Monday, December 31, 2018

2018 YEAR END FAMILY TREE PROGRESS REPORT ~ By the numbers–How many new people? How many new events and sources?

family stat chart diagram
This is a topic that was first shared on Randy Seaver’s blog Genea-Musings.   It’s all about the statistics or numbers in your database.  How well did we actually do in our research of family?
2018 is quickly drawing to a close.  Each year I take a look back at my Legacy database to see how my family tree has progressed.  
To get to your statistics report in Legacy go to the Help tab>About Legacy and click on General.
  • Have I added more people? Although that isn’t my primary goal.
  • Have I kept up with citing my sources?
  • How about events?  Have I continued to enter events for ancestors lives?
  • Am I continuing to add media to my tree?
I’ve run this year’s report and here is how it looks.

Family stat report 2018 annot

Let’s go back to the 2017 year end report and see what that looked like.

Family stat report 2017

I see that I have 508 more people in my tree.  That’s an addition of 1.4 people per day.  Since I don’t work on my tree each and every day, that’s not bad.

How about citations?  Have I continued to be diligent about adding sources to the items I am entering, census, vital records, newspaper articles etc.?

By dividing the citations by the number of individuals you come up with a percentage.  Last year that percentage was 222.5%.  This year for 2018 the percentage is 213.7%.  That’s a drop of 8.8%.  I believe this is the first year in 5 years that my citations have dropped.  What this means is that I’ve gotten lazy.  I add people and events and I’m not citing them like I used to.  For me it’s vitally important that what I put into my tree, be verified by sources and those sources MUST be cited. Legacy makes it so easy and I’ve been doing it for years, so I have no excuse.

Let’s take a look back 5 years and see what’s happened in my tree. 
Here’s the year end report from December 2013. (Aren’t these some ugly colors I was using back than?)

Family stat report 2013annot

Here’s a comparison table of 5 years of work on my family tree.

family stats table 2018

In these 5 years I’ve added about 360 people per year to my tree.  That’s an average of just under 1 person per day.  This means I’m discovering new families.  How many new families?  According to the stats I am adding about 128 families per year.  The largest jump I see is the number of times I have linked media to events in my tree.  I will admit to being a media junkie.  I want the visual proof of what I record.  Whether it’s a marriage register, a page from a book, a draft card, pension card or census report.  I like to add that image to my tree.
 
The question for me is, what are my goals for 2019? 
  • Definitely to increase my citation percentage and quit being lazy about citing sources
  • To continue to add individuals and families to my tree
  • To go back and look at some of the families I haven’t looked at in a while
  • To continue to blog about my journey
  • To keep attending conferences, seminars and classes to increase my knowledge
  • To break down a couple of brick walls I’ve had for over 15 years
That sounds like enough goals to keep me out of trouble in the coming year.  LOL!

What are your goals for 2019?  I’d love to hear about them.  Perhaps you’ll mention something I’ve missed and inspire me.  Are we cousins?  Maybe we can work together on our goals?  I love collaboration.

I wish you the greatest of success in your research in the coming year.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Sunday, December 30, 2018

SUNDAY’S OBITUARY ~ Roy Jerome Hart (1883-1946) Perry, Shiawassee, Michigan

HART_Roy J_obit_LansingJournal_16 Sep 1946_pg 2
Published in the Lansing State Journal 16 Sep 1946, page 2

Roy Jerome Hart is a descendant of my 3rd great grandfather, Henry Hart and his first wife, Sarah Sumner.  This makes Roy my half 2nd cousin twice removed.

Transcription of Obituary:
 
PERRY, Sept. 16 - Funeral services for Roy J. Hart, 63, will be held Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock from the Church of the Nazarene, Rev. John Smith, pastor, officiating.  Burial will be in Oak Plains Cemetery, Shaftsburg.
The body is at Oakes funeral home where it will remain until one hour previous to the services at the church.
Mr. Hart died suddenly about noon Sunday while attending church.  He had just taken up the collection and sat down in his pew when he dropped over dead.  Death was caused from a heart attack.  He had been ill about three months.
He was born March 14, 1883, at Plainfield, the son of Seth and Nettie Hart.  He was married twice, the first wife being Olive Hart who died September 9, 1931, at Shaftsburg.  He was married the second time October 29, 1932, to Mrs. Rose Martin at Shaftsburg.
He had been the manager of the Laingsburg pickle station for 15 years and had resided in Shaftsburg until he came to Perry 11 years ago.
Surviving are the widow; three daughters, Mrs. Lizzie Woodbury of Pontiac, Mrs. Lucille Martin of Rochester and Mrs. Lenna Nanasy of Morrice; three sons, LeRoy Hart of Williamston, Leo Hart of Lansing and Lawrence Hart of Perry; five brothers, Ned Hart, Eugene Hart, Hartley Hart, all of Laingsburg, Robert Hart of Haslett and Harry Hart of Shaftsburg; two sisters, Mrs. Lizzie Southwell of Shaftsburg and Mrs. Mable Richard of Lake City; four stepchildren; 31 grandchildren; 1 great grandchild; 13 step grandchildren and 6 step-great grandchildren.


I imagine having someone die in the middle of a church service must have been a shock to all the members.

While I’ve always been interested in my Hart line, that interest was recently peaked when I connected with a 4th cousin via DNA.  She is directly connected to Roy Jerome Hart who is her 2nd great grandfather.

Roy married Olive Venina Hunter on 14 Mar 1901 in Carunna, Shiawassee, Michigan.  They had 7 children together: Lelah May, Vivian “Lizzie”, Leroy Andrew, Lawrence B., Leo George, Lucille V. and Lennah Louise.

Here's Roy & Olive with 5 of their children.  Photo courtesy of Peter Young.
HART_Roy & Olive with 5 children_annot
After Olive died, according to Roy’s obituary, he married again to a Mrs. Rose Martin.  Until finding this obituary I had no record of a second wife.

NOTE:  This particular obituary is full of genealogical information, from marriage and death dates and places to names of a lot of family members.  We don’t always get this lucky when it comes to obituaries.  I’d like to thank whoever wrote this one. 

I have located Roy in census records with his parents, Seth Andrew Hart and Nettie Wright and with his wife Olive.  After his marriage to Olive in 1901 he worked as a Farmer, according to the 1910, 1920 and 1930 census records.  I see from the obituary that he managed a pickle station for 15 years. What in the world is a pickle station?

Since Google is our friend, let’s find out.  According to what I learned Shiawassee County, Michigan was a center for the growing and processing of cucumbers into pickles.  Who knew?  I have no evidence at this point that our Roy Jerome Hart was growing cucumbers in his farming endeavors.  However, he is listed in the Shiawassee Farm Journal (published in 1917)  on page 22.

HART_Roy listed in Farm Jounal

I checked the front of the book to learn what all the abbreviations in the entries stood for and from that I can translate Roy’s entry as follows:

Hart, R. J. (Olive) 5 children, Owns 80 acres with 2 horses and 7 cattle, address of Rural Route No. 1, Shaftsburg Wdhl 48, Ind tel ( I suspect the tel stands for telephone).  I did not find a translation of Wdhl or Ind in the journal.

Roy was only 63 when he died.  He and Olive are buried at Oak Plain Cemetery in Shaftsburg, Michigan.  You can visit their memorials here; Roy #40017951 and Olive #40017952.  There are 39 Hart memorials in the Oak Plain Cemetery.

Update - After finishing this blog post I discovered another child born to Roy & Olive.  A little girl named Edith Pauline, born 29 Jul 1903 and died at age 4 on new year's day 1908.  Her death was a result of peritonitis from an intestinal obstruction.  How sad. I have not found her burial location.

If you are related to any of the people mentioned in this post and want to exchange information, I’d love to hear from you.  Leave me a comment or use the “contact me” tab on the blog.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST


Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Monday, December 24, 2018

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY READERS BOTH NEAR AND FAR

Christmas pics for 2018 -Gould family circa 1917
Christmas 1916-17 - My grandparents, great grandparents, grand Uncles & Aunts and my Dad as a little boy - Detroit, Michigan
May all your Christmas wishes come true

Here’s some memories from long ago and not so long ago
Christmas pics for 2018 -ron & parents
My husband Ron with his parents, Dorothy & Gordon Hall circa 1953
Christmas pics for 2018 - ron & wagon
Ron & his new Christmas wagon
Christmas pics for 2018 -me 1053
Me looking at my Christmas doll
Christmas pics for 2018 - at grandmas_1954
1954 - Me & my brother, Norm with all 4 of our grandparents & our Mom - my Dad was taking the picture
Christmas pics for 2018 - me & grandpas_1953
1954 - Me with my beloved Grandpas, Harry Gould and Joseph Milne
Christmas pics for 2018 - brooke-paige 2007
Our granddaughters - Brooke & Paige 2006
Christmas pics for 2018 - brooke-paige-us_2005
Me & Ron with Brooke & Paige - 2005
Christmas pics for 2018 - brooke-paige-zach_2008
2008 - Brooke, Paige & Zachary

Christmas pics for 2018 - John-Mom_Myr-Josh_2007
2007 - My (half) brother John Zimmerman, niece & nephew Myriah & Joshua Gould, my Mom & me
Christmas pics for 2018 -my family2005
2005 - Mom, Myriah, Norm, Joshua, me & Melinda at our house
Christmas pics for 2018 -family dinner with Mom 2007
2007 - a special Christmas as my (half) brother John celebrates with his biological family for the first time
IMG_2711
2009 - Las Vegas for Christmas visit with Scott, Jen & our grandson Zachary
IMG_2729
2009 - Scott playing Santa
Christmas pics for 2018 - Hall family 2008
2008 - Hall family all together - Jeff, Laura & granddaughters Brooke & Paige and Scott, Jen & grandson Zachary with me & Ron

May all your Christmas memories be fond and may you make more this year.

Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Friday, November 30, 2018

THOSE DISTANT COUSINS ~ Colonel Samuel Camp Johnson, Jr. & Rachel Z. Frampton–of Lawrence County, Ohio 1800’s

Johnson Frampton screenshot

Sometimes I enjoy researching and learning about my distant cousins.  In this case I was researching another line of my Frampton family, my 4th great granduncle Martin Frampton and his wife, Sarah Mann.  This couple had 12 known children from 1819 to 1841.  Sarah Jane, Barbara Ann, Mary Ann, Elizabeth Isabel, Rachel Zanetta, Martin Mann, William G., Jane, James Robert, Caroline Gertrude, Isaac Gillen and Lucinda Alice.

Today I’ll be talking about Rachel Zanetta Frampton who married Colonel Samuel Camp Johnson, Jr. on 20 Feb 1848 in Chesapeake, Lawrence, Ohio.1

Rachel is my 1st cousin, 5 times removed.
 
According to the obituary published in the Ironton Register, 15 Oct 1885 for Col. Johnson, he was born in Durham, Connecticut on 2 Feb 1820.  He came to Lawrence County when he was a young man.  He is said to have served as County Commissioner, Representative in the Legislature and Member of the State Board of Equalization.

Ironton Register
JOHNSON, SAMUEL C. COLONEL I.R. OCT. 15, 1885
Col. Samuel C. Johnson died at the house of a farmer, 18 miles from Columbia, Tenn., where he happened to be while engaged in looking up ore lands for a Birmingham furnace company. . . . His son Fred, who had seen him 10 days before . . . Col. Johnson was born in Durham, Conn., Feb'y 2, 1820; moved to Western Reserve when a mere child, and came to this county when a young man; living in this region - - at the Rock, at Burlington, at Ironton, on Symmes Creek, in Huntington. He at times held the position of County Commissioner, Representative in the Legislature, and Member of the State Board of Equalization. He had ten brothers and sisters, nine of whom are living; one brother (Sherman) is dead. Eight were at the funeral: T. N. and F. L. Johnson of Portsmouth; Orin Johnson, of Ashland; Seliman Johnson, of St. Louis; Mrs. G. A. Knight, of Cincinnati; Mrs. Amelia Johnson, of South Point; Mrs. Turner Kemp, of Whitwell; Mrs. Eba, of Catlettsburg. But one living, Mrs. Wright, of Kingville, O., was absent from the funeral. The deceased leaves a wife and six children to suffer the grief.


NOTE:  The Ironton Register contains hundreds if not thousands of articles about the families in southern Ohio.  It is not available on any of the newspaper websites.  However, you can find some of the articles on The Lawrence Register website and also obtain assistance on the Facebook page for Lawrence Register, which is very active.

Colonel Johnson registered during the Civil War draft registration in 1863.  I don’t, however, find a record of any service. How did he come to have the title of Colonel?  Is that one of those titles that sometimes was assigned or attached to a particular person as a nickname?

Johnson_Samuel CW draft

In the 1860 census, Colonel Johnson was working as a Farmer.  I have not located the family, yet, in the 1870 census.  By 1880 he was a Hotel Keeper.

I do notice that in the 1860 census, there are 3 of Rachel’s family members living with her family.  Her mother, Sarah Mann Frampton, age 61, who was widowed in 1856 when her husband, Martin Frampton committed suicide by hanging.  It is said that Martin had gone blind and that may have been the cause of his despair, he was only 68 yrs. old.
 
Also living with Colonel Johnson & Rachel and five of their children were Rachel’s sister, Alice, age 20 (she later married Joseph Sylvester Stewart) and Rachel’s brother, James Robert, age 26.  James Robert is enumerated as “blind” in this 1860 census.  His occupation – broom maker.  James Robert did eventually marry and have 8 children.  I wondered if other census records would indicate he was blind?  I found that the 1900 census also indicates this condition.  He obviously didn’t let it slow him down from living his life.  Was he born blind or did he have a condition or accident that caused it?  That is subject for another blog post.

Of Rachel and Colonel Johnson’s 7 children his obituary states that 6 of them lived to adulthood.  Their first child, Lucius Martin Johnson died at age 4 yrs 9 mos. when he was run over by a 4 horse wagon, near his grandfather, Martin Frampton’s place.  This must have been very sad for his family.  His two other siblings, Frank and Jessie would have been about 3 and 1 at the time of the accident.
  
Here’s the excerpt from the Ironton Register

JOHNSON, LUCIUS MARTIN I.R. OCT. 06, 1853
Sad Accident - A little son of S. C. Johnson, of Hecla Furnace., aged about 5 years, was instantly killed last Friday, being run over by a 4 horse wagon, near the residence of his grandfather, Martin Frampton, at the Mouth of Symmes Creek . . . son of S. C. and R. Z. Johnson; aged 4y 9m 21d.


Colonel Samuel Johnson died at age 65 on 6 Oct 1885 in Columbia, Maury, Tennessee.  He was apparently on a trip to look for ore lands for a Birmingham Furnace Company.  He died at the house of a farmer. Was he taken suddenly ill?  Did he have a stroke or heart attack?  I have not been able to locate his death certificate, so I don’t know his cause of death.

You may visit the FindAGrave memorial for Colonel Samuel C. Johnson here #111492790.

According to her FindAGrave headstone, Rachel died in 1897.  She and Samuel are both buried at Woodland Cemetery, Ironton, Lawrence, Ohio.  Again, I have not death certificate or record for her.  You may visit her memorial here #111492893

Sources: 1 - Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993, film number 000317716 and U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900

I will continue to research this family as the Frampton’s are a direct line for me.  If you are related to any of them, in particular this couple, I’d love to hear from you.  Leave me a comment or send me an email.  You can see my contact information at the top of my blog under the “contact me” tab, or click here.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl


Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

WEDDING WEDNESDAY ~ I’ve finally located the image of my 2nd great grandmother’s third marriage–Susan Caroline Boggs (1842-1913)

 wedding bells_thumb[5][5]

Susan Caroline Boggs Hunter Cresse

marriage to Lewis/Louis A. Hankins

14 Apr 1909, Jefferson Co., Indiana

My maternal 2nd great grandmother married 3 times.  First to James Gillen Hunter (1832- appox. 1894) on 29 Aug 1859 in Lawrence Co., Ohio.  She was only 17 yrs. old when she married him.  They were married until his death in about 1894.  Together they had 9 children: Myra, Clyde, Lenorah, Ada, Estelle, Florence (my great grandmother), Raphael, Grace & Daisy.  James worked as a Carpenter according to census and city directory listings.  It couldn’t have been easy raising 9 children all born about 2 years apart.

Here is the record of their marriage1

BOGGS_Susan marriage to James Hunter_1859

After James’ death Susan married William Lewis Cresse (Oct 1938-May 1906) on 26 Oct 1897 in Logansport, Cass, Indiana.  Susan is 55 years old at the time of this marriage.  By this time it seems that all of Susan & James’ children were out of the house and either married or living elsewhere.  In the 1900 census Susan & her second husband William can be found in Delphi, Carroll, Indiana with his son, Charles, age 26 living with them.  William was a Farmer.

The marriage of William Cresse & Susan C. Hunter is indexed2 and available on both Ancestry & Family Search.  At the time I located the index in Jul 2010, there was no image.  I thought I’d check again today.  No luck!  The image is only available at the Family History Library.

HUNTER_CRESSEmarriage film

Sadly, on 5 May 1906, William Cresse died just 8 1/2 years after they were married.   His cause of death was Gangrene & necrosis of upper jaw/septic infection from a tooth extraction.3 

Susan was now 63 years old and alone again.  Somewhere along the way she met and married her 3rd and final husband, Lewis A. Hankins (1850-1927) on 14 Apr 1909 in Jefferson Co., Indiana.  The marriage only lasted until her death four years later in 1913.

Up until yesterday I had only an index referring to their marriage. By locating the image and not just the index, I can take a look at details myself.  The index I located had the date and place of the marriage, bride & grooms name’s, each of their birthplaces and the FHL film number. 

But, look at the additional and valuable information available on the image4.  Both of their dates of birth, their parent’s names and how many times they’ve been married.  This just gives us further evidence/sources for the story of their lives.

BOGGS_Susan C_marriage to Lewis A Hankins_1909_Indiana 

To put a face to a name, here is a photo of Susan Caroline Boggs,  This headshot was cropped from a group photo.

BOGGS_Susan C_cropped from 1907 photo

If you are connected to any of the ancestors mentioned in this blog post, I’d love to hear from you.  Let’s exchange information.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

TREASURE CHEST THURSDAY ~ Transit Permit for the remains of Wm. A. Boggs (1815-1899) – My 3rd great grandfather

DID MY ANCESTOR DO TIME IN SING SING PRISON? - Susan C. Boggs brother-in-law

Sources: 1 - Ohio, Record of Marriages, 1790-1950, Book 6, no. 1526, film no. 317717, digital image no. 4922498, image no. 90: page 132, Hunter-Boggs, 1859; digital images(www.familysearch.org : accessed 4 Mar 2012);

2 - Indiana - Marriage Collection, 1800-1941," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 Jul 2010), entry for the marriage of William L. Crosse to Susie C. Hunter; citing Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941, book 16, page 470. Cit. Date: 20 Jul 2010; Name: William L Crosse Spouse Name: Susie C Hunter Marriage Date: 26 Oct 1897 Marriage County: Cass Source Title 1: Cass County, Indiana Source Title 2: Index to Marriage Record 1850-1920 Inclusive Volume Source Title 3: W. P. A. Original Record Located: County Clerk's O Book: 16 OS Page: 470

3 - Indiana Death Index, 1882-1920," database, Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1947977 : accessed 19 Jun 2018), entry for the death of William Cresse; citing Indiana Death Index, 1882-1920. Rec. Date: 19 Jun 2018.  Cit. Date: 19 Jun 2018; Name:    William L. Creese Event Type:    Death Event Date:    05 May 1906Event Place:    Delphi, Indiana Age:    66Birth Year (Estimated):    1840Gender:    Male Race:    Affiliate Repository Place:    City Health Office, Delphi Source Reference:    The source of this record is the book H-14 on page within the series produced by the Indiana Works Progress Administration; Citing this Record. Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1906; Roll: 02, Roll Number: 02.  I also have the image for this record.

4 - Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1906; Roll: 02, https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=60716

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Sunday, November 18, 2018

SUNDAY’S OBITUARYS ~ Henry Croft & Sarah McTaggart Croft–1930 and 1944, Michigan

CROFT_Henry_Obit_TheTimesHerald_21 Jul 1930_pg 5  Croft_Sarah_obit
Today I’m featuring Henry & Sarah Croft.  They are the 2nd great grandparents of my two half nieces.  The Croft’s are direct ancestors of my father’s first wife, Elaine Croft, whom he married in 1936.  My Dad & Elaine had two daughters together (my half sisters, Norlaine & Virginia).

I took another look at the Croft family this week after being contacted by a DNA match to my half niece.  This match believed he was connected via the Croft/Sinclair line and I wanted to help out.

Elaine Croft was the daughter of Alexander Croft and his wife Rachel Sinclair.  Up to this point, I had never gone back further on the Croft line.

I was able to connect Alexander Croft to his parents Henry Croft and Sarah McTaggart.  I was able to locate their marriage record, obituaries, census records and take them back one more generation.
Henry was born 16 Jun 1857 in Ontario, Canada to Peter Croft and Whilemina Young.  He came to the U.S. from Canada, as a young man and his family settled in Michigan.
 
Sarah McTaggart was born 7 Aug 18561 in Govan, Lanarkshire, Scotland.  She came to the area when she was 6 yrs. old.  She married Henry Croft 21 Dec 18822 in Cass, Tuscola, Michigan.
Henry and his family were pioneers in Sheridan Township, Michigan.  Henry was a farmer.

Those towns are located in what is called the thumb of the state of Michigan. 
michigan map  bad axe mi map
Henry & Sarah are both buried in the McTaggart Cemetery in Bad Axe, Huron, Michigan.  You may visit their memorials here, Henry #3612367 and Sarah #36123371.

This post is dedicated to my two half sisters, Norlaine Gould Rankhorn (1942-2001) and Virginia Gould Corbett (1945-2005).  I didn’t meet them til I was in my 30’s and wish we’d had more time together.

Sources: 1. Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950; 2. Michigan, County Marriage Records, 1822-1940

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Friday, November 16, 2018

ANCESTORS IN THE NEWS ~ Gillen & Brother furniture business 1850’s-1860’s Ohio

Gillen & brother

Today I located several references to Gillen & Brother furniture business on Newspapers.com.  The business is also called Gillen Brother in some of the ads.

These ads were taken out in the Spirit of the Times newspaper in Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio.  This is consistent with where by Gillens lived during that time.

Martin Gillen is my maternal 3rd great granduncle, son of William Gillen & Rachel Frampton.

I know that Martin Gillen (1811-1879) was enumerated as a Furniture Dealer in the 1870 census.  He and his wife Sarah were living in Ironton, Ohio at that time.  Going back to the previous census records; in 1850 Martin & his wife Sarah were living in Upper Township, Lawrence Co., Ohio.  Sadly, his occupation is not listed on that census.  In the 1860 census in Ironton, Lawrence Co., Ohio, Martin is enumerated as a Furniture Merchant.

Copy of GILLEN & Brother cabinets_SpiritoftheTimes_IrontonOH_22 Feb 1853_pg 3
Ad from Feb 1853
Copy centered of GILLEN_and Brother_Messrs_SpiritoftheTimes_13 Sep 1853_pg 2
Ad from Sep1853
Although I don’t see the name of the owner of the Gillen & Brother furniture business in the ads, I am concluding that it was Martin.  Ironton wasn’t that big during those years. 
The question is, was he in business with one of his brothers or not?
  • John, his older brother (1804-1880) was always listed as a Farmer.
  • Isaac F., his younger brother (1823-1907) was also listed as a Farmer in 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880.
  • That leaves Martin’s younger brother Capt. Elijah Fisher Gillen (1822-1896). In 1850 Elijah is listed as a Merchant (what kind of merchant?).  The 1860 census lists him as a Clerk and he’s living in Ironton, Ohio.  In 1870 no occupation is listed and in 1880, Elijah is listed as a Bookkeeper.
Conclusion:  It’s possible that Martin was in business or associated with his brother, Elijah, at some point.  I need to locate business licenses or other newspaper articles that would shed some light on this question.

Martin’s obituary does say he was in the furniture business and retired from it 10 years prior to his death in 1879.

I’d love to hear from you if you are connected to this family.  Or, if you have any further information on the articles I’ve mentioned or the Gillen Furniture Business in Ironton.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

TUESDAY’S TIP–Didn’t find that record in the newspaper? Here’s how to look a little deeper...

This morning I was looking for an obituary on my 2nd great grandaunt’s husband, John R. Tibbits.  He died 3 Oct 1903 in Port Huron, St. Clair, Michigan.

I went to the newspapers.com website and entered his name “John Tibbits” and the year 1903 along with the state, Michigan.

The only two records that showed up were an estate hearing notice and a list of those who had died.  No obituary.

Here’s the results of my first search. 
(Click on any image to enlarge it)
John R Tibbits search results

Here’s the hearing notice.
John R Tibbits estate hearing_annot

This is good information, but I wanted more.

Was there an obituary published?  If so, why isn’t it coming up in my search?

We all know that broad searches result in more hits.  I could narrow it down to the exact month and year.  But, I decided to look for this obituary by going directly to the newspaper itself.  I happen to know that this was then a small newspaper, not like a big city paper with dozens of pages.

I brought up the image that took me directly to the page with the notice of his estate hearing.  The green arrows indicate the entry for John Tibbits.  The red arrow shows you the name of the newspaper, date and page number.

John R Tibbits hearing page annot

The next thing I did was click on the name of the newspaper, to take me directly to that publication.
 
Daily Herald selection annot

Since I had information that John Tibbits died on 3 Oct 1903, I didn’t want that exact date.  Obituaries are usually published a day or several days later.  In this case, there was no option for 4 Oct 1903 (perhaps that day of the publication hasn’t been scanned yet). 
So, I selected 5 Oct 1903.  LOOK!  Only 6 pages!

Daily Herald pages

Such a small newspaper, so let’s begin with page 1.  Although, I generally wouldn’t expect obituaries to appear on the first page.
  
ALWAYS EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!

Right there on page 1, about half way down, in column 5 is a section titled OBITUARY

05 Oct 1903, 1 - The Daily Herald at Newspapers_annot

Would I find John Tibbits’ obituary in that article?  Yes!

Copy (2) of 05 Oct 1903, 1 - The Daily Herald at Newspapers

Here’s a readable close up of John’s obituary.

TIBBITS_John R_obit_cropped_5 Oct 1903_MI

Now we have a little more information than we got from the death notice, which only gave his name and age.  Or, the estate hearing notice, which only gave his name and the date of the hearing in 1903.

I know that John’s wife, Olive Parmelia Hart Tibbits did outlive him (she died in 1915).  And I know that he is buried in Armada, Macomb, Michigan at Rose Hill Cemetery, FindAGrave #32188509.  I’ve been to that cemetery and taken photos of headstones, including his.

REMEMBER – Just because you don’t find what you’re looking for on your first or second or tenth try, doesn’t mean it’s not there.  Try to think of others ways you can search. 

I hope this tip has been helpful.  I’d love to hear how you may have located a record by thinking outside the box.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

THOSE PLACED THURSDAY - Armada, Michigan & Rose Hill Cemetery

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Sunday, November 4, 2018

SUNDAY’S OBITUARY ~ Thomas W. Davis (1873-1952) –husband of Gladys Olive Grout

DAVIS_Thomas W_obit_13 Apr 1952_SanDiegoUnion_CA
Published in the San Diego Union 13 Apr 1952, page 9

I’m always surprised when I find a San Diego connection among my ancestors.  Over the years, I’ve found the majority of them stayed in the Midwest or on the east coast.

This week I located the obituary of Thomas W. Davis, who was living in San Diego at the time of his death.

TRANSCRIPTION:  
Thomas W. Davis
Funeral services will be held at 2 tomorrow afternoon in La Jolla Mortuary under auspices of La Jolla Masonic Lodge for Thomas W. Davis, 79, retired railroad agent and telegraph operator.  He died yesterday at his home, 844 Archer St., Pacific Beach.
For more than 50 years he was employed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.  He was a member of the Order of Railroad Trainmen and the Masonic Lodge.
Survivors include his wife, Gladys Davis, a brother and a niece both of Cuyahoga Falls, O.  Burial will be in the family plot in Mount Hope Cemetery.


Thomas was married to Gladys Olive Grout, daughter of Bradley B. Grout and Nellie E. Tibbits. This makes Gladys my 2nd cousin twice removed.  I had located her death record, also in San Diego and that lead me to search for the death record and obituary for her husband Thomas.

Thomas was born 21 Dec 1873 in Glencoe, Belmont, Ohio to Samuel Davis & Mary Jane Warren.  He spent over 50 years working for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, as an agent and telegraph operator.  I find that Thomas and Gladys were still living in Ohio in the 1940 census.  There move to San Diego took place between then and his death in 1952.
 
It looks like they came west after his retirement?  The address given in the obituary is 844 Archer St., in Pacific Beach (a community here in San Diego).  It must have been quite a change for he and Gladys, having lived in the colder climates all their lives.  I hope they enjoyed it here.

Using Google maps you can see they were living just a few blocks from the ocean.  Having been in the area many times, I can attest to how beautiful it is.

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)
844 Archer st map
Screenshot courtesy of Google Maps©
844 Archer st
Screenshot courtesy of Google Maps©
I looked in the city directory listings for San Diego and the first listing for Thomas & Gladys is in 1950.  They were living at the same address on Archer St.
 
On Genealogy Bank I ran the address, 844 Archer and found an article about Thomas having been struck by a car on 23 Feb 1951.  He was a pedestrian and sustained critical head and internal injuries.  I wonder if the injuries he sustained had anything to do with his death the following year?  I don’t have his death certificate, so I don’t have a specific cause of death, at this time.

Here’s the article:

DAVIS_Thos struck by car
Published in the San Diego Union 24 Feb 1951, page 6


































Gladys stayed in their home on Archer St. for a few years, but later moved to different addresses nearby, according to city directory listings.  She died in San Diego 25 Nov 1985 at the age of 93.

Thomas and Gladys are both buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery here in San Diego.  Thomas #112364040 and Gladys #112364020.

All four of my husband’s grandparents are buried at the same cemetery, so I’ve been there a time or two.  Next time I go, I’ll have to visit the Davis gravesites.  There are no headstone photos on FindAGrave, so I wonder if they have headstones or not?  Perhaps they just need to be photographed.  I have submitted a photo request as well as some edits to enhance their memorials.
 
If you are related to the Davis or Grout family, I’d love to hear from you. 

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

WEDDING WEDNESDAY ~ Archibald Ritchie & Margaret Ewen–my maternal 3rd great grandparents–married 1809 in Scotland

wedding bells_thumb[5][5]
Archibald Ritchie & Margaret Ewen – married 26 Nov 1809 in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Finding records for my Scottish ancestors has always been fun for me.  This is a record I located back in 2011.  I use the Scotland’s People website to find a lot of the records.  Although some of them can be found on Ancestry.com or Family Search.

In this case I did located the image on Scotland’s People. 

RITCHIE_Archibald marriage to Margaret EWEN_26 Nov 1809_Scotland

The reference at the bottom is transcribed exactly as it appeared on the document.

Archibald and Margaret had 9 known children.  I almost always say “known” because we never know if a child was born that we aren’t aware of.  Especially when there are gaps of more than 2 years between births.
 
Here is a list of the children I have for this couple:
Archibald, born about 1812, Jonathan born about 1814, William born about 1818, John born about 1819, Margaret (from whom I descend) born 23 Oct 1820, Mary born 1825, Andrew born 4 Apr 1829, Charlotte born about 1831.  I still have work to do on this family to try and find exact birth dates and some marriages I don’t yet have.

Archibald worked as a Farmer, so with 6 boys and 3 girls, he had plenty of help on the farm.

I descend from this couple as follows..
Archibald Ritchie & Margaret Ewen – 3rd great grandparents
Margaret Ritchie & Charles Milne – 2nd great grandparents
Andrew Charles Milne & Susan Gillespie – great grandparents
Joseph Albert Milne & Florence Lee Nora Bowden – grandparents
Patricia Anne Milne & Harry Norman Gould – parents

If you are connected to this family, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION