AMANUENSIS MONDAY~Probate record for Isaac Frampton Jr died 1860, age 18

What does Amanuensis mean?
To put it simply, it means a “person employed to write what another dictates or copy what has been written by another.”

Today I will transcribe the last will & testament for Isaac Frampton, Jr.  He is the youngest person in my tree for whom I’ve located a will/probate record. 

Isaac Frampton, Jr. was the son of Isaac Frampton (1790-1859) and Jane MANN (1805-1857).  He was the youngest of 7 children born to this couple.  His parents, one brother, James and one sister, Barbory J. all predeceased him. 

(click on any image to enlarge it)

Here is my transcription to the best of my ability to read this record.

Isaac Frampton will:                                                                                             347

In the name of God amen I Isaac Frampton of the County of Cabell and State of Virginia being of sound mind & memory and considering the uncertainty of this frail & transitory life do therefore make ordain publish decree this to be my last will and testament that is to say first after all my lawful debts are paid and discharged I direct my executors, who are hereafter named first to have my body interred beside the ____ of my father & mother then to inclose the grave w an iron railing having first erected a neat tombstone over my remains  I give and bequeath to Charles Everett the entire use controll & benefit of my whole landed estate proceeds of the present years crop all moneys due by note document or otherwise for the next two ensuing years the money notes acounts & __ with my sorrel filley & my bed and beding to be his forever  I next give & bequeath to my Sister Rebeca J EVERETT the forty acre field including the two lots & houses now ocupied by H McCULOUGH bounded on the East by the farm of the late G L Busing on the south by the James river & Kanawha turnpike on the west by the land runing from said turnpike to the Ohio River & on the North by the Ohio River to be hers forever then at the expiration of the two years above mentioned I give & bequeath the residue of my ___estate to be divided equally between David Frampton Hyram Frampton & Charles T Everett by each one paying to Ephram Frampton the sum of one hundred dollars Likewise I make constitue & ____Charles T. Everett & H McCulough to be Executors of this my last will & Testament there by revoking all former wills by me made in writing where of I have here with subscribed my name and affixed my seal this 27 day of September A D 1860

Cabell County court clerks office Oct 1st 1860 The last will & testament of Isaac Frampton decd was this day presented in court the same is ordered to be recorded  A copy teste H H Wood clk

For such a young man, age 18, to have to write a will is sad.  What did he died of?  The only cause of death I have for the other family members, is his father Isaac Sr., who died of Dropsy.  That was recorded in the 1860 Mortality schedule.

Of those mentioned in Isaac’s will, sadly, both his brothers, David & Hiram and his brother-in-law, Charles Everett, all died in 1861.  Again, wondering how did they die?  David was 29 yrs, Hiram was 30 and Charles Everett was 32.

Isaac is buried at Burlington Green Lawn Cemetery in Fayette, Lawrence, Ohio.  I've been to this cemetery and visited the graves of many family members, including Isaac.  You may visit his memorial here #66806705

If you think you might be related to anyone mentioned in this blog post, please contact me.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

SUNDAY’S OBITUARIES ~ I’ve been busy finding obituaries this week for my Gillen line

We all know that obituaries can be a great source of information about our ancestors.  This week I’ve been working on my GILLEN line and have located several obituaries that I didn’t previously have.  These have all been located on newspapers.com, my favorite newspaper source.

Here are the obituaries I’ve located and their relationship to me.  I hope they can be helpful to other family members.

CLICK ON ANY OF THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

GILLEN, Clinton A. – 2 Dec 1860 to 25 Mar 1939 – My 2nd cousin 3 times removed

GILLEN, Frank Martin – 1 Sep 1876 to 29 Mar 1958 – My 2nd cousin 3 times removed

GILLEN, Silas Sr – 6 Feb 1851 to 3 Aug 1931 – My 1st cousin 4 times removed

GILLEN, Silas Sr - Times Picayune - 4 Aug 1931, page 2

GILLEN, William – 1 Jun 1833 to 16 Dec 1906 – My 1st cousin 4 times removed

Gillen, William - obituary - The Champaign Daily News, Illinois - 18 Dec 1906, page 1

GILLEN, William D. – 29 May 1913 to 18 May 1930 – My 3rd cousin twice removed - This young man was only 16 yrs. old.

GILLEN, William D, obituary - Times Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana - 23 May 1930, page 19

If you are related to anyone mentioned here, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

USING MICHIGANOLOGY WEBSITE–Finding death certificates from 1944 & 1945

For a very long time I made use of the Seeking Michigan website.  They offered us death record images that were 75 years or older and various other historical documents.

Every year I looked forward to January 1st when the new records would come online.  I would use my Legacy program to figure out which of my Michigan ancestors died in a certain year and look for those records.  I believe we were up to 1942 or 1943 death records, when the Seeking Michigan site was taken down and all records were transferred to Michiganology. 

When this change over first took place it was nearly impossible to find records that were so easy to locate on the Seeking Michigan site.  Many of us with Michigan roots were pretty frustrated.  I offered a LOT of feedback to the new site, as did others.

In the ensuing 4 or so years I have pretty much avoided the website. 

Recently I decided that there really were records I needed and maybe, just maybe there had been some improvements in the search engine on the site.

I’m happy to say that I was well rewarded for my efforts. 

I went in with a list of 1944 and 1945 deaths for which I needed a certificate.  There were 11 people on my list.  In review I had two of the certificates already, shared with me by my cousins Paula & Marion. 

That left 9 death certificates to find.  

How many was I able to locate?  8 of the 9.

I found that the less information I entered the better my chances were of finding a record.  Just a first and last name or even just a last name and year of death. It seemed to me that the website was working better than it had a few years ago.  I still think there is room for improvement.  On the occasion when I didn’t enter a year of death I was given a list of names and the county they died in.  When you get a long list of results with the same name, it would be nice for them to list the year of death to narrow it down a bit.

As you can see below, in entering William Gould, I received 31 hits. This screen shot just shows the first few.  But, if I didn’t know what county I might end up having to look at all 31 records.  Having a death year would improve this. 

(Please click on the image to enlarge it)

Here are the list of names for those death certificates I located

CURRY, Frederick William – 5 Nov 1944, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

ERB, Catherine – 8 Dec 1945, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

GOULD, Helen C – 17 Feb 1945, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

HEAD, Emogine – 19 Nov 1945, Three Oaks, Berrien, Michigan

LINDOW, Charles Herman – 10 Feb 1944, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan 

McTAGGART, Sarah – 10 May 1944, Bad Axe, Huron, Michigan

PRATT, James William – 26 May 1944, Richmond, Macomb, Michigan

SINE, Hattie – 6 Apr 1944, Albion, Calhoun, Michigan

I was not able to access the record for Grace M. Thorpe Stanton, who died May 29, 1945.  It’s possible those images just haven’t been uploaded yet.  I’ll try again later this year.

UPDATE - On March 15, 2021, I went back to the Michiganology website and searched again for Grace Thorpe Stanton's death certificate and found it.  Perhaps I hadn't searched correctly the first time.  Never give up!

Overall, I’m very pleased with being able to locate this many death records.  Wouldn’t it be great if all states had vital records available like this?  I know many do….but not all.

If you have Michigan ancestors and haven’t used the Michiganology website in a while, I’d encourage you to try again. 

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

SUNDAY’S OBITUARY ~ Cornelia B. R. SMITH (1838-1897) –my husband’s paternal great grandaunt

Cornelia B. R. Hall is my husband’s paternal great grandaunt.  She is the daughter of Rev. George Hall and his first wife Almira ROSETTE.  You can read about their wedding here WEDDING WEDNESDAY–Rev. George Hall & Almira Rosette married March 11, 1834

 (please click on any image to enlarge it)

Obituary - Cornelia B. Smith - The Algona Republican, Algona, Iowa, 26 May 1897, page 5

Here is my transcription of the obituary:

MRS. CORNELIA B. SMITH
Widow of the late A.A. Smith of Irvington Dies at Her Irvington Home Last Saturday
Mrs. Cornelia B. Smith, widow of the late A. A. Smith died at her home in Irvington Saturday last, after an illness of about seven months.  The funeral was on Sunday, the services being conducted by Rev. J. W. Innes of the Presbyterian church. The remains were buried in the Irvington cemetery.
Cornelia B. Hall was born in Hoboken, N. J., in 1839.  She was the daughter of a Congregational minister.  She married in 1859 to Almon A. Smith and with him came to Iowa and settled on the Irvington farm in 1868.  Her husband died some five years ago.  Three children are living, F. W. Smith, R. R. Smith and Mrs. Etta, wife of O. W. Cleary, all of Irvington.  Two brothers of Mrs. Smith have died during the past year.  They were Dr. G. F. Hall of Brazier Falls, N.Y., and Thos Hall of Saratoga. The news of the death of the latter, a younger brother to whom she was strongly attached, came during the critical period of her illness, and she was not told of it.  One sister of the deceasd survives.  The family wish to express their thanks for the kindness of their neighbors in their days of trial and sorrow.

Cornelia was the second oldest child and had five siblings, Dr. George F. Hall, Charles A.B. Hall, Thomas Cornelius Hall (husband of Cora who kept the scrapbook I'm writing posts about), Susan Emily Hall and Ellen M. Hall.  I have written other blog posts about her siblings.  I will list them at the end of this post.

Cornelia’s mother died when she was a young girl of 20.  Cornelia married Almon A. Smith about 1859 (date given in the obituary).  They had 3 sons and 1 daughter; Fred W. (abt 1863-1929), Robert R. (1864-1935)m Clara Lloyd and second Mina G. Bliss, Ettie L. (abt 1867- ?) married Omer W. Cleary, and Howard M. (abt 1879 – 1881).

The 1860, 1870 and 1880 census records all have Almon working as a Farmer or a farm laborer.  In 1860 & 1870 he appears to be working on his father’s farm.  Almon recorded a personal estate worth $3500 in the 1870 census.  By 1880 he was a Laborer and no estate or personal worth is listed.

The only items I’ve located in the newspapers for Cornelia (other than her obituary) are these 3 notices for letters remaining at the post office.  Sadly, the last one is dated after her death.

22 Jun 1877 from the Muscaltine Weekly Journal and 6 Oct 1894 from The Gazette  both publications in Iowa

Mr. or Mrs. Smith - letters remaining at post office, Steamboat Rock Echo, Iowa, 25 Feb 1898

Cornelia was just 59 years old at the time of her death.  I have not located a death record that can tell me the cause, yet. Her husband Almon was only 57 when he died of heart disease.

AS PROMISED HERE ARE OTHER POSTS ABOUT THIS FAMILY

MILITARY MONDAY ~ THE CIVIL WAR PENSION FILE OF GEORGE F. HALL–1837-1896 

FOLLOW UP FRIDAY - How I located the probate record for George F. Halll - Civll War Veteran, died 1896

AMANEUNSIS MONDAY ~ The Last Will & Testament of George F. Hall–1837-1896 

CIVIL WAR PENSION FILE ~ Cora E. Hall widow of Thomas C. Hall ~ What gems does it contain?

FRIDAY FINDS ~ The 6th child of Rev. George Hall & his wife Almira–Meet Ellen M. Hall 

If you think you might be related to anyone mentioned in this blog post, or have additional information, please contact me.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

CORA’S SCRAPBOOK ~ Are you an Avery? This is a query on a page in her scrapbook

This is the story of my journey through Cora’s scrapbook.  I will give a link to all posts at the beginning of each new post.  Here’s that link My posts about Cora's Scrapbook

AVERY is a name I’m more than familiar with from researching my husband, Ron’s family.  In this case, it is Cora’s mother who is an Avery. I’ve been able to find out very little about this branch of Cora’s family.  But here is what I do know.

Cora’s mother was Cemanthe M. Avery (1831 to 26 Mar 1899). She married Charles Henry Brown or as he was also know C.H.K. Brown (1826 – 14 Apr 1903) on 12 Jun 1851 in Saratoga Springs, Saratoga Co., New York.  This couple had 2 known children, Cora Emma Brown, the creator of the scrapbook I write about, and Albert Walton Brown (1856-1937).

Cemanthe Averey’s parents were, Frederick Avery (need confirmation on birth & death dates) and Emeline CASE (about 1809-14 Dec 1889).  I know of 4 children born to this couple – An unknown child, Mary Avery (1826-after 1915) who married a MAYNARD, Cemanthe Avery and Calvin Montgomery Avery (about 1833-22 Dec 1891).

That’s as far as I have been able to trace the AVERY surname back.  I haven’t fared any better on Cora’s surname/maiden name BROWN either. Here’s the pedigree view for Cora from my Legacy program.  I have tried very hard over the past 15 years to track down these families and have obviously not been successful.  I’m hoping information from Cora’s scrapbook will help me with that.

Glued to one of the pages in the scrapbook was this notice.

There is no indication of where this inquiry was posted.  Did it appear in a newspaper or publication of some other kind?  Let’s go over what it says.

ARE YOU AN AVERY?  DID YOU MARRY AN AVERY/  WAS YOUR MOTHER AN AVERY?

If so, please send your name and address to Elroy M. Avery, 657 Woodland Hills Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.  He is writing a history of the Avery family.  Please give the full names ofyour or your wife’s parents (not initials merely), of grand parents in the Avery line, etc., as far back as you can.  He will be glad to send you a printed blank for the complete record of yourself and family.  Then hand this card to

SOME OTHER AVERY

On each side of this inquiry are the following notations.

On the left side - If you see an Avery marriage or obituary notice, please send a marked copy of the paper containing it.

On the right side – Also send the names and post-office addresses of other Averys and Avery descendants.

My first inclination when reading this is to find out who Elroy M. Avery of 657 Woodland Hills Ave., in Cleveland, Ohio is?  And second, is to try and locate a book about the history of the Avery family.  Those will be my next steps. 

I have no idea what other possible family gems are contained in this scrapbook left to us by Ron’s great grandmother, but you can be assured I will be sharing them all here.

That being said.  If anyone reading this is an Avery or married to an Avery, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

WEDDING WEDNESDAY ~ My 5th great grandparents–Obadiah F. Cooper & Lena Albrecht–1781 in New York

Today I present the marriage record of my paternal 5th great grandparents, Obadiah F. Cooper and Lena Albrecht.   They married on 8 Jun 1781 in Albany, New York.

I located their marriage record in the U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-2000.  I have found many of my ancestor’s records in this record set.

Here is the index

Name:    Lena Albrecht
Event Type:    Marriage
Gender:    Female
Spouse:    Obadia Cooper
Spouse Gender:    Male
Marriage Date:    8 Jun 1781
Marriage Place:    Albany, Albany, New York, USA

Here is the image of their marriage

Notice in the image, there is another Obadiah Cooper (5 lines down) who marries Lena Helburg.  We know that we run across people with the same names, frequently, in our research.  It's the sum total of what we find for each individual or couple, that gives us the evidence we need to conclude we have the correct person.

I have little information about Obadiah and Lena.  I do have church records indicating they had 2 daughters, both named Cornelia. I believe the first Cornelia born 22 May1786 may have died young.  The second Cornelia was born 16 Nov 1787. There was then a son born 25 Dec 1793 named Jacob.  He sadly died from exposure while intoxicated, at the age of 33.  I wrote about his death here ANCESTORS IN THE NEWS ~ Jacob Cooper found dead from exposure–Dec 1827, New York

I am connected to this couple as follows

Obadiah Cooper & Lena Albecht – 5th great grandparents

Jacob Cooper & Mary Polly Byrne/O’Brian – 4th great grandparents

Lany Cooper & Monson Thorp, Sr. – 3rd great grandparents

Horace Henry Thorp, Sr. & Catherine Dorsey – 2nd great grandparents

Mae Eve Thorp & William Vivaldo Gould – great grandparents

Harry Whipple Gould & Marie Wallace Lindsay – grandparents

Harry Norman Gould & Patricia Anne Milne – parents

If someone mentioned in this blog post is also connected to you, please get in touch.  I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

ANCESTORS IN THE NEWS ~ My maternal grandmother, Mrs. Florence Milne injured in an auto collision 2 May 1933

This was a small news article I located back in 2018.  While it isn’t dramatic and barely newsworthy, it was printed in the paper.

Here is the article.

The Ludington Daily News, page 3 - May 2, 1933

Here is my transcription

Eight are Injured in Auto Collision
Grand Rapids, May 2 - J.C. Beck, 65, of Lansing was cut and bruised severely in an auto collision at 12:30 a.m. today, and seven residents of Detroit received minor injuries.  The accident occurred on US 16 near Cascade, during a heavy rain.
The Detroiters are Gordon Allyn, 50, his wife Nellie, 30, their three children, and Mrs. Florence Milne, 43, and Mrs. A. Allyn, 76, Mr. Allyn's mother.

This article appeared in the Ludington Daily News.  Interestingly, I had never heard of Ludington, Michigan, until about 3 years ago when we met a couple from there, on our Alaskan cruise. We became friends and still communicate today. 

As a reference regarding the location.  Grand River Ave., which is a major road in, not only Detroit, but other nearby cities, was also called US 16. 

US Highway 16 (US 16), also called Grand River Avenue for much of its length in the state, was one of the principal roads prior to the post-World War II construction of freeways in the state of Michigan.
U.S. Route 16 in Michigan

US Highway 16

Length - 210.643 mi (338.997 km)

Existed - November 11, 1926–1962

History - Replaced by I-96

This would be an approximate location for the intersection of Cascade & I-96 today.

I have checked the 1930 and 1940 census records for Detroit and find no other Florence Milne’s.  Although her age of 43 is two years off, I still believe this to be her.  We all know that not everything in newspapers is correct all the time.  Still the same today.

I wonder where these people were headed?  Who were the Allyn’s?  It’s not a name I’m familiar with, so I don’t think they are related to us.  This could certainly have been some church or other social friends of my grandmother.

I’m happy no one was injured badly.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION