A Needels Family History & its Custodians

There is a Needels family history book titled

Record of the 

Man, Needles, (Nedels) and Hambleton Families; 

with Others Affiliated Thereunto.

A.D. 1495 to A.D. 1876., et. seq.

Revised, Enlarged, and the Modern Records Corrected 

by Samuel Hambleton Needles.

January 1st, 1876. 

Philadelphia, U.S.A.

(124 pages plus index)

Custodians

I have digitized a photocopy of this book that I got from Grandma Jesse that was passed down through C.B. Needels and F.O. Needels.  You can see a pretty poor digitized version here.
C.B. began his custody as soon as the book was published.

Are these Needles Even Our People?

The final pages of the document reference communication with both Alexander Needels and C.B. Needels (his son).  Neither Alexander nor C.B. could prove the connection.

excerpt from page 124 (pictured above)

Alexander Needels of Sparta, Ohio, concludes in his letter of Dec. 22, 1875--"I have no doubt but we are of the same race, but likely will never be able to link it.  In another letter he states: "I have heard my father say, that after the death of my great-grandfather, William Needels, his widow (whether first or second wife, I know not) married a Harris, and had at least one son.  My grandfather, Thomas Needles, had two wives--the first was named White, who bore him one son, William.  His second wife was a Cubbage, who bore him five sons and five daughters, all of whom married and have families."  

C.B. Needels, of Sweet Home, Mo., under date of Jan. 4, 1876, writes: "I made some effort to obtain sufficient material to write a history of the family, but the records are so incomplete I gave it up.  I found the maiden names of all the women and the records of marriages neglected, but I am satisfied the William Needels you speak of is our legal ancestor, but by a second marriage.  My record gives the names of the parents of Thomas Needels, the second on our list, as William and Hannah, without the dates of their births.  According to your record of the birth of William, (March 12, 1697) if he was father of our Thomas, he was in his 42d year when the latter was born, (Nov. 2, 1738).***I will try to find out whether our William was married a second time."

         He appends the following list of his ancestors:

Your William,   son of John and Elizabeth (Man)                    born Mar. 12, 1697

Our Thomas,     son of William and Hanna (Hargrove*)         born Nov. 2, 1738
  "    George,     second son of Thomas and Sarah (Cubbage) born Aug. 5, 1773
  "    Alexander, son of George and Keziah (Jackson)*           born Mar. 6, 1797
  "    C.B.           son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Cubbage)   born Nov. 14, 1823
  "    Allen B.     son of C.B. and Catharine (Nedels)               born Dec. 30, 1853
*maiden names given in orange were written into the text by hand

Alexander Needels' Note in his copy of the book

Transcriptions are not my specialty, but I'll give this one a try:

April 24 A.D. 1876.  Try to write a few lines very hard for me to write with a pen.
I am born March 6 A.D. 1797 in Kent Co. Delaware State born to Christ in his kingdom March 3 A.D. 1821.  Married to Elizabeth Cubbage December 5 A.D. 1822.
I ___ in Ohio Morrow County near Sparta.  Am going to send this book ___ C.B. Needels my firstborn, he living in Missouri near Sweet Home, Nodaway Co.

Alexander Needels

My Copy

Apparently Alexander sent his brand new copy to C.B., who is listed as the first custodian.  F.O. Needels received the book from his father and had it until he passed in 1956.

At this point a copy or copies were made and it was a copy that came into Jesse's hands in 1965 and which she passed down to me.  I would be delighted to know where the original is.

For C.B. Needels' entries in the history, 1876-1904 see here.
[coming soon...]
For F.O. Needels' entries in the history, 1904-1956 see here.
For Jesse Drinkwater's entries, 1965-1982 see here.