could die with more piece of mind but I dont expect to see you any more this side of Grate Eternight so do strive to meet me in heaven where a parting will be at end." She tells them to "kiss all of your dear little children and tell them that they have a grandmother in No. Carolina".

Marriage to Timothy Walton lll:

Nancy married Timothy Walton III on October 21, 1830, in Perquimans County, North Carolina, son of Timothy Walton II and Lucy Billips. After her marriage to Timothy, they lived in Gates County, North Carolina, until the family left for Illinois. Family legend has it that Ann and Timothy rode on a single horse from where they were married to their home in Gates County. They first settled near Harrisonville, Illinois in 1832, with other family members--his younger brother Joseph S., his sister Mary Ann, and older brother Thomas with his wife and children. All of the Waltons probably lived on the farm of 200 acres purchased by Thomas Walton July 30, 1832, but later relocated further north near Columbia in the "American Bottom". Timothy was born Oct 14, 1809, in Gates County, North Carolina, and died January 19, 1841, in Monroe County, Illinois. The day before Timothy's death, a vial of laudanum was purchased for a quarter for him. Timothy died of pneumonia after falling into a pond while retrieving ducks he had shot. $7 was paid to Henry Holmes for making Timothy's coffin. $3.75 was paid for his shrouding.

Timothy was a man interested in furthering his knowledge through the world of books. Among the things offered for sale in the settlement of his estate were a hymnal, an American Biography, and one "lot of books". Among the things that Ann retained as his widow were a cow, several sheep and lambs, bed and bedding, a bridle and sidesaddle, a hatchet and an axe, a yoke and oxen, and a plough. A very practical woman was our matriarch! It took years for the estate to be fully settled.

Ann and Timothy Walton had 4 known children:

James Barclift Walton was born December 26, 1831, in Gates County, North Carolina; he married Melcina Hausen, March 12, 1856, in Monroe County, Illinois; Melcina was born about 1838 in Missouri; in 1860 they lived in Monroe County, also with a child, Mary Parker, age 8, who may have been Melcina's niece. James served with Company B, 49th Illinois Infantry, and he died after the war ended but before he could return home, at Camp Butler, in Springfield, Illinois, on November 17, 1865.

Edward Wilson Walton was born September 18, 1833, in Monroe County, Illinois; he died February 6, 1911, in Macoupin County, Illinois; he married Hester Charlotte Eberman on September 25, 1861, in Jersey County, Illinois. Edward enlisted in Company A, 130th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil War, with his cousins Ira and Joseph Stanton in August 1862. Edward and Hester's children: William Clarence Walton 1866–1958; John Edward Walton 1867–1948; Mary Emma Walton 1869–1950; Nettie Angelite Walton Voorhees 1871–1960; Sarah Anna Walton Barber 1873–1911; Rosa Belle Walton Lampert 1875–1961; Grace Ruth Walton Sams 1877–1913; Nellie Blanche Walton 1880–1881. Edward stayed in touch with his siblings and their relatives.

Emily Walton born 1838, Monroe County, Illinois; died 1841, Monroe County, Illinois.

Lucy Elizabeth Walton was born on February 7, 1840, in Monroe County, Illinois; she died June 27, 1903 in Decatur, Macon County, Illinois, at the home of her adopted daughter Mary Margaret Walton Galbraith. Lucy had married Hiram Gruver. They adopted Mary M Walton (daughter of William Walton/Waldon and Ann Green), and had two children of their own, Grace Ann Gruver Scafe 1875–1954 and Fred Eugene Gruver 1882–1972.

Marriage to Jacob Vernatti:

On June 12th, 1842, in Monroe County, Ann married Jacob Vernatti. He was born about 1814 in Tennessee, and died November 7, 1857, in Columbia, Monroe County, Illinois. Nothing much is known of his parents or when he came to Illinois, although this story was related by Gertrude Finkbiner, a daughter of Mary Isabelle Vernatti Blanchard: "I used to enjoy listening to my mother telling about her family and their life in Illinois. Her maiden name was Vernatti, but we were never sure of that spelling for it's quite a story: A man came from Kentucky with two young boys on horseback. He had relatives in Illinois, so he left his sons Jacob and Allan with them, and went back to Kentucky and was never heard from, think perhaps he met with foul play. The children too small to spell so Vernatti seemed to be the way, but I wonder if it might not be Van Etta." (Allen Vernatti has been traced to his death in 1904.)

In the 1850 census of Moredock, Monroe County, Illinois, Ann can be seen with her husband Jacob, who was farming, and her children Sarah, Mary and John D Vernatti, and children James, Edward and Lucy Walton. Both James and Edward were farming on the place, too.

When Jacob Vernatti died in 1857, Mitchael Pickett was one of the appraisers of his goods. Mitchell and the other appraisers set aside items for the widow Ann, including 3 bedsteads and bedding, kitchen and household furniture, a stove, fuel and food, a spinning wheel and loom, a cow and calf, a horse, and 10 sheep; a woman's saddle and bridle, and food for the stock. Jacob was buried in Miles Cemetery in Monroe County, Illinois.

Ann and Jacob Vernatti had 4 known children:

Sarah Ann Vernatti, was born March 6, 1843, in Monroe County, Illinois. Sarah, or Sallie, as she was nicknamed, married John Monroe Pickett on February 13, 1861, in Waterloo, Illinois. (Their children were: Cornelia "Nellie" Ann Pickett Mitchell 1862–1938; Mitchell Jacob Pickett 1866–1940; Harry Pickett 1874–1876; Elizabeth "Bess" Colcord Pickett Allen 1876–1969; and Frank James Pickett 1878–1972.) It was from a newspaper article in Galena, Kansas, where Sarah and John had moved, that we know that the marker for Ann is incorrect as to her year of death: "Mrs. John Pickett, of East Galena, left last night for Montgomery City, Mo., in response to a telegram announcing the serious illness of her mother, Mrs. Vernatta. Her mother died before she reached there." Published in The Galena Evening Times, 11 December 1896, Friday, Page 3.

Mary Isabelle Vernatti, was born February 3, 1845, Monroe County, Illinois; Belle married Timothy Walton Blanchard, on March 12, 1867, in Brighton, Macoupin County, Illinois. The couple had three sons and four daughters: John J Blanchard 1867–1956, Dora M Blanchard Ward 1871–1948, Anna Blanchard Russell 1875–1961, Charles Blanchard 1877–?, Hiram Walter Blanchard 1879–1970, Gertrude Cornelia Blanchard Finkbiner 1882–1980 and Elizabeth Blanchard Doherty 1887–1980. The couple moved eventually to Colorado, where they operated the Blanchard Lodge, after Timothy's forays into mining.

John Dempsey Vernatti, was born August 6, 1847, Monroe County, Illinois; died November 27, 1922, in Montgomery County, Missouri; John married Sarah Kizziah Sparks on November 28, 1871 in Montgomery County, Missouri; John and Sarah are buried at Brush Creek Cemetery, Montgomery County, Missouri. The couple had 4 daughters and one son: Annie Bell Vernatti 1873–1887, Alice M. Vernatti 1876–1891, Effie Grace Vernatti Hisey 1880–1958, Walter Clarence Vernatti 1884–1967, and Laura Eone Vernatti Weldon 1889–1974.

William Jacob Vernatti Sr. was born January 28, 1856, in Columbia, Monroe County, Illinois; and died December 3, 1893, Montgomery City, Montgomery County, Missouri; his wife was Mary Ann "Mollie" Sparks, (sister of Sarah Sparks); they married on January 27, 1879, in Gamma, Montgomery County, Missouri. He is buried in the Montgomery City Cemetery. William and Mollie's children: Cornelia Gertrude Vernatti Nation 1880–1956; Maude Belle Vernatti 1884–1976; Edna May "Mayme" or "Mamie" Vernatti Wright 1886–1972; Nellie Ann Vernatti Price 1888–1976; and William "Will" James Vernatti Sr. 1892–1966.

In the 1860 census, Ann was farming and living still in Monroe County, Illinois, in "the bottoms", with her children Lucy Elizabeth Walton, Sarah, Mary, and John Vernatti, with son Edward Walton farming next door. There is also a child named Andy, age 6, born in Illinois living in the household, but who he is, is not known. Ann did not move from that area until 1866/1867.

On March 27, 1867, from Brighton, Illinois (where her son Edward and family lived), Ann wrote this to her homesick daughter Sarah: "It grieves me to know that you are so troubled in your mind for I know all about grieveing for absent friends. But my Child you have a husband and two Dear little children to love, and do all in your power to make them comfortable and happy and you must try and be as cherful as posible. By worrieng you will make your self and all around you miserable. I know you will say I cant help it Mother. I know it is hard for you to give up all your relatives and be so far a way from us but you must be patient and if it is the lords will we will see each other a gain."

They did. The 1870 census found Ann living with her daughter Sarah Ann and Sarah's husband John Monroe Pickett in Butler, Bates County, Missouri, where Sarah and John had moved to work in the Pickett Hotel, owned by John's father, Mitchael Pickett and wife Elizabeth. Ann has her youngest son "Willie" still with her at his recorded age of 14.

Ann had one more move before her death, this time to Montgomery County, Missouri, where she lived with her youngest son William and his wife Mollie and daughter in Prairie, at the time of the 1880 census in June. Ann's son John Dempsey Vernatti was living next door with his wife Sally and their 3 children.

The children of Nancy Ann Barclift Walton Vernatti, the Waltons and the Vernattis, remained close throughout their lives. They stayed in touch and visited when they could, as did their descendants. "Ann" lived a long and adventurous life, with joys and sorrows, labor and laughter, and the love not only of her children and grandchildren, but those of many generations since. She is remembered here with boundless admiration and great affection.

~~mjp~~