Mary Leonard Vibbard Movius
Mary Leonard Vibbard Movius (born 07 May 1811 at Waterford [near
Saratoga, New York]; died 09 Feb 1870 at Buffalo, NY, burial at
Forest Lawn cemetery, Buffalo, New York).58,63,162 Mary was born
and raised at Waterford, Saratoga county, New York. She was the
daughter of John Vibbard, who also was born at Waterford,
Saratoga county, New York.63 "She was a devout Episcopalian, and
both sang and played the organ for 15 years" at Waterford and
later at Ypsilanti.163
"She was the youngest of three sisters - the last to come, the
last to go. She was a cousin of Chauncey Vibbard, formerly
General Superintendent of the Michigan Central Railroad (and
founder of the New York Central Railroad). Her stepmother, Mrs.
John Vibbard, a venerable lady of ovr 80 years of age, was living
at New London, Connecticut" at the time of Mary's death.63
Nothing else is known of her, except that Mary lived at Exeter
County New York in 1830 [See Note B regarding the Vibbard family
surname].
Julius and Mary had five children; two unnamed babies died in
infancy at Ypsilanti and three children became adults (Sara,
Edward and Maria):58,63,123"
*******
FYI I am the genealogist of the Movius family. The above is from
an unpublished genealogy of the "Buffalo-Boston" branch of the
Movius family, copyright 1999-2001 by John Movius (me). The
numbers above are reference numbers in my genealogy text.
Mary married Julius Movius of Ypsilanti, who became a Michigan
state senator while living there and at Detroit circa 1848-1850.
I have several letters written to her and his business partner by
Julius while he was a Ypsilanti merchant (circa the 1830's) and
was travelling to Europe and New York City.
Then they moved to Buffalo NY from Detroit, where he became
wealthy as general agent for the three Canadian and US railroads
(and a Lake Erie passenger line) that served as a principal
northern route to the west for European emigrants from circa 1850
to circa 1880. During the Civil War I understand he was
appointed by President Lincoln to run the Union railroad system
for the war effort.
After retirement, he served briefly as US Counsel at Koblenz,
Germany. Their son, Edward, a lawyer, studied at Heidleberg
Universität and he married Mary Rumsey, daughter of the
wealthiest man in Buffalo. Their daughter, Sara, married a
lawyer in a law firm with Grover Cleveland, later New York
Governor and U.S. President.
I have been unable to find out anything about Mary's father, John
Vibbard, who may have been a brother of Chauncey. It appears
that Julius met Mary (in some way) through Chauncey and that
Julius and Chauncey were both well connected in the railroad
business at a time when it wa growing rapidly and rationalizing
into the major lines we know of today. Unable to learn of the
meaning/relationsip of her middle name Leonard either.
I have extensive information about Julius, his railroad
business and the marriage of their children into several of the
leading Buffalo and New York families of that time.
I had eMail contact circa 1999 with two leading Vibbard
genealogists who were unable to help me with my John Vibbard
research. They claimed to have traced their Vibbard line back
through a New England sea captain to a French channel island.
Thaat Vibbard line was though to have been Huguenot from France
(exiled to that island).
*******
Note B: Mary Leonard Vibbard Movius - Vibbard genealogy: Mary
appears to have had an older brother named for her father. Her
father was John Vibbard (b 1809 in NY) who was living with his
wife & family as a farmer in Ballston township, Saratoga County,
NY in the 1860 Federal census.83
"John Vibbard (Vibbert, Vibert, Vibber) came to Hartford CT about
1700, perhaps as a Huguenot escaping after the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes in 1685. His widow Mary (--) Vibbard petitioned
the court on 03 Jan 1714/15 for guardianship of their two sons
John age 8 & James age 6 according to reference 108.97 DAR
Lineage Books & histories of Hartford & New London, CT have many
Vibbard & Vibbert families listed. This line is not certain. A
possible connection exists to a Leonard Smith Vibbert (sic) of
Manchester CT. In 1846 He married Lydia Clarissa Houghton of
Hebron CT according to reference 109."97 Such a connection, if
true, would be one explanation of the later use of the name
Leonard by Mary's father & by the Movius family.
The Vibbard / variant "...name appears in the American Federal
census as early as 1790 in various forms. It is concentrated in
Connecticut with a large number of Vibberts who serve in the
Revolutionary War and who are heads of families in Connecticut in
1790. There is one Vibbert who serves from Vermont in the
Revolutionary War & one Vabbard from New York, Timothy as a head
of family. Was this her grandfather?86 "The name appears as
Vibber/t; Vib/bar/d; Vibbert/s; Vibert/s and Viber. "...it is
important to avoid the trap of concentration on ONE spelling of
the name. Spelling was flexible, handwriting was often unclear
and transcribers of various sources often were unfamiliar with a
name or mis-heard it.76
"It is of interest that there is a family in early Washtenaw
county, headed by Daniel Vibbard of Genesee county, NY who took
up 80 acres in T4S R5E (N½ NE¼ Section 33) in Washtenaw county MI
on 10 May 1833. He and his wife Ester of Saline, Washtenaw
county." He also sold 9.1 acres in nearby Van Buren township on
04 July 1839 - his name then was mis-spelled as Vibber. There
also was a Ruth Viber of Washtenaw county MI who took up 80 acres
in T4S R5E (S½ SW¼ Section 33) on 09 Aug 1835. I would posit
that they are related."76
A Vibert crest and some related genealogy information is said to
appear in Armorial of New Jersey by J. B. Payne on page 346.134b,86
From: John Movius
P.O. Box 2660
Salt Lake City, Utah 84110-2660
Tel:
(801) 288-1501
eMail: feefhs@feefhs.org
WWW:
http://feefhs.org
30 July 2001