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"

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FYI I am the genealogist of the Movius family. The above is from

an unpublished genealogy of the "BuffaloBoston" branch of the

Mary married Julius Movius of Ypsilanti, who became a Michigan

state senator while living there and at Detroit circa 18481850.

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).

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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

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30 July 2001