Surname Saturday - MIX

Or, Surname Sunday since I'm a day late. But hey, I had a busy day yesterday visiting my grandparents - my grandmother (Ann MIX DOMELLE who is mentioned below) turned 90 years old yesterday. My grandparents very kindly agreed to let me cart away a boatload of loose papers and photos so I could scan them (and then return them of course). I simply cannot wait to sit and go through those papers, what a treat!!!!

Anyway, on to the surname of the moment! It's MIX, sometimes spelled as MEEKS. It's one of your purebred Puritan New England names, going all the way back to the first Thomas Mix that came over from England in the early 1600s, around the time that Winthrop's Fleet arrived. He was one of the earliest settlers in the newly created town of New Haven in what would be the state of Connecticut. I only have his birthplace as "London" and haven't been able to prove for sure his parentage back in England.

The MIX family moved on to help found the town of Wallingford, Connecticut, and then my line moved to Vermont for a short while, and then finally settled in Tioga County, New York after those lands started becoming settled post-Revolutionary War. There are also a lot of MIX families just over the border in Pennsylvania, in Bradford County and in the northern county of Cameron in PA.

Tom Mix, the silent film star, is of the MIX families from Cameron County in PA.

The given name of "Thomas" was definitely a favorite of the family - in the 1600s and 1700s it recurs enough times to be really annoying to the genealogy researcher trying to sort them all out 300 years later. :-)

And so, here's my MIX ahnentafel:


1. Leah KLEYLEIN - Me!

3. Deborah DOMELLE - my Mom!

7. Ann MIX - my Grandma! She was born in Tompkins County, NY and spent her childhood years there. After marrying my grandfather (William DOMELLE), they moved around a bit.

14. William Homer MIX, born 09 Dec 1876 in Village of Willseyville, Tioga Co., NY; died 06 Jul 1954 in, Ithaca, Tompkins Co., NY. He married Cornelia Elizabeth AKINS, whose surname is mentioned in a previous posting. William and Cornelia married in 1904 and had 10 children. In federal census records, William is listed as doing carpentry and farm labor.

28. John Francis MIX, born 09 Mar 1830 in Tioga Co., NY; died 1906 in Tioga Co., NY. He married Mary Ellen COOK sometime around 1854. It looks like John, or sometimes "Frank" spent his entire life in Tioga County working mainly as a Laborer (according to census records). John and Mary had at least 6 children that I can account for.

56. Jonathan Collins MIX, born Bet. 1803 - 1804 in NY; died 14 Jan 1853 in Willseyville, Tioga Co., NY. He married Sally A. STEVENS probably around 1825 and they had 7 children that I know of. It looks like Jonathan was a blacksmith, as were 3 of his sons.

112. Collins MIX, born 20 Jan 1777 in Wallingford, CT; died 17 Jan 1852 in the Poor House, Owego, Tioga Co., NY. He married Leafe IDE on 28 Aug 1800 in Clarendon, Rutland Co., VT. Collins and Leafe had 3 living children that I know of. Although Collins was born in Connecticut, by the age of 23, he was in the 1800 federal census in Vermont where he met his future wife. They then made the move to New York. Collins did in fact pass away in the Poor House at Owego, he was listed as "intemperate" which in 19th century speech could have meant a variety of things.

224. Thomas MIX, born 12 Aug 1745 in Wallingford, CT. He married Lois COLLINS 11 Dec 1766 in Wallingford, CT and then had 2 living sons that I know of. This Thomas Mix, as far as I can tell, is the one that was in the Revolutionary War, in the 4th Connecticut Regiment. It also looks like this Thomas moved to Vermont as well as his son Collins as there is a deed from 1795 that names Thomas as a resident of Danby, Rutland Co., VT.

448. Thomas MIX, born 27 Nov 1709 in Wallingford, CT; died 1794 in Wallingford, CT. He married Ruth MANROSS 05 Apr 1736 in Wallingford, CT. From what I can tell, they spent all their lives in Wallingford and had 6 children.

896. Thomas MIX, born 25 Mar 1678 in Wallingford, CT; died 1735 in Wallingford, CT. He married Deborah Royce 21 Mar 1704/05 in Wallingford, CT. From what I can tell, they spent all their lives in Wallingford and had 11 children.

1792. Daniel MIX, born 08 Sep 1653 in New Haven, CT; died 1720 in Wallingford, CT. He married Ruth Rockwell 02 May 1678 in Wallingford, CT. Daniel was one of the original proprietors of Wallingford. He and Ruth had 6 children.

3584. Thomas MIX, born in London, England; died 1691 in New Haven, CT. He married Rebecca Turner 1649 in New Haven, Connecticut. Thomas and Rebecca had 11 children and apparently were a bit feisty for Puritans. I have court records where they were reprimanded for, uh, "fornication" which they lied about "in a gross and heinous manner". :-) That happened in 1649. Coincidentally, they were married in 1649. Also, they had their first son John in 1649. Hmm.

Thanks to the fabulous Google Books, you can go read the records yourself in Charles J. Hoadly's Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven, pg 469, last paragraph.

Thomas and Rebecca had headstones in the famous Grove Street Cemetery of New Haven (moved there from the original burying ground on the green) although they may be worn flat by this time. I couldn't locate anything legible for them when I visited recently, but I did find many generations of later MIX's.


And that my friends, is the end of my records for the MIX family!