Vining Family Association
 One Name — Many Families

P. O. Box 505 - Yardley, PA   19067
info@vining-family.org


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Problem 1 - Descendants of Arthur L. Vining (b. 22 October 1867, Maine) (posted 1 January 2016)
Background information: According to his death certificate, Arthur L. Vining died in Utica, New York, on 3 June 1931. The “place of burial, cremation or removal” was Waterford, New York, and the “date of burial” was 6 June 1931. His death was reported by Delmar [Delmer?] Vining, his younger son.
Information sought:
   (1) Obituary for Arthur L. Vining
   (2) Image of Arthur L. Vining’s gravestone
   (3) 1930 census record for Arthur L. Vining, who was not listed in the household with his wife and sons.
   (4) Did either son have offspring?


Problem 2 - Namesake of Vinings, Georgia (posted 1 January 2016)
Background information: Vinings, Georgia, was settled in the 1830s by Hardy Pace and was initially known as “Crossroads”. In 1837 Stephen H. Long, a civil engineer, was charged with building the Western & Atlantic Railroad from Atlanta to Chattanooga. The railroad was constructed through the area of Crossroads in 1838-1841. In the course of this construction, there was a culvert-tressel-styled bridge that had to transverse a creek around a mountain. Somewhere in this time frame a railroad worker or supervising construction foreman, supposedly by the name of Vining, may have had the responsibility of this stretch of rail. The bridge on early maps was called “Vining’s Bridge”. Subsequent placement of a railway station one-half mile south of the bridge transferred the name as “Vining’s Station”, known for the duration of the Civil War as such, and mentioned no fewer than 150 times in the official records and memoirs of primarily Union forces. The name was shortened in 1904 to simply “Vinings”. Today it is a historic place inhabited by rather wealthy individuals -- and is in need of a fathered identity.
   There are no census, marriage, or death records that put a Vining in this (Cobb) county during the target years (1840 more or less). There were some Vinings from Putnam County, Georgia, who won land in the Georgia Land Lotteries, but it appears they never actually lived in Cobb County and they sold the land. Further, they were farmers and the work on the railroad required engineering know-how, something not common in the south. A hypothesis is that this presumed Vining was an individual from the northeast—Pennsylvania, Delaware, etc.—who worked on the railroads, went to Crossroads contractually, and possibly moved on.
Information sought:
   The name of a Vining, likely 30–40 years old, who worked on the railroad or in bridge construction and was in Georgia during the 1840 (more or less) time frame.


Problem 3 - Robert Vining’s place in the Vining genealogy (posted 3 January 2017)
Background information: Robert Vining married the widow Mary Jane (Courtney) Miner on March 16, 1898, in Putnam County, Ohio. Officiator was the Rev. J.E. Smith. Two years later Mary Jane was listed as head of house in the 1900 census of Shelby county, Ohio, with a married daughter living with her and another daughter living next door to her. Robert Vining was not listed. No death/divorce records have been found in Putnam County, Ohio, for Robert. His fate is unknown. The Find A Grave website for Putnam County lists only two Vinings buried there. They are William and Edith Vining and are buried in Cascade Cemetery, Cloverdale, Putnam County, Ohio. No relationship between them and Robert has been found. The “Pensioners on the Roll” for Putnam County listed a Joseph and William G. Vining, both of Kalida, Ohio, in Putnam County, Ohio, but no Robert. There are other mentions of Vining families in the 1800s in Putnam County but, again, with no connections to Robert.
Information sought:
   (1) Where does Robert Vining fit in the Vining genealogy?
   (2) When and where did he die?
   (3) Where is he buried?


To post your Vining research problem(s) or to solve one of the above problems (or add information that may help some else solve it), please e-mail info@vining-family.org or write to the address at the top of this page.