SUNDAY'S OBITUARY - Martin Frampton, 4th great granduncle commits suicide

 

Martin Frampton is my maternal 4^th great granduncle.  He was the fourth son born to John Frampton, Jr and Anna Barbara MARTIN.  There were 8 children in the family: Rachel, Ephraim, Elijah, Martin, Isaac, Edward, Sarah and William.

Martin was born near Lewistown, Pennsylvania 13 Jun 1788.  At age 30, Martin married Sara MANN, daughter of Robert Mann and Jane (maiden name unknown) in 1818 in Pennsylvania.  Details are limited as I have not located an actual marriage record. 

Only a record in…..

U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900

Name: Martin Frampton

Gender: male

Birth Place: PA

Birth Year: 1788

Spouse Name: Sarah Mann

Marriage Year: 1818

Marriage State: PA

Number Pages: 1   

Martin was said to be a Farmer according to the 1850 census.  In that household are Martin, his wife Sarah and children Martin, Gardner, Jane, Caroline, Isaac and Alice.  Those were the youngest of 12 children born to this couple. 

Six years later on 16 Dec 1856, Martin took his own life.  He was 68 years old.

According the the newspaper reports, Martin had gone partially blind. Then he went to Cincinnati, Ohio and an occultist destroyed his sight, in attempting to restore it. 

Another newspaper article says the following:

"Martin Frampton, an old and wealthy citizen of Lawrence County, Ohio, committed suicide on last Tuesday evening, by hanging himself in an out house, next his residence at the mouth of Simms Creek.  He lost his sight some time since."

Martin’s actual obituary was published in the Ironton Register on 18 Dec 1856. No image available.

FRAMPTON, MARTIN ESQ.----- I.R. DEC. 18, 1856

Committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence, mouth of Symmes Creek, on Tuesday of this week. Cause: severe affliction with his eyes for a year or two, from which for some time past he has been quite blind, producing a very depressing effect upon him. Mr. Frampton came from Beaver county, Pa., to this county, soon after its organization, in the next year, we believe, 1818, and located at Burlington, then just made the county seat. At the time of his death he was about 65 years old.

It's always difficult for the family when a loved one dies.  But, death by suicide always seems very tragic. Martin left behind his wife of 38 years and 7 children known to be living at that time.  Sarah never remarried and on died 18 Oct 1869 at age 70.

You may visit Martin’s findagrave memorial here #66805943

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY ~ Anna Barbara Martin–1748-1822–My 5th great grandmother (this is Martin’s mother)

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY–Triplet daughters of Elijah & Rebecca Frampton (this is Martin’s older brother)

If you are related to or connected to anyone in this blog post, please get in touch.  Let’s exchange information.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2022   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

 

FOLLOW UP FRIDAY ~ WHAT HAPPENED TO THE YOUNG WIDOW OF GORDON FLOWER AFTER HIS SUICIDE?

On July 15, 2016 I wrote a blog post about the tragic suicide of Gordon Wallace Flower, just 3 days after his marriage to Lovina McNinch.  You can read the article here FRIDAY FINDS ~ Gordon W. Flower, dead, only 3 days after his marriage to Lovina McNinch–What was the cause of death?

At that time I had very little information about 16 year old Lovina.  However, I wanted to follow up and find out what became of this young lady who suffered such a traumatic event at a young age.

I found a birth record for Lovina.  The date and place match with other information I have located for her.

Michigan, Births and Christenings Index, 1867-1911
Name    Lovina McNinch
Gender    Female
Birth Place    Hope, Barry Co, Michigan
Birth Date    4 Dec 1880
Father's Name    Patrick McNinch
Mother's Name    Frances McNinch
FHL Film Number    1008314

It was in October 1896 that Lovina married Gordon Flower.  There are no known children born to the couple. The marriage only lasted 3 days prior to his death, however, I was thinking, perhaps they had gotten married because she was pregnant.  Gordon was 16 years older than Lovina.
 
Lovina didn’t wait long to marry again.  I located a marriage record for her to James K. Verrill on 10 Feb 1897 in Hastings, Barry, Michigan, only four months after Gordon’s death.

She is listed as being 18 years old and James as being 30.  Fortunately, I looked under his name and not hers, as the record is written Suveara Flower nee McNinch.  And that’s just how the indexer transcribed it.

(Click on any image to enlarge it)

Marriage record for James Verrill & Lovina Flower nee McNinch - 1897

James & Lovina had their first child Miles James, on 22 May 1899.  Miles died at age 17, while serving as an Apprentice Seaman in the U.S. Navy.  You may visit his memorial on FindAGrave here #11625361.

Other children born to this couple were: Frances M. in 1901, Martha A. in 1904, La Vera M. in 1906 and Leslie R. in 1908.
 
Lovina & her husband James can be found in the 1900 census in Prairieville, Barry, Michigan with their one year old son, Miles.  James is working as a Sawyer and they own their home.   Of note is that Lovina’s previous father-in-law David Flower and a few of his children are living nearby.  There is another Flower family on this page (Homer & Mary). I don’t yet know how or if they may be connected to David Flower.



The next record I find for Lovina is the 1910 census, she is 29 yrs. old.  She and James are still living in Prairieville, Barry, Michigan.  Only now they have added 3 daughters and a second son to their family. James is working as a house painter, and they still own their home.

Excerpt from 1910 census for Verrill family

Lovina is next found in the 1913 Kalamazoo City Directory listing with James.  He is working as a Watchman and they live on the east side of Douglas Ave 2 north of city limits.

As I continued searching for records for Lovina, I sadly, located her death certificate from 24 May 1913.  At the age of 32 Lovina died, during or after some sort of surgical procedure.  The informant on the death certificate is her husband, James and her parents names are correct.  Their is an error in the spelling of the last name as Berrill instead of Verrill.
 


From there I was able to locate her memorial on FindAGrave #165353953.  She and James are buried together.  James never remarried and died in 1956 at the age of 92, leaving a legacy of 11 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandchild.  On his death certificate it gives his wife’s name as Lovina.  He lived 43 years after her death without remarrying.  It was quite common for men to remarry after the death of a wife, especially with young children.  Their 5 children ranged in age from 5 to14 at the time of Lovina’s death.

I have not located an obituary for Lovina, but did find the following on her FindAGrave memorial.  This would appear to have come from an obituary.  I have checked both newspapers.com and genealogy bank with no success.

MRS. LUVENA VERRILL. Mrs. Luvena Verrill, aged 32 years, died this morning at the Borgess hospital following an operation for appendicitis. Previous to the operation Mrs. Verrlll had been confined to her home on Douglas avenue for a period of two weeks. She is survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick McNinth of Plainwell, her husband, three daughters, Frances, Martha and Luvera, two sons, Miles and Leslie, one brother, William McNinth of Alamo, and two sisters, Mrs. Ella Mills of Battle Creek and Miss Minnie McNinth of Plainwell. The funeral will be held Monday morning at 10 o'clock from the Truesdale chapel and burial will take place at the Plainwell cemetery. Kalamazoo Telegraph-Press May 24, 1913
Married Gordon W. Flower 5 Oct 1896 Hastings, Barry, Michigan

I would be very interested in exchanging information with anyone related to Lovina and her family.  Does someone out there have a photo of Lovina or James or their children?  Please contact me if you are connected to this family.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

FRIDAY FINDS ~ Gordon W. Flower, dead, only 3 days after his marriage to Lovina McNinch–What was the cause of death?

This is a follow up post from yesterday.  I wrote a post about finding potential problems in my Legacy 8 database.  This problems list helps identify various issues in your family tree, that may have gone unnoticed. You can read that post here.

There were two problems on my list.  I’ve cleared up the first one.  The second one had to do with Gordon W. Flower.  His marriage date is listed as being after his death date.  Yup!  I’d say that’s a problem. 

• Do I have the correct dates for the date of death and the marriage?
• If so, where did I get these dates?
• What other records might I locate that would give me more information?

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)


First I went to the sources I have listed for the death of Gordon W. Flower.  It seems I have only one.

• Michigan Deaths, 1867-1897 showing his death date as 4 Oct 1896

TIP:  I have a one page death record for Gordon, which I located on familysearch.org.  In the several years since I researched this individual, I have learned an excellent lesson.  ALWAYS look at the page before and after any record.  Had I done that at the time, I wouldn’t have been so surprised by his cause of death in my findings today.  I went back and found the 2nd page of the death record, today.

Now let’s see sources I show for his marriage to Lovina McNinch?

• Michigan Marriages, 1868-1925, showing they were married on 5 Oct 1896 in Hastings, Barry, Michigan.  His parents names are correct on the marriage record, as is his age & place of birth.

Here are the images of those records:

The death record below clearly indicates date of death as October 4th


The marriage record below also clearly gives the same date for the license and the date of the marriage, October 5th.



So, what I entered in my Legacy database wasn’t wrong, then, based on these records.  I may have located the records at different times, not noting the discrepancy it created.  OR, was Gordon married posthumously?  That’s always a possiblity.  However, what I found today, will refute that theory.

I also had located a FindAGrave memorial for Gordon W. Flower with his year of birth and death clearly visible on the headstone.  You can visit that memorial here.
 
The next step I took was to go to the online newspapers and try to locate an obituary, funeral notice or some other article that would give me further information about Gordon W. Flower.  I was not disappointed.

Here are the articles I located:





So, Gordon died by an overdose of morphine.  Only the one article mentions him being kicked by a horse.  Was that true?  Or was it said to protect the family?  Why was his father against his marriage to Lovina McNinch? (her name is spelled various ways) Lovina was only 16 yrs. old at the time of the marriage. I have not been able to follow her forward to see what became of her.  I’ve not located any children born to Gordon and Lovina.

Sadly, Gordon was the only son born to David Preston Flower and his wife Mary “Polly” J. Thorp, who are my 2nd great grandaunt & uncle.  Making Gordon W. Flower, my 1st cousin 3 times removed.  Gordon had four sisters.  How sad they must have been at the news of his death.

I have changed Gordon’s death date in my database, to October 8, 1896 based on the newspaper articles.  This is consistent with him dying 3 days after his marriage.  One article names the 8th specifically and the other states “thursday” which based on the date of the newspaper article, would have been Oct. 8th.
 
I’ve certainly cleared up the “problem” in my database.  In doing so I learned a very sad fact about this particular ancestor.
 
Is using the Potential Problems report a good idea?  I would certainly say YES.  It’s allowed me to complete Gordon’s story, as difficult as it is to find such stories about our family.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

FOLLOW UP ~ Why did Ralph Forsyth jump from a 9th story hotel window to his death?

I wrote a post last week about a newspaper article I had located in the Detroit Free Press, about Ralph G. Forsyth.  You can read that post here.

The article did not answer the question as to whether Ralph fell, was pushed or jumped to his death.  I wanted to find out so I ordered his death certificate.  Rather than order from the State of Michigan directly, which costs $34, I chose to use a service I am aware of called Genealogists.com.  You can see their list of services and request a quote for the service you want.  All I wanted was a death certificate and I already had all the information as to which film it could be found on etc.  I located this information on seekingmichigan.org (UPDATE - the new website for Michigan death records is michiganology.org)  The images of the certificates on that site are only available through 1939, at this time.

Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952Name: Ralph G Forsyth
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 07 Mar 1952
Event Place:Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 55
Marital Status: Widowed
Birth Date: 10 Aug 1896
Birthplace: Michigan
Birth Year (Estimated): 1897
Father's Name: James Ferris Forsyth
Mother's Name: Louise Gillespie
GS Film number: 001973241
Digital Folder Number: 005363701
Image Number: 03254

I received a quote back from genealogists.com within 24 hours.  The quote was considerably less than $34.  I paid via PayPal and received the certificate by email the following day.

Here is the death certificate.  Everything on this certificate matches the information I already have for Ralph, including his date of birth, place of birth, parent’s names, where he worked and that he was a widower.  I have no doubt that this is the correct death certificate.

                    (CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

DEATH CERTIFICATE FOR RALPH G. FORSYTH - 1952

You can see from the items I have pointed out on the certificate, that Ralph’s death was ruled a suicide.  There was an autopsy and the death certificate is signed by the coroner.  I can also see that he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit.
 
Ralph left behind a daughter, Anne and a sister, Catherine.  I’m sure this must have been a very difficult time for the family.  Ralph’s wife had died at a young age, back in 1940.  Then in 1950 his mother died and in 1951 his father died.  Did these deaths lead to Ralph’s decision?  Was he “despondent” as stated in the news article, because of these deaths?

I called Woodlawn Cemetery and spoke to a staff member there.  She was extremely helpful and confirmed that Ralph is buried there and what part of the cemetery he is located in.  I have now created a memorial for him on findagrave.com.  You can visit his memorial here #155345077.


I only have one photo of Ralph.  Here he is shown with his sister, Catherine and his cousin, Irene Milne.  I’m glad to have at least this photo.

LEFT TO RIGHT - CATHERINE FORSYTH, RALPH FORSYTH AND IRENE MILNE

I have been to the cemetery and visited the graves of his parents at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.

HEADSTONE FOR LOUISE G. AND JAMES F. FORSYTH, Parents of Ralph G. Forsyth

I located numerous articles about Ralph Forsyth and his wife Katherine in the Detroit Free Press.  From the articles I learned that they traveled and visited out of town relatives, and he attended various racing events.  I do hope they were happy.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

AMANUENSIS MONDAY - My Grandmother's Journal records the birth of Anne Forsyth, daughter of Ralph & Katherine

MICHIGAN DEATH CERTIFICATE IMAGES RELEASED - 1921-1939

PLEASE contact me if you think you might be related, even remotely, to anyone mentioned in this blog.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2015   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION