Saturday, October 24, 2020

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN ~ Where were your ancestors 80 years ago?


An idea from Randy Seaver’s weekly Saturday Night Fun blog suggestions.

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) Determine where your ancestral families were on 1 April 1940 - 80 years ago when the U.S. census was taken.


2)  List them, their family members, their birth years, and their residence location (as close as possible).  Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist?

3)  Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status post.

  • My father – Harry Norman Gould, age 27, working as a Statistician at the State Auditors Office, renting a home at 12892 Faust Ave., Detroit, Michigan.  His first wife, Elaine Gertrude Croft, age 21 was living there as well.
(Click on any image to enlarge it)

12892 Faust Ave. Detroit, MI - courtesy of Google Maps ©
 

My mother – Patricia A. Milne, age 15, was living with her parents and older brother at 14156 Strathmore, Detroit, Michigan. My grandfather Joseph A. Milne, age 56 was a salesman, my grandmother Florence Milne nee Bowden, age 52 and my Uncle Robert A. Milne, age 31 working at an automobile factory, were in this household.

14156 Strathmore, Detroit, MI - courtesy of Google Maps ©

  • My paternal grandfather – Harry W. Gould, age 51, working as an Assignment Clerk for the Common Pleas Court, was living at 14520 Asbury Park in Detroit, Michigan as was my grandmother, Marie Gould nee Lindsay, age 50.  They owned this home and I went there as a child. 

14520 Asbury Park, Detroit, MI - photo taken by me in 2007

  • My paternal great grandmother, Mae Eve Gould nee Thorp, age 77, widowed, lived at 5639 Linwood in Detroit, Michigan in a home she owned.  Her son, my great Uncle Ford, age 50 was living with her.  He worked as a Truck Driver for a lumber company.  Also in the home was my widowed great grandaunt, Catherine “Kittie” Thorpe (her maiden name was Thorp and she married a man named Thorpe), age 75.

This house no longer exists 

  • My maternal great grandmother – Susan Anne Milne nee Gillespie, widowed, age 79 was living at 5029 Ridgewood, Detroit, Michigan.  She was living with her daughter Irene Roe and Irene’s husband Everett and their daughter, Betty Jane. 
Ridgewood St in Detroit, MI - courtesy of Google maps ©

  • My other maternal great grandmother – Florence Bowden Bell nee Hunter, age 70 was living at 4426 Windsor in Kansas City, Missouri, with her 2nd husband, George K. Bell, age 70.
4426 Windsor, Kansas City, MO - courtesy of Google maps ©

My direct line ancestors who were living when the 1940 census was taken were:

My Father – Harry Norman Gould, Sr.

My Mother – Patricia Anne Milne

My 2 paternal grandparents – Harry Gould & Marie Lindsay Gould

My 2 maternal grandparents – Joseph Milne & Florence Bowden Milne

My paternal great grandmother – Mae Eve Thorp Gould

Two of my maternal great grandmothers – Susan Gillespie Milne & Florence Hunter Bowden Bell

That’s a total of 9 ancestors.   All but one of them were living in Detroit, Michigan at the time of the 1940 census.

This was interesting and fun and I thank Randy Seaver of Geneamusings for the post idea.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Saturday, October 17, 2020

SURNAME SATURDAY ~ LUNSFORD–Basil Lunsford & Mahala Taylor’s children– Locating the correct person and adding another child–Here’s what I found

According to Legacy I have 179 people who carry the surname LUNSFORD.  This is a direct line for me.  Nancy Delilah Lunsford (1819-1895), is my maternal 3rd great grandmother.  She married William Allen BOGGS (1815-1899) and they had 5 children.

The Lunsfords were a prolific family and many of them had as many as 16 children.  No surprise that I have lots of them in my database.

Today I want to concentrate on Basil Lunsford & Mahala TAYLOR who married 14 Nov 1872 in Ironton, Lawrence, Ohio.  I have 11 children born to them.  Twins Ada & Ida born 1874, Lillie O. born abt 1878, Arabelle born 1880, Charles Azra born 1882, Dennison born 1884, Pauline born 1887, Baby boy born 1888, Lorena born 1889, Chas. Emmit born 1892 and Hazel born 1894.

(Click on any image to enlarge it)

Basil & Mahala Lunsford's family - Legacy screenshot

Of those 11 children who would be my 2nd cousins 3 times removed, I have not done much research.  Only a few of them have birth and death dates and spouses and children. 

What can I find today?  I will spend an hour online and reviewing the Lawrence County Ohio History book to see what I can learn. Note – This process took me more like 2 hours.

I began with the first children I have born to this couple, Ada, who was born 11 Feb 1874 and had a twin sister, Ida.  I know a lot about her twin, Ida, but nothing about Ada. Did she live to adulthood, marry or have children?

I looked at her hints on Ancestry and located an obituary.  This is for an ADDIE Weaver, maiden name Lunsford, child of Basil & Mahala Lunsford.  Addie could certainly be a nickname for Ada, right?  The parents are correct, as is the maiden name.

TIP – As most of you know beginning your research with an obituary, if it is a complete one, can really help your research efforts.  You can find all kinds of family names and connections

In this case, all I had for Ada Lunsford was her date of birth, which I’d located on an Ohio birth register – see this post TREASURE CHEST THURSDAY ~ BIRTH RECORDS (twins) and others on one register page


But…..wait!  This obituary gives a birthdate for Addie as 2 Sep 1876.  The parents names are correct and the place of birth fits with the family information.  But, the birthdate conflicts with the birth record I have for the twins, Ada & Ida, born 11 Feb 1874.  Could the date in the obituary be wrong?  Would there have been two daughters with names so similar?

NOTE – we do find wrong dates on all sorts of records from birth to death to headstones.  Certainly a misprint or wrong information in an obituary is nothing new.  However, with it being the wrong month, day and year I have to investigate.

What do I find, but an 1880 census for Basil & Mahala Lunsford with their children: Twin girls, Ida & Ada, age 6 and ADDIE age 3 along with Lillie age 2 and Arabelle age 7 months. 

This means there was a 12th child born to Basil & Mahala, that I had no record of.  The obituary I’ve located would appear to be for this child, NOT Ada.

This child, Addie, did marry a John Weaver on 31 Jan 1898.  There are many online records for this couple.

Back to square one with Ada.  Let's take a look in Legacy and see if I have any previous research notes.

Yes, I do.  I review my research notes for Ada, dated 27 Oct 2017.  I appears that I had located a marriage record to a Michael G. Keller.  I had noted “is this the correct marriage for her?”  Apparently, I hadn’t followed up on that question.  Let’s investigate.

First – here is the index for the marriage record of Ada Lunsford & Michael Keller on 17 Apr 1897

Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993
Name:    Ada Lunsford
Gender: Female
Marriage Date: 17 Apr 1897
Marriage Place: Lawrence, Ohio, USA
Spouse: Michael G. Keller
Film Number:    000317722

Now let’s try to find them in the 1900 census.  Found it!  Here’s Ada with her husband Mike Keller and two children.

Name:    Mike Keller
Age:    26
Birth Date:    1874
Birthplace:    Ohio, USA
Home in 1900:    Aid, Lawrence, Ohio
Sheet Number:    5
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation:    50
Family Number:    80
Race:    White
Gender:    Male
Relation to Head of House:    Head
Marital status:    Married
Spouse's Name:    Ada Keller
Marriage Year:    1897
Years Married:    3
Father's Birthplace:    Ohio, USA
Mother's Birthplace:    Ohio, USA
Occupation:    Farmer
Can Read:    Yes
Can Write:    Yes
Can Speak English:    Yes
House Owned or Rented:    Rent
Farm or House:    F
Neighbors:    View others on page
Household Members:   
Name    Age
Mike Keller     26
Ada Keller     27
Beatrice Keller       2
Bessie Keller    7/12

Now I’ll follow this family forward and make certain this is our Ada Lunsford. 

1910 census – found

1920 census – found

1930 census – found

1940 census – found (she is widowed and living with her son, Rex)

In all of the above census records (click on them to view on Ancestry), Ada is the wife of Mike Keller and her children are Beatrice, born 1899, Bessie, born Oct 1899 and Rex, born 1908.

Ada Keller is listed as the mother of Rex Keller on his World War II Draft Registration card.

Here is a screenshot of Ada Keller in the Ohio death index.  It's difficult to read this.  But, it says: Keller, Ada, Ironton, County code is 441, Volume 10817, certificate number 62973, month, day and year 10 21 4 (which indicates 21 Oct 1944)


 

And last, I have located the FindAGrave records for both Ada & her husband Mike Keller.  They are both buried in Fairview Baptist Cemetery in Wilgus, Lawrence, Ohio.  Ada’s memorial #95465460 and Mike’s memorial #95465482.

Headstone photos courtesy of Carl Murdock

In conclusion, I believe I have found the records that give an outline of Ada’s life.  It’s nice to know that both she and her twin, Ida, lived well into adulthood, married and had children.

I would very much like to see pictures of twins, Ida & Ada and others from this family. 

If you are descended from or connected to anyone mentioned in this post, please contact me.  I’d love to exchange information.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

MILITARY MONDAY ~ Sgt. Presley Lunsford - Killed in Action during the Civil War – 1864

WEDDING WEDNESDAY ~ Marriage of my 6th great grandparents–William Lunsford & Rebeckah Basye in 1745

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Sunday, October 11, 2020

CHURCH RECORD SUNDAY ~ Washington Episcopal Diocese of Spokane Church Records, 1870-1970 - The Thorp family


It’s been just one day short of a month since I last posted.  It was an eventful four weeks that had me concentrating on other things, besides my family history. 

We were recently able to get away and spend 10 days in Montana & Idaho.  We flew in and out of Washington and then to our destinations. 

Of course, as any devoted (some would say obsessed) genealogist, I couldn’t help but think of the ancestors that I had researched who had either moved to, or were from Washington, Idaho and Montana.

Today, I’ll share some church records from my THORP family.  This is my direct paternal line through my great grandmother Mae Eve Thorp (1862-1946) who married William Val Gould (1859-1924).

I thought I’d take a look at Thru Lines on Ancestry and see if anything new has popped up.  I was filtering “Potential Ancestors” when I came across a DNA match that is descended from my great grandmother, Mae’s uncle, Monson Thorp, Jr.

Naturally, one thing lead to another and two hours have now passed.  Oh those rabbit holes.  LOL!

I located the Washington Episcopal Diocese of Spokane Records for 1870-1970 In this collection I found 2 baptismal records on one page and a marriage record on another.

(Click on any image to enlarge it)

Baptismal records for Munson/Monson & Perry Thorp(e) 5 Nov 1905

Monson Elvo Thorp and Perry Elvin Thorp were both baptized on 5 Nov 1905.  They are the two oldest children of Charles “Jay” Thorp & Clara C. Peterson.  You can see my post about the marriage of Charles & Clara here.

Monson was born 12 Mar 1900 in Spokane, Spokane Co., Washington.  Perry was born 29 Jun 1902 in Wallace, Shoshone, Idaho.  They are both my 2nd cousins twice removed. 

Monson married Carmen Marie Chase and he lived to be 82 years old.

Perry married Alice Eglatana Blodgett and lived until his 52nd year.

In searching this Episcopal Diocese record set for other Thorp’s I located the marriage record for Sidney E. Thorp to Virginia Dunn on 30 Jul 1949.  I did not have Sidney in my tree and learned he was the son of Perry & Alice, whom I mentioned above. 

Church record for marriage of Sidney E. Thorpe & Virginia Dunn - 30 Jul 1949
Once I'd located the church record for this marriage I was able to find the actual marriage certificate as well.  It's always good to have more than one source for every event.
State marriage certificate for Sidney E. Thorpe & Virginia M. Dunn

There is much more work to be done on these Thorp cousins.  How many children were born to each couple, if any?  What kind of work did the men and/or women do?  Did they stay in Washington state?  And so much more.

If you are descended from or connected to any of the ancestors mentioned here, I’d love to hear from you.  Let’s exchange information.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION