Ian Hadden's Family History

Solving My Foley Family Puzzle

2012-01-21T10:09:00.003-05:00

I have shared previously, and most recently in July 2011, about the uncertainty of information about one of my maternal great grandfathers, John Foley. This past week, fellow Canadian genealogy blogger, John Reid of Anglo-Celtic Connections, posted a note on Google Plus that Family Search had added 126,534 Ontario Roman Catholic Church Records to their online databases.

I immediately thought of my Foley ancestors and the puzzlement about verifying John's birth. Census records have provided conflicting information ranging from locations in the United States to Barrie, Simcoe County, Canada West (now Ontario) and birth years ranging from 1860 to 1865.

Fortunately, the Ontario civil registration for John Foley's marriage to Mary Jane Fitzgerald on April 25, 1894 provides the name of the church in Toronto in which they married. My first stop then was the church records for marriages at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in 1894. Unfortunately, the images added by Family Search are not yet indexed so finding the church marriage registration meant 'surfing' through numerous images. The church registrations are in chronological order so using the marriage date, I was able to find the marriage registration information fairly quickly. All of the information contained in the church record was identical to the civil registration record.

When he married in April 1894, John gave his age as 29 years, meaning he was likely born around 1865. John's gravestone in Toronto's Mount Hope Cemetery lists his date of birth as February 16, 1864 but due to the various pieces of conflicting information, I have always been suspicious of the date.

I then proceeded to viewing the church baptismal records for Barrie, Ontario, the location John had maintained was his place of birth. The church record images available through Family Search for Barrie consist of one Roman Catholic church - Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary including two mission, or satellite, locations. The baptismal records cover the period 1858 - 1875 and consist of 218 images in the main church register.

Like scrolling through microfilm images, I went through the baptismal records one image at a time, hunting for the Foley name. Fortunately, this was made easier as the family surnames were printed, not written, in the left hand column of the register book. On image #86, line #706, I found it! The baptismal record for John Foley, although the surname was misspelled as 'Froley.'

The parish priest, Father P. Rey, listed: Froley, John; Date of Birth - 16 Feb. 1863 in Essa (a small town near Barrie); Date of baptism - 21 March 1863; Parents - William Foley, Ireland and Bridget McTigue (misspelling of McTague); Sponsors - Joseph Cain and Elizabeth Hussey.

So, at long last, I know that my great grandfather was born in Essa, part of the Barrie, Ontario area, on February 16, 1863, exactly 125 years before his great great granddaughter, my daughter, Jenna was born! Finally, a puzzle solved.

Touring The New RootsMagic 5 Genealogy Software

2012-01-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

First, disclosure. I have not received any free products or remuneration of any kind from RootsMagic for using or commenting on their product. I have a copy of the RootsMagic 5 software that bought with my own money. Now that that is out of the way, I can share with you my opinion of the new RootsMagic 5 software package!

Within minutes of seeing the email from RootsMagic that a new release 5 was available, I paid for and downloaded an upgrade copy. I have been using RootsMagic 4 for quite some time and have written about it in past posts.

Although there are elements of other genealogy database software programs that I have used and like, it was when I knew I had to focus on proper source citations that RootsMagic won me over. Now, no fact is entered into my database without the source being included. It takes a little extra time but it saves a tremendous amount of hassle and effort later. The software has also enabled me to go back and begin the process of quickly adding the (way too many!) source citations I had neglected.

The download and installation of RootsMagic 5 was fast and efficient. I had no problems with the conversion of my RootsMagic 4 file although it did take a few minutes to convert the approximately 1,100 photos and record images that were part of the file. I chose the option of having the RootsMagic 4 program uninstalled as part of the RootsMagic 5 installation process. This did not cause any problems for me.

There are four significant enhancements in the new version that I was most interested in, in order of importance as I saw them: the Timeline view, the Research Manager, the County Check, and the Media Tagging feature. For a couple of days, I `played`around in the new software, checking out the new important to me features.

It was after I viewed the "What's New in RootsMagic 5" webinar that I discovered that I was wrong about the order of the new features I had thought would be most important. To see the webinar, or any of the 30 free webinars, offered by RootsMagic, click here.

Media Tagging

This is by far the most exciting improvement for me. I have always liked the ability to attach an image to a fact in my database. For example, I cite the source for a residency fact and attach a copy of the census record from which the information was obtained. Having the image attached to the fact helps keep my material well organized and saves me the time of 'rooting' around through the electronic file folders on my computer hard drive to find a copy of the supporting documentation.

I love the media-tagging feature. I have found it to be a fast and very efficient method for attaching photos and digital copies of records to several people and the events in the lives that the photos and records (digital media) pertain to. For example, now with a few mouse clicks I can attach a census record to all of the family members from a single dialog box including attaching the record to the facts contained in the census record like residence, birth, occupation, religion, etc. A true time saver!

Timeline

The timeline view provides a quick visual timeline chart showing the events in an individual's life including the events in his/her family. It allows a quick overview of someone's life events that can be helpful in pointing out areas that you may want or need to consider doing more research. It helps me see 'what's missing.'

County Check

I have experienced an emotional roller-coaster with this new feature as each time you save a fact, RootsMagic checks the accuracy of the location that you included. Many of us have experienced boundary or name changes associated with the locations in which our ancestors lived. When I first started using RootsMagic 5, the County Check feature would point out a problem with the usually historical accuracy of the way I entered a location detail and offered suggested changes. This became annoying but now, after spending time with the software, I find it to be the helpful assistant I am certain it was intended to be.

Research Log

My research has not always followed some carefully planned out pattern. I tended to go where intuitively my interests at the time took me. As I prepare for retirement and look forward to having more available time for research, this tool will come in handy. The Research Log builds into your software, in a neat orderly manner, all of the research bits of information that, if are like me, is written down somewhere on a piece of paper or in a notebook in no particular order. And, if you use RootsMagic-On-The-Go on a USB stick or drive, your research goals and notes are always with you, whether to check something or add to it as you gather leads.

I'm giving RootsMagic 5 "two thumbs up."

Seeing My Great-Great Grandmother For The First Time

2012-01-12T12:03:00.005-05:00

One of the motivations for my family history journey was the wondering about the family left behind when my ancestors left Scotland and Ireland. I have written about this previously. What happened to them and then their descendants? Where are they all now?

I have been lucky that through the marvels of technology, a.k.a. the Internet, I have been able to begin the process the making some of those re-connections with my long lost cousins from all parts of the globe, much to my amazement.

My most recent cousin connection has been with a cousin, Helen, who lives in New York City and her sister, Marie, who lives in my home province of Ontario, Canada! Both Helen and Marie had spotted a couple of my blog posts about our mutual ancestor, Agnes Sweeney who married William Mitchell and then Joseph Branchfield.

I have always been proud of the adversity that my ancestors faced and overcame. Agnes was certainly no exception. She was born in a Paisley, Renfrewshire poorhouse in 1870 and was only 15 years old when she married my second great grandfather William Mitchell. She became a mother for the first time when she only 16. Sometime following the birth of their fifth child, William disappeared. What happened to him is still not known. Did he abandon the family? Or, was there something else like an imprisonment or an institutional confinement? I may never really know.

Agnes married Joseph Branchfield in 1905. Joseph had been a boarder in Agnes' house which was located near the docks in Greenock, Scotland where Joseph worked. It appears that Agnes may have finally enjoyed some stability in her home life until her death in 1928.

And now, thanks to cousin Helen, I have a photo of Agnes who is pictured with Joseph and five of their children. I can certainly see some resemblance to my paternal grandmother who was Agnes' granddaughter.

A Review of 2011 And a 2012 Forecast

2012-01-04T17:21:00.005-05:00

It's that time of the year again. A time to review accomplishments from the previous year and set some goals for the upcoming year.

Last year, 2011, was affected by my ongoing recovery from Guillain Barre Syndrome, which hospitalized me from October through to mid-December 2010. In February 2011, I returned to work, and yes, I now admit it that was too soon. My recovery and the lingering mobility challenges I face meant that we could not travel as we might have wanted. The impact was no conference attendance! But still, some research work did get successfully completed.

I was able to find and trace the sensational Vermilyea murder that occurred in Belleville, Ontario in 1934 and is connected to my wife's Faulkner family branch. I recounted in a series of posts some of the Irish immigration experience that my family would have experienced in their 19th century immigration to North America.

I was able to scan the four volumes of diaries left by my wife's great grandfather Louis Henry Wagner documenting his experiences from December 1872 through to November 1891, from the time he was in his teen years through his education, his first marriage, the birth of my wife's grandfather, the death of his first wife and eventually through to his second marriage. They provide a fascinating glimpse into life in 19th century rural Ontario, Canada, seen through the experiences of a young man trying to establish himself.

I obtained the court records concerning the trial of my third great grandmother, Rosannah Mitchell (nee Dowds) that lead to a series of posts about the calibre of the evidence used to convict her and send her to prison for eight years.

Most importantly, I was able to connect with a number of 'new' cousins whom I had not had the pleasure of knowing, which then lead to sharing family information and photos. These connections are invaluable to me!

So what beckons in 2012? Well, more recovery and on a personal note, and especially important, is retirement and, with that, the ability to dedicate more quality time to genealogy - attending society meetings my work schedule didn't permit, attending at least one conference, furthering my genealogy education that I have only been able to dabble in.

Most importantly, in 2012, as a retired person, I will be able to spend time doing what I like to do best - hanging out with my wife and sharing all the experiences that life brings us! It should be a great year!

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town!

2011-12-24T15:33:00.004-05:00

Tonight's the big night for all of us kids!

Christmas Eve in my parental home involved a mandatory bath followed by dressing in new pajamas before placing our Christmas stockings (large red felt socks) on the living room, and later recreation room, sofa. Each year was of course marked by a trip to see Santa and share with him what we wanted for Christmas, and to pose for a photo.

Below, my sister, my brother and I are pictured with Santa. I guess the photo to be from about 1964 based on our apparent ages. I love the galoshes we were required to wear as well as my Davy Crockett 'bulky-knit' sweater, made by our mother, and especially becoming with the wool 'fringe' adorning each arm!

Platt S. Miller's Magazine Cover

2011-12-13T22:26:00.004-05:00

Platt S. Miller married Catherine Kimmerly on New Year's Day in 1854. The marriage took place in Napanee, Lennox and Addington County, in what is now the Province of Ontario, Canada. Catharine was my wife Ellen's first cousin, four times removed.

Although I had information about Platt and Catherine, Platt again came to my attention when I discovered his photo on the cover of the Ontario Genealogical Society's quarterly magazine, Families, Vol. 32, No. 2 (pictured to the right) from May 1993, while I was doing some volunteer proofreading work for the OGS.

This find was a stroke of luck! Although the information about the cover photo of Platt is not sourced, it nonetheless provides several leads about Platt, Catharine and their family. The following is the information provided about Platt and his photo:

"This photograph of Platt S. Miller, metal moulder, shown with the tools of his trade, comes to us from Margaret Jane Snider of Ocean Springs, MS.

Platt S. Miller was born in Napanee, Canada West, on 17 December 1830. He was the son of Garrett Miller, tailor, and Eleanor Wright.

Platt married Catherine Kimmerly on 1 January 1854 in Napanee. Their known children are: Margaret A. Eleanor, born 20 Novemeber 1854; Henry, born c.1856; George Maitland, born c.1860; Alice Felindann, born 5 May 1862 in Napanee; Catherine Adelaide; Francis Augustus; Aseneth, died at 6 or 7 years.

Platt and Catherine lived in Napanee through the 1860s then moved to the village of Almont, township of Almont, Lapeer County, Michigan, where Platt worked at the Lockhurd Foundry.

Catherine Kimmerly was born 1 July 1828/9 in Canada West, the daughter of Henry Kimmerly and Margaret Fretz, and the granddaughter of Andrew Kimmerly, UEL. She died 25 October 1906.

Platt S. Miller died 24 September 1900 in Almont and was buried there in the Ferson cemetery with his wife.

The original of this photo is a tintype, and is unusual in that Mr. Miller is pictured in his work clothes and with his tools. People of that period are usually photographed in their finery, so this picture is to be valued."

Platt and Catherine can be found living in Almont in the 1870, 1880, and 1900 US Federal Census records. In 1900, they reported that they had nine children but that only four were still living at the time. Thus far, I have been able to find eight of the nine children. More work is obviously need to track down their missing child.

The collection of Families can be found in the 'Members Only' section of the Ontario Genealogical Society's website at http://www.ogs.on.ca/.

My Cousin Was A Hero!

2011-12-05T12:01:00.004-05:00

Until this past week when I was contacted through a "new cousin connection" who had read about our family in this blog, I didn't know that I had a cousin, a second cousin once removed to be exact, who had died a hero! In my last couple of posts, I have recounted the new 'cousin' connection. One of the many bits of new information passed on to me was about another cousin, Lt. Michael Warchola (pictured to the right) of the New York City Fire Department. Michael's great grandmother was Agnes (nee Sweeney) Mitchell Branchfield, my second great grandmother.

Michael, or 'Mike' as he was known, was born, raised, and lived his life in New York City. Like his older brother, Dennis, Michael joined the NYFD. Just two shifts before his retirement, the paperwork completed, Michael died saving the lives of others on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Centre.

The events of that horrific day are indelibly marked in my mind as is the case with most of us. Yet, from the relative safety of my office in Canada, it was too easy to feel somewhat distant and removed, after all, I really didn't know anyone in New York City. Now, learning that a cousin, one of my cousins, was there and that he died saving the lives of others in his role as a 'first responder', a role he undoubtedly loved and worked hard at, makes the tragedy of the day hit 'home' that much harder.

I never met Michael but wish I had had the chance. I have learned from a number of tributes posted about Michael that he enjoyed history, especially stories of the strange and bizarre, a passion reputed to have developed from reading British tabloid newspapers at his grandmother's house. Michael was a Golden Gloves boxing champion who went to university in Buffalo around the same time I was in university in Toronto, just a 90-minute drive away. Mike and I both graduated from university in 1976 and, in 1977, after years spent on the waiting list, Mike joined the New York Fire Department.

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, Lt. Michael Warchola led his crew from Ladder Company 5 into the 'B' stairwell of the North Tower at the World Trade Centre. On the 12th floor, he stopped to help a young woman who was experiencing chest pains. When the call went out to the emergency responders to evacuate the building, Michael was seen by other firefighters still tending to the woman, promising that he would soon also evacuate.

After the collapse of the building around him, Michael was heard over the radio, "Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Ladder Company 5, mayday. We're in the B stairwell, 12th floor. I'm trapped, and I'm hurt bad." Michael was able to call out two additional maydays but his would-be rescuers were unable to reach him due to impassable debris.

Michael's body was recovered on Friday, September 14, 2001 and was carried out of the rubble by surviving members of Ladder Company 5. The world had lost a hero!

The Connection Has Been Made!

2011-12-01T20:11:00.002-05:00

In my last post, I recounted two "anonymous" comments that had recently been left for me on a May 2011 posting about William Mitchell's disappearance or perhaps, his abandonment for whatever reason of his family sometime in the mid-1890's. Both of the comments indicated that William's wife, Agnes Sweeney, my second great grandmother, had taken in a little girl named Mary Lafferty and raised her as her own. By the time this had occurred, Agnes had re-married to Joseph Branchfield and so little Mary was essentially raised as a Branchfield family member.

I concluded the last post by requesting that those who had left the comments to please contact me. I'm happy to report that Marie and Helen, daughters of Mary Lafferty Branchfield have contacted me and the information that they have begun to share is also pouring in (more about some of the discoveries and surprises provided so far will be shared in future posts).

Needless to say, I am thrilled to have been able to connect with these new 'cousins.' Although neither knew my second great grandmother (as Agnes passed away in 1928), they did know Agnes' children well as their aunts and uncles. I'm certain to learn much more about these family members who until now had only been names on records and in my database.

This branch of the family (my father's maternal line) moved from Scotland to the United States many years ago. While I always have wondered about the hardship of immigration that my ancestors experienced, particularly leaving family behind, usually knowing they would never again be seen, I continue to be amazed that we cousins could be living so close together and yet not know it. Just as I am amazed, based on the information about members of this family branch, about family resemblances, talents, and choices of employment that seem to run inexplicably through the family.

So thank you to Marie and Helen for reaching out and if there are more Branchfields out there, I'm waiting to hear from you too!

3 Harvie Lane, Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland

2011-11-27T15:34:00.002-05:00

I was fascinated this past week by a comment left on an older blog post (May 2011) by Patricia. The blog post detailed the 'disappearance' of my great great grandfather William Mitchell sometime in 1890's, essentially his abandonment of his family.

Patricia shared through her comment that my great great grandmother, Agnes (nee Sweeney) Mitchell Branchfield, had taken in her grandmother Mary Lafferty and raised her as her own. According to Patricia's comment, Mary referred to Agnes as her mother and to Agnes' children as her siblings. Clearly signs of very close relationships and most understandable given what must have been the circumstances.

Unfortunately, the 1911 Scottish Census, the most recent made public, does not show Mary Lafferty living with Agnes and her family. In 1911, Agnes was residing at 3 Harvie Lane in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland with her second husband Joseph Branchfield and their five children and two children from Agnes' first marriage (listed as step-sons to Joseph). On the census record, 3 Harvie Lane is listed as a "Common Lodging House," containing 13 rooms with windows and providing a home to 36 people. The most likely Mary Lafferty that I have found in 1911 Greenock was born around 1908 and whom might have become orphaned around 1918.

Common lodging houses were not the abode for the rich and famous and were often of significant concern for health and criminal activity issues in the 19th century United Kingdom. So my great great grandmother did not lead a life of luxury but more likely faced a daily struggle to make ends meet and keep her family intact. Joseph, her husband, at least worked, like most men in the area, at the nearby shipyards where he was employed as a labourer.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that 3 Harvie Lane exists any longer, likely having given way to some form of Greenock modernization. So Patricia, if you are reading this post, please contact me with more information at ianhaddenfamilyhistory@gmail.com.

Gaull Family Information From A New Cousin Connection

2011-11-19T10:03:00.006-05:00

My great great grandfather John Gaull had eleven children. He was one of seven children born to Mary Jane Gaull. With that level of proliferation, I shouldn't be surprised that I would have many Gaull family cousins and relations. I've had the great fortune to not only make a connection with a number of my Gaull cousins but also to spend some time with a couple of them. Still, I am thrilled that I have made another connection within the family.

I was recently contacted by Robert Stables, a second cousin twice removed. Robert is the great grandson of Mary Jane. I was also subsequently contacted by Sandra Stables, Robert's sister-in-law, wife of Robert's brother Alan. In addition to the excitement of the new connections, Sandra, who has been doing some family history research, provided me with photos!

Never before had I seen the grave and headstone of Mary Jane, who died in 1925 and is buried in the Cluny Cemetery, Cluny, Aberdeenshire, Scotland along with her son James who died in 1919.

The generational difference between Robert, Alan and I is easily explained. While we share Mary Jane Gaull as our common ancestor, I am descended from Mary Jane's eldest son John Gaull (born 1860) and Robert and Alan are descended from Mary Jane's youngest son John Glennie (born 1873). The age difference is expanded again as I am descended from John Gaull's eldest daughter, Jessie McKenzie Gaull, while Robert and Alan descend from John Glennie's second youngest daughter, Elsie Ann Glennie who was born just a couple of years earlier than my father.

In addition to the headstone photos that Sandra sent to me, I received the wonderful photo of Tillyfro (below), the farm in Cluny that was the home of Mary Jane Gaull and her husband Alexander Glennie. There really something about seeing an ancestral home and being able to imagine your ancestors walking the property and working the fields. I have read the name 'Tillyfro' on many family records over the past 30 years but seeing it is such a bonus!

Remembrance Day - Fallen Family Heroes

2011-11-11T08:00:00.003-05:00

Lt. Col. John McRae was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada in 1872. On May 3rd, 1915, he penned one of the most famous of World War I poems, 'In Flanders Field,' commemorating forever the bravery of those who fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Sadly, McRae, a physician, died of pneumonia in France in 1918.

Since 1922, the poppy has been worn by thousands of Canadians in tribute to our fallen heroes. Initially the poppy campaign provided a source of employment and income for those who had fought in the Great War. Today, the annual campaign funds programs for veterans through the Royal Canadian Legion.

On May 17, 1916, young Jimmy Gammie, my great granduncle, left his farm to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Maybe he had seen the posters stating, "Your Chums are Fighting, Why Aren't You?" All of 5 feet, 8 inches in height, Jimmy, who joined with his brother Peter, would fight in France with the 46th Battalion. He would know what it was like to hear bullets whistle as they closely passed, he would know the sound and vibrations of bombs exploding, he would know the pain of being wounded, and after recovering, he would know the fear of returning to the front lines. He would know dieing for his country. Jimmy never returned to his farm, there was no repatriation ceremony for him.

Jimmy's grave, pictured below, marked for all to remember him.

Jimmy is buried in France, not in Flanders Field but in the Bucquoy Road Cemetery, near Arras, with too many of his comrades, not far from the bridge he was fighting to gain.

James Little Triggs was even younger, only 15 years of age and just under 5 feet in height, when he and his twin brother Phillip, followed in their father's footsteps and joined the Royal Navy as cabin boys. On May 31, 1916, James didn't see the shells coming, as he toiled away below deck, that would sink his mighty battleship and end his young life.

Today at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we remember them along with those who did survive but who have had lives filled with memories of the terrors of war. And we remember those still fighting and sacrificing their lives in the name of freedom.

A Story Debunked - The Case of Margaret (Graham) O'Neill

2011-11-05T11:52:00.003-04:00

Margaret Graham was born on September 5, 1854 in Canada West (previously Upper Canada and now the province of Ontario). As her birth was before civil registration commenced and as I have not yet checked the Roman Catholic records for area churches, I suspect her birth occurred in Simcoe County, north of Toronto as that is where the Graham family can be found in subsequent Canadian census returns.

Margaret was a student at the school in Holland Landing, Ontario when she was 6 years old according to the 1861 Canada Census. Her father, Patrick was a tailor from Ireland who had met and married her mother Catherine in Ontario. By 1871, the family had moved a bit further north in the province, settling in Sunnidale, Simcoe County, Ontario. It seems that by 1890, Margaret had had enough of life in mainly rural area in which she lived and so she she headed south to the city of Toronto.

It was here that met and on June 4th, 1894, she married William Emmett O'Neill. According to their marriage registration, neither had been previously married. I mention this fact as they married a little later in life than most. William was 42 years old and Margaret was 38. Oh, how their lives must have changed when over the course of the next four years, Margaret gave birth to a son (my grandfather John Graham O'Neill) and two daughters (Kathleen and Avila).

Although the family resided primarily in the west end of Toronto, they eventually moved to a house they purchased from their son's future father-in-law, John Foley, at 189 Pickering Street in the city's east end. This is where a family story passed on to me from my mother begins and now ends.

The house at 189 Pickering was not only lived in by my great grandparents through the 1920's and 1930's but was passed on through the family eventually becoming my parent's first home when they married in 1953. The house is small by today's standards, a two bedroom semi-detached home that was functional but could be cramped at times. According to my mother, Margaret (Graham) O'Neill died in the 'master,' front bedroom of 189 Pickering Street in 1937. When I lived in the house the story didn't really bother me but later in life, as I began documenting my family's histroy, I thought it a little creepy that I might have conceived in the very room that my great grandmother died in.

But she didn't! As a result of re-checking databases (in this case the Ontario death records on Ancestry), I found Margaret's death certificate. Margaret died on March 2, 1937 at St. Joseph's Hospital of chronic heart problems, a long way from my first home on Pickering Street. In fact, according to Avila O'Neill, who was the informant listed on the certificate, Margaret and Avila were residing together at 1739 Dundas Street West prior to Margaret's hospitalization. The funeral arrangements were made through Ryan and Son Undertakers on Dundas Street West and Margaret was buried alongside her husband William in Mount Hope Cemetery in Toronto on March 5, 1937.

A 'creepy' family story debunked and a lesson to re-check already mined databases learned!

Family Items in Nearly Old Newspapers

2011-10-30T12:14:00.006-04:00

Newspapers have long been known to be a treasure trove of information about family. The use of old newspapers is a common topic at genealogy conferences, is the subject of informative webinars, and is a selling feature of subscription-based genealogy websites.

Typically, when I have used old newspapers to search for items about my family, I have sought out archives of newspapers published in the vicinity of my ancestor's home, hoping to find an announcement about a wedding or perhaps an obituary. I have had modest success locating small newspaper articles and sometimes, I have been lucky enough to find newsworthy items about their social life, their political views or events in their community in which they may have been involved.

I recently re-discovered Our Ontario, described as a digital portal, part of Knowledge Ontario, a not-for-profit 'collaborative' of library, cultural, heritage and community organizations. Our Ontario provides hosting and user interface tools for these organization's digital collections. Using just my surname as the search term, Our Ontario returned 634 matching items. When I found that one of the items on the first page of search results was a reference to the obituary for my granduncle Alexander Gaull Hadden from 1997, even though the newspaper image wasn't available, I knew there was cause to keeping looking.

Among the digital newspaper images that I subsequently found were multiple news stories about the sons of Alexander (Uncle Alec to me) and his wife Hilda, Robert (Bob) and David. Almost all of these newspaper articles appeared in the Stouffville Tribune (now the Stouffville Sun-Tribune). Stouffville is a small town to the north-east of Toronto, small enough that the hiring of David (my first cousin, once removed) as a town police officer (pictured right from a 1967 article) in September 1963 was front page news. Stories of David's crime fighting and that of older brother Bob, also a police officer at the time but in neighbouring towns, often found there way into newspaper.

My favourite story being about a 23 year-old man who David pulled over for a routine traffic stop. When David recognized the man from a wanted poster, the culprit took off with David "in hot pursuit." A short time later, when the suspect's vehicle blew a rear tire, the 'fugitive' "jumped from the car, pulling the [steering] wheel sharply to the left. He fell and the auto ran over his legs and hit a hydro pole. The suspect was arrested at the rear of a nearby house."

Fortunately, more than the real crime dramas of Stouffville were included in the local newspaper. Through the social column, "Stouffville Scene, What's going on," I learned that my Uncle Alec and Aunt Hilda spent a week visiting David, his wife Joan, and their children Penny and Gordon in December 1973, including having Christmas dinner together with members of Joan's family.

Of course, there are the more traditional sources of genealogy information from newspapers also available. I found the wedding announcement for my cousin Bob Hadden and his wife Marilyn from May 1958, complete with descriptions of the bride's dress and corsage as well as the maid of honour's dress. Somehow, my invitation to the wedding (as I'm certain Bob would not have forgotten his then 3 year-old cousin) must have been lost in the mail so these descriptions are all the more valuable to me now!

If you have some Ontario, Canada roots, perhaps Our Ontario may prove to be a goldmine for you as well!

James Graham, Innkeeper

2011-10-23T20:53:00.004-04:00

I have been enjoying the benefit, yes, benefit, of discovering new leads while proceeding through my genealogy database and citing sources for the wide array of facts that my family history contains that I failed to include when I first entered the fact information. The new 'leads' have resulted from chasing down documents that a fact referred to which I should have had a copy of but didn't or, I had a copy of and had now a chance to review for a second time.

Reviewing and analyzing a family history document for a second time is almost always valuable and eye-opening due to the facts and information that you can see which might have been overlooked for some reason on the first read.

While entering information about Patrick Graham and his wife Catherine (nee McRae), my second great grandparents in my maternal family line, there was information, particularly from census records that provided new leads to deepen my knowledge of the lives of their children.

Patrick, a tailor by trade, had immigrated to Upper Canada (now Ontario, Canada) sometime likely in the 1830's. Catherine was born in Glengarry County of what is now Ontario in 1822. I don't know when nor how they met but they married around 1838, according to Roman Catholic marriage registers. Their first child was James, born in 1842. Three daughters were to follow, including my great grandmother Margaret, born in 1854.

The census record for the family in January 1852, (the 1851 census in Canada was delayed) shows the family living in a frame house in the village of East Gwillimbury, north of Toronto, and oldest child and only son James going to school. About ten years later, the 1861 census records show that the family had moved about three miles west to the village of Holland Landing and that James had left school, moved north to the town of Barrie and was an apprentice shoemaker.

Sometime before 1870, James married Mary Ann Duffy and around 1870, they welcomed their first child, William, into their family. James had also taken up a new profession - that of innkeeper. In 1871, James and Mary Ann were living in the village (perhaps hamlet?) of Essa, Ontario, due west of Barrie. No mention is included in the record of the name of the inn that he kept and despite searches through various histories of the area at that time, I can find no mention of James or the inn.

Tragedy struck however on May 17, 1874 when Mary Ann gave birth to their second child, also a boy, and both mother and child died. According to the death registrations, the unnamed baby boy died within "a few minutes" of birth followed soon after by his 25 year-old mother.

Sometime before 1878, James re-married, this time to Mary Guilfoyle. James and Mary had three daughters, Catherine Louise, Mary Isabella, and Anna May. Over the next 25 years, James continued to live in the Simcoe County, Ontario area, occasionally moving between some of the area's small towns and villages. His profession during this time was always listed as Hotel Keeper. James passed away of heart failure at the age of 61, on June 19, 1903.

Looking at a record for a second time, in this case, a census record, lead to a cascade of new information, and records, connected to this family. My intention is to continue hunting for records about James' hotel as my gut instinct is that there have got to be some fascinating stories about life in the hotels of that era. The Barrie, Ontario library has an on-line obituary index showing that there are two local newspapers that contained obituaries for James. Unfortunately, other than giving the name of the newspaper and date of the obituary, no other details were available but it may be the best place of start. I can feel a field trip coming on!

Dividing the Family Along Religious Lines

2011-10-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

My family was easy for me to understand when I began researching it's history. My mother's family was Irish and Roman Catholic. My father's family was Scottish and non-Catholic, aligned to no particular Protestant denomination. These distinct differences made it easy for me and helped point me to the correct research areas and repositories of information.

My father's conversion to Catholicism prior to his marriage to my mother was not warmly received by his family. So you can imagine my astonishment while checking, re-checking really, facts about my Sweeney ancestors to input source information into my genealogy database. I am directly descended from the Sweeney family through my paternal grandmother, Agnes Little. While examining the 1871 marriage registration of Edward Sweeney to Helen Dickson, my third great grandparents, I found all the usual information I would expect to find: name of bride and groom, their parent's names, the date and place of the marriage, their addresses at the time of the marriage, their occupations, names of the witnesses and the clergyman or official who performed the wedding ceremony. But there was another piece of information that I suppose I typically have glossed over - the notation of the banns.

In the case of Edward and Helen, their marriage registration clearly indicates their marriage took place "After Banns according to the Forms of the Roman Catholic Church." So my paternal grandmother's great grandfather, and grandmother for that matter, were Roman Catholic. A little more searching revealed not only the religious difference but that they were from Ireland!

Edward Sweeney's parents, my fourth great grandparents, were George and Mary (nee McMurray) Sweeney. Edward, like his parents, was born in Ireland. The family first appears in Scotland in the 1851 Census. Edward was 2 years old meaning that sometime between his birth in 1849 and the March 30, 1851 Scottish Census, the Sweeney family immigrated to Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Given the timeframe involved, it is easy to surmise it to be most likely that they were escaping from the Irish potato famine.

The tie to the Roman Catholic church in this family line appears to have been broken when Edward's daughter Agnes, my second great grandmother, married William Mitchell in 1886 "according to the forms of the Scottish Episcopal church."

Checking It Twice

2011-10-14T10:36:00.003-04:00

I've discovered unanticipated rewards for messing up by not including source citations in my genealogy database and having to now spend hours correcting the errors of my ways.

To give you a sense of scale, my database has almost 21,000 facts and just over 12,000 citations and that is after many hours of effort to correct the situation! While I have admittedly had a tendency to focus on my direct paternal Hadden ancestral line or puzzling maternal lines like that of John Foley, needing to add source citations has drawn me to revisit ancestral family lines like the Sweeneys, connected to my paternal grandmother.

As I have proceeded through my ancestral families, where I have cited fact sources I have been attaching the digital images of the documents, usually in JPEG format. Adding the images not only makes for a more robust database but eliminates the need to later hunt for the document on my computer hard drive if I want to review it at a later date. One difficulty I have encountered is having a fact but no digital image that I used as the fact source, applicable where I know a digital image was available and used. This has 'forced' me to re-think the fact to ensure that it fits and usually to re-search for the record. I have been successful in retracing my original research and finding the source but now I look at the source information with, I hope, a more mature understanding of genealogy research. Questioning the search results with even basic questions like 'Is this really the right family?' and "Do the ages or dates match for all family members?' has uncovered some facts that I once believed to be true that are not correct for my family.

The best example I can offer was my tracing of a Hadden family through Aberdeenshire, Scotland several years ago only to later, based frankly on gut instinct, to discover that the family was in no clear way, related to me. All because I had neglected to look at all of the information that my great grandfather's birth record offered. Specifically in that case, I had neglected to pay attention to the occupation listed for my great great grandfather.

Checking the the facts and sources twice is allowing me to not only improve the quality of my database but also to 'prune' the family tree of unverifiable facts and in some cases individuals.

In my next post, I will share a discovery on the Sweeney family that I had not for some reason noticed previously, even though I have had a copy of the digital image of the record for years.

Been Away For Too Long

2011-10-10T14:53:00.003-04:00

It's been far too long since I added to my blog but I've been in the research desert, and thus I had little to share. As America sang, "In the desert you can remember your name ..." but that felt like about all I could remember or offer.

While research leads turned into dead ends, I began to focus on updating my genealogy database, making up for my carelessness in the early days. You know, entering data based on reliable sources, usually with documents I had saved electronically on my computer hard drive, but no sources cited. Who needed a source citation when I had the original document? When I had finally realized the error of my ways, I suspected that my database really couldn't be in too bad a shape. Wrong again!

Lots of great information and facts about the 12,000+ ancestors are contained in the database however, my rookie way of thinking left me without having all of the facts displayed with proper source citations. Even though I find it easy to add the citations with my RootsMagic 4 software, it is nonetheless very time consuming. In addition to citing the sources, I have been attaching the supporting documents to the facts and although this takes just a few extra computer 'clicks,' it does represent even more time especially because I don't always remember where I filed the original document!

So, although I have been somewhat absent from blogging, I have been tediously busy with genealogy! The only time saver for me has been using a new computer that is so much faster at completing tasks than the five plus years old computer that I thought might last until I retire from my day job next summer. Lesson learned - when it takes twenty minutes for your computer to start up, it's time for a new computer!

As a footnote, I can't let today pass without mentioning that today is the 'anniversary of my death!' While that sounds a bit (?) melodramatic, it was on this date one year ago that I 'flatlined' while in the intensive care unit of our local hospital. I guess if you are going to have that experience, being in the intensive care unit is the best place possible. While I have some clear memories of that day, the moment of crisis is not one of them. Based on what the doctors, nurses and my wife, Ellen, have told me, the ascending paralysis caused by Guillain-Barre Syndrome managed to reach my chest, causing me to stop breathing and subsequently go into complete arrest. Ellen had been called into the hospital very early that morning by the nurses who had been observing my rapidly declining health. She arrived just as the medical emergency was called.

If not for the quick actions by the hospital's medical staff, I wouldn't be here today. I certainly owe them a huge debt of thanks!

From Leather to the Pulpit

2011-09-20T18:43:00.003-04:00

Not all of my great grandparents could read and write which perhaps explains why I have not heard of any letters or family records containing their thoughts and reflections. My wife Ellen on the other hand is more fortunate. Her great grandfather Louis Henry Wagner (1857-1945) began a diary when he was 15 years old. In all, Louis filled four leather bound diaries in his lifetime although he did not make daily entries during his 'diary days' of December 1872 to November 1891.

While census records along with birth, marriage, and death vital records help build a framework of family activities, Louis' diaries put 'meat on the bones' of that framework, helping to explain how events unfolded and decisions were made. In reading through Louis' diaries, I was particularly taken with his entry of August 4th, 1877 when he provided a summary of the events of the previous four years during which time he had fallen away from using his diary.

Louis wrote:

"Recalling the principle events which happened within the last four years, it is quite probable that I may miss some very important occurrences for which though I am myself to blame, since I neglected to keep a diary until the beginning of the present year.

In the Fall of the year [18]73, I quit schooling and bargained with my uncle [Louis Breithaupt] to learn the tanning trade to which Grandpa [Jacob Hailer] would not consent since the term I was required to serve - being five years - would take me some months longer than my 21st birthday. This afterwards proved a benefit to me. The bargain was made as Uncle today certifies on Grandpa's back porch. Of course, all orally. It was as follows: That I was to stay in the tannery three years - being taught there in that time everything that was to be learned. The remaining two years I was to serve in the store. I was to receive my board at his house and either an annual pay of $50.00 or annually $30.00 and the remaining $100.00 at the end of the term of five years. This was left to my option. Of course, I decided for the former.

Grandpa said: Do as you please; but I'll not consent.

But there remained the old story: I had to do anything and everything. Was to do this and was to do that. Never set to work at anything to be learned at the trade. I complained. Uncle told me to work at anything I liked in the tannery. I did so as well as I knew how but being a boy of 16, I failed the object I sought after. As matters stood, I was perfectly disgusted with Uncle on my apprenticeship.

I was therefore heartily glad when Will [William Henry Breithaupt] went to Toronto on 17th March 1874, and gave me a chance to get into the leather store. I therefore took that position to which Uncle did not even say a word, knowing full well that I would earn him more there than in the tannery. Here I remained until the Fall of 1875.

In the meantime Will had taken a "B" certificate in Day's commercial college and returned. Being not always needed in the store, we were sometimes sent to the tannery to make belts - something we hated to do more than anything else.

As it had been granted me in the bargain to go to some college during the term of my apprenticeship and as I was perfectly sick of being at home, so I insisted on Uncle that I would like to go the Northwestern College at Napierville, Illinois in the Fall of 1875. As he could do nothing else so he gave me always a mute reply which I took for his consent.

I consequently took leave of Berlin on or about the last of August...."

It was near the end of his first term at Napierville that Louis describes he "embraced true religion which afforded me unspeakable happiness" that lead him to a career as a minister in the Evangelical Association, like his father before him.

I sometimes find it difficult to determine the occupation or series of occupation that my great grandfathers pursued, let alone have a description left to me of exactly how my ancestor found his vocation.

Conquering Cancer One Step At A Time

2011-09-12T20:22:00.004-04:00

Around this time in each of the past two years, I have proudly bragged about my daughters and their fundraising through the 60 km (about 37 mile) Walk to End Women's Cancers, previously the Walk to End Breast Cancer, in support of research at Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital. All walkers in this fundraiser must raise a minimum of $2,000, no small task in tough economic times, to participate in the two-day event in addition to being able to find the stamina to endure the long walk.

In my post last year I concluded by indicating that we hoped to expand the team through the inclusion of my son and I. As last year's post indicates, fighting this terrible disease is important to us as it took the life of my kid's mom and has touched the lives of far too many friends and relatives. This year the team did expand as my son joined his sisters and trekked through the city on two above seasonal warm, sunny days. I had to abandon my commitment to participate due to my 'fling' with Guillain-Barre Syndrome last fall and my need for more recovery time but next year, who knows?

The 2011 walk had more than 4000 participants who raised more than $9.4 million. The Hadden team, named after Karen's Wings, raised more than $6,400 on the strength of John, Lisa and Jenna's fundraising that included everything from a charity soccer game to bake sales. In the end, the three 'warriors' raised their hands triumphantly as they crossed the finish line hand in hand (pictured above). A great job done very well!

Young Louis Henry Wagner

2011-08-30T17:31:00.006-04:00

Louis Henry Wagner began a diary, really a set of what turned out to be four leather-bound diaries, when he was 15 years old. The diaries document some of the milestones, good and bad, that occurred in his life. The diaries are important records of the events in the Wagner and Breithaupt families during the latter half of the 19th century as well as providing an interesting perspective on the life of a young man living in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario, Canada during that pre-cable television, pre-video game era.

Louis began his diaries on December 15, 1872. His accounts of life at that time are filled with church services that were clearly at the centre of the family's life, completing a range of chores and errands like "fetching" hides for the Breithaupt's Eagle Tannery or loads of hen dung for use as fertilizer, and fishing with his cousins. Christmas 1872 is described as a time of for church services in the morning and the evening. In between, the family "had a splendid turkey for dinner." Louis received a 'cravat' from his mother Margaret (Hailer) Bean (previously Wagner) and her sister "Aunt [Catherine (nee Hailer)] Breithaupt (pictured above right in 1907)." In addition, he received 25 cents from "Grandmother Breithaupt" [Barbara Catharina Goetze].

Louis was born in Grove, New York, USA in 1857. When he was only one year old, his father Jacob died, just a couple of months after moving the family to Berlin, Ontario. Louis' mother, Margaret re-married in 1862, shortly after Louis' fifth birthday. Interestingly, among all of his recording of the family member visits to his home and trips being taken by family members to neighbouring towns and villages to visit relatives, Louis always refers to his mother's second husband, Daniel Bean, as "Mr. Bean" and never references him as his step-father. While I can't assume that there were any problems between Louis and Daniel Bean, the references don't suggest to me a close relationship.

By the time Louis had begun his diaries he was living with the Breithaupt family, his Uncle Louis Breithaupt and Aunt Catherine along with their children, Louis' cousins. It is clear from many of Louis' early diary entries that he felt a particular affection for his Aunt Breithaupt. In early December 1872, Aunt Breithaupt gave birth to her ninth child, Catherina Louise 'Katie' Breithaupt. Aunt Breithaupt, as Louis consistently referred to her as, experienced a tough time recovering from the childbirth. As Louis described in his January 2, 1873 entry, "I had to go along to Preston with the teams to fetch hides today. Aunt Breithaupt was very weak this evening. Johnny [cousin John Christian Breithaupt] and I had to go and fetch Doctor Bowlby. We brought Aunt Brehler [referring to Harriet Brehler (nee Hailer)] along out. When we came home Aunt Breithaupt had given them all a farewell in this world, she thought she had to die, but she got better again."

In addition to describing the gradual recovery to good health of Aunt Breithaupt, Louis left behind a record of weather reports for his southern Ontario town and a unique glimpse into teenage life during a time long past.

The Trial of Roseannah Mitchell (nee Dowds) - Her Words and Summary

2011-08-25T08:00:00.003-04:00

This is the final post in a series of five that summarizes the trial of my third great grandmother Roseannah Mitchell (nee Dowds). Roseannah had been charged with multiple counts of theft by housebreaking in 1877 Glasgow, Scotland. This final post in the series is my transcription of the essential components of Roseannah's statements to the court. The original public court records are housed in the National Archives of Scotland from which I have obtained copies for a fee.

October 3, 1877 Statement

"My name is Roseann Dowds or Mitchell. I am a native of Ireland, 36 years of age, a hawker, and I reside at 77 Havannah Street, Glasgow.

I deny the charges preferred against me viz (1) of breaking into a house in Malvern Place on or about 24th August last, and stealing therefrom a cloth coat and various other articles of clothing; (2) of breaking into a house on or about 17th September last in Bernard Street Bridgeton and stealing therefrom a lustre dress, and various other articles of clothing; and (3) of breaking into a house in Naburn Street Gorbals, on or about 25th also and stealing therefrom a sateen petticoat and other articles of clothing.

A woman of the name of Joann Walker called upon me on Thursday last. She had a knitted shawl with her and a thing with bugles on it, and two pieces of silk.

She laid these articles on the top of my chest lid and afterwards they were put into my chest. I did not give Mrs. Prentice a suit of black clothes to pawn.

I can't say if I was in Bernard Street, Bridgeton, on 17th September, for I am hawking about from street to street.

I did not on 26th September pawn with Jack in Burrell's lane, Glasgow a Thibet petticoat, but a lad named Patrick Blession was sent with a petticoat and a tartan napkin by Joann Walker to pawn. I gave a boy, Robert Smith my own petticoat to pawn. He also got a bundle of clothes to pawn which I got fro Joann Walker.

All which I declare to be truth, and that I cannot write."

October 24, 1877 Statement

"The declaration emitted by me on 3rd current, which has now been read over to me and is docquetted and subscribed as relative hereto is all correct with this exception that I should have said that Joann Walker called on me on Wednesday last, and not on "Thursday last" as I stated in the Declaration. I wish to say, with reference to the first of the acts of Housebreaking preferred against me as and to which I emitted the Declaration read over, that I fell down the outside stair of my house, and was confined to the house for eight days. I was attended to by the Dispensary doctor at the Hannah whose name I don't know. I also want to add that a day or two after I got up Joann Walker gave me a black silk dress, a jacket, and another article I don't remember what it was, and asked me to sell them. I did so to a Mrs. Hanlon in the Bazaar and got £2.3/. Walker gave me the odd 3/ for my trouble. Three weeks after this again, I sold for Walker another dress, but I can't tell the material. I sold it to the same Mrs. Hanlon, and got 15/ for it which I gave to Walker with the exception of 1/ which she gave me for my trouble. The dress now shown to me with a sealed Label attached, and which is docquetted and subscribed as relative hereto is the dress I sold for 15/.

I deny the charge of having on the 21st September last broken into a house in Victoria Street, Govan, and occupied by Patrick Malley, by means of a false key, and stealing therefrom a pair of trousers, a silk tunic, two merino dresses and a brown skirt. I also deny the alternative charge of resetting these articles or any of them between 20th and 30th September last, in my house in Havannah, or in Bazaar, or elsewhere.

It being now explained by the Sheriff Substitute that the merino dress which the Declarant stated she had sold for 15/ for Walker was one of the articles which she was accused of stealing from Malley's house by means of Housebreaking on the 21st September last, Declares I repeat my statement that the merino dress now shown to me, and docquetted and subscribed with reference to this Declaration is the merino dress I sold for Walker. The pair of trousers now shown to me with a sealed Label attached, which is docquetted and subscribed as relative hereto is a pair of trousers which I bought some time about the beginning of July last from a tailor's shop at the head of New Wynd. I bought them for a lodger of the name of Neil McKenzie. I paid 14/6 for them, which McKenzie paid me. He left me owing money, and telling me to get them cleaned, and as McKenzie didn't come back. I got Joann Walker to pawn them for me. The silk tunic now shown to me with a sealed Label which is docquetted and subscribed as relative hereto, was brought to my house by Joann Walker, and was found by the detectives when they came. I wish to add that I knew Joann Walker was a dealer in the clothes market, and so thought the articles that she had in her possession were honestly come by. I can't explain why, being a dealer, she asked me to sell certain of the articles. I can't write."

November 15, 1877 Statement

"I wish ... to say that I was not aware that any of the articles which were in my possession, or which I referred to as being in my possession on 3rd October last were stolen. All of which I declare to be truth, and I cannot write."

Summary

I am amazed that convictions were obtained for each of the charges brought against Roseannah. Upon being convicted for stealing the clothing, Roseannah was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

I recognize that mine may not be seen as the most objective of opinions due to my direct relationship with her but it seems clear that nothing directly tied Roseannah to actually stealing the clothing articles. In a worse case scenario, there could be a possibility that Roseannah could be seen as being in possession of property obtained by crime however she was never charged with that offence. And what of the mysterious Joanna Walker, a woman arrested at the same time and in connection to the thefts but then released as police felt she was a prostitute not a thief. At best it adds up to reasonable doubt.

Perhaps I am applying 21st century thinking to a 19th century circumstance and reading the statements of all the participants is not unlike reading a Dickens novel and while Fagin's manipulation of Oliver pre-dates Roseannah's run in with law, it seems that the same societal culture may have survived.

The Town of Berlin Becomes Kitchener

2011-08-23T22:21:00.005-04:00

Today, August 23rd, marks the ninety-fourth anniversary of the Ontario cabinet's 'order-in-council' that officially changed the name of the town of Berlin to Kitchener. The name change became effective as of September 1, 1917. In recognition of this historic and then controversial decision, I am re-sharing a post from the past about the views and involvement of some of my wife Ellen's family's involvement in the controversy.

When the Wagners and their cousins, the Breithaupts, settled in what was originally Canada West, now the province of Ontario, Canada, they chose to live, naturally enough, in the predominantly German settlement of Waterloo County, specifically in the town of Berlin. Jacob Wagner and Louis Breithaupt married Mary and Catherine Hailer, respectively, who were the daughters of the first German settler in the region, Jacob John Hailer. The area also featured a large Mennonite community that had immigrated from Pennsylvania.

With the outbreak of World War 1, however, things changed quickly as the German heritage became the focus a growing enmity lead by non-German residents. A bust of Kaiser Wilhelm II went missing twice from Victoria Park in the centre of the town and then disappeared for good. Recruitment for the local battalion was seen as being too slow, perceived as a symptom of an unpatriotic community heritage.

In 1916, a movement began to rename the town and although it did not have popular support, names were put forward to be decided upon through a referendum. Those in favour of the name change argued that maintaining the name of Berlin was unpatriotic and bad for business. Those in favour of keeping the name pointed to the bustling manufacturing sector unharmed by the town name and argued that the time was not right to be spending time on a name change debate when raising recruits and funds for the war effort should be the focus of attention.

The opinion of the Breithaupt family, as prominent citizens of the town, was considered to be of importance. The Breithaupts opposed the name change and suffered attempts at intimidation as a result. On May 12, 1916, about a week before the scheduled referendum, W. H. Breithaupt (pictured above right), then president of the Berlin and Northern Railway, had his home vandalised by "men in uniform" who cut his telephone line and rang his front door bell repeatedly before slipping a threatening note under in front door "stating what would happen if he did not support the change of name bylaw."

On May 19th, 1916 only 892 citizens out of about 15,000 cast their votes. W. H. Breithaupt the following day lamented in a letter, "We had a citizens vote yesterday on the question of changing the name of our city, a name it has had for nearly a hundred years, and I regret to say that those who want to change won by a small majority. No new name is as yet selected." The name was subsequently changed to Kitchener in honour of Lord Kitchener, Britain's Minister of War who died when his ship hit a mine and sank off the Orkney Islands.

The Breithaupts remained a family of prominence in the newly named city and today a city park and neighbourhood bears their name.

The Trial of Roseannah Mitchell (nee Dowds), Part 4

2011-08-21T15:21:00.006-04:00

Roseannah Mitchell (nee Dowds) is my one of my paternal third great grandmothers. Around the beginning of May 2011, I discovered that Roseannah had been charged and convicted in 1877 with several counts of theft by housebreaking. This post, along with the three previous posts, summarize the statements and evidence that was used against Roseannah during the trial held in Glasgow. The original records from the trial are housed in the National Archives of Scotland and, for a fee, I obtained a copy of the records (the NAS provided high quality copies and appear to have been very thorough in ensuring I received everything requested).

Fourth Charge

Mary Ann Malley was a shopwoman who resided at 17 Victoria Street in Govan, near Glasgow, where she lived with her father Patrick, a boot and shoemaker. Mary Ann described their flat (or apartment) as a room and a kitchen, located up one flight of stairs in the building.

According to Mary Ann, on Friday, September 21, 1877, she and her mother left the flat at about noon and locked the flat door. They returned at about 3:00 p.m. and found the door locked just as they had left it. Mary Ann subsequently noticed a little while later that a tunic and dress belonging to her, a dress belonging to her mother, as well as a skirt belonging to her sister were missing. These items, according to Mary Ann's testimony, had been hanging either in the flat entry or in the one room of the flat. Patrick Malley later reported the theft to the police. In early October 1877, Mary Ann stated she went to the police station and identified some of the missing items that the police had recovered.

Mary Ann's testimony was corroborated by her mother Bridget Malley (nee Welsh). Mary Ann's father, Patrick later also identified a pair of trousers belonging to him that Mary Ann had not mentioned in her statement.

Anne Brierton (nee Hanlon) lived at 65 Drygate in Glasgow with her husband Charles, an engineer. Anne worked at her father's fruit and vegetable stand in the Bazaar at Cowlings in Glasgow. According to Anne's testimony, sometime near the end of August 1877, Roseannah Mitchell showed her a black silk dress, a jacket and a tunic, asking Anne if she would buy them, a common practise of hawkers at the bazaar. Anne purchased all three items for £2, four shillings and six pence. Anne saw Roseannah on a couple of other subsequent occasions at the bazaar but didn't purchase anything. Finally, Anne stated that she went to the police station where she again saw Roseannah and the basket Roseannah used to carry her articles for sale but she was unable to positively identify any of the clothing articles.

Anne's sister, Mary Hanlon lived at 18 North Albion Street in Glasgow and knew Roseannah from seeing her at the bazaar. Mary stated she never purchased anything from Roseannah but had seen both her sister Anne and mother Ann Hanlon buy articles from her in the past. Mary testified that she identified a dress bought from Roseannah and later recovered by the police but added that she had never seen Roseannah with the dress.

Anne and Mary's mother, Ann Hanlon (nee Brannon) also knew Roseannah from the bazaar. Ann stated that her daughter, Anne purchased a dress, jacket and tunic, for which she had loaned her daughter £2. Later, according to Ann, Roseannah came to their house where Mary Hanlon tried on a dress, found that it fit fine and so it was purchased. Ann did not obtain a receipt for the purchase stating that this was not unusual in dealing with hawkers.

The Police

William Booth was a criminal officer (Detective) with the East District of the Glasgow Police. William was assigned to investigate the thefts from the Cullen and Smith homes. He subsequently arrested Roseannah on September 29, 1877 in High Street, Glasgow. Booth stated he took Roseannah to her Havannah Street home that he then searched. During the search, Booth found a cape and a napkin that Roseannah stated belonged to her. Booth also stated that during the search, he found a key that when tried "easily" opened all the doors to the flats where thefts had occurred.

Booth further testified that he arrested Margaret Prentice (nee Brown) whom he stated denied involvement in the thefts but that when shown the recovered articles, stated that Roseannah had sent her to the pawn shops with the clothing items.

Agnes Grant was a police search woman who stated that she searched Roseannah who was wearing a red flannel petticoat when processed at the police station.

John Anderson was a criminal officer with the Govan Burgh Police. John stated that he saw the recovered clothing articles in the Glasgow police station that "resembled" the articles stolen from the Malley residence. According to Anderson, he took the key found by William Booth and found that it easily unlocked the door to the Malley's flat.

The Co-Accused

Margaret Prentice (nee Brown) was a widow living at 1 Muse Lane, off Duke Street in Glasgow. Margaret's statement was clear - "I am entirely innocent." Margaret stated she had never seen any of the clothing articles that the police showed to her and that the pawnbroker who identified her "must have mistaken me for some other woman" although she did admit that in past she had pawned some articles for Roseannah, the articles she pawned were not the stolen items and she had dealt with a woman at the pawn shop, not a man.

My Opinion

The police admitted in their statements that they had arrested a third woman, named Johanna Walker, when they had arrested Roseannah and Margaret. According to the police, Johanna was known to them as a prostitute, not a thief, so they released her and had been unable to subsequently find her again. In her statement, Margaret Prentice indicated that while she was lodging with the Mitchells for about a three week period, an unknown woman who could have been Johanna Walker did come to the flat on possibly three occasions. Margaret stated she, nor anyone else, ever spoke to the woman so had no idea as to what the stranger wanted.

While it might be at worse case suspicious that Roseannah appears to have been in possession of a key that opened the doors to all of the various flats involved, it is possible that locking mechanisms used at the time and in the homes of the less-than-wealthy families involved, were not sophisticated and overly secure locks. I think it highly unlikely that Roseannah had been able to fashion herself or have made for her a universal "master" key capable of fitting the locks of diverse neighbourhoods and buildings. In addition, no witnesses could place Roseannah at any of the residences at the times of the thefts. Is it possible that Johanna was the thief and Roseannah a subsequently an unwitting victim of circumstance?

The evidence, especially that of Ann Hanlon (nee Brannon) who stated that Roseannah not only sold her some clothing but also offered to purchase some articles from Ann demonstrates the business Roseannah was in - acquiring articles from a wide variety of sources in order to sell them at a hopefully higher price later.

In the next and final post on the trial of Roseannah, I will share Roseannah's own words from the court records.

The Trial of Roseannah Mitchell (nee Dowds), Part 3

2011-08-16T12:00:00.001-04:00

My last post was probably overly long in summarizing the witness statements and evidence presented in 1877 at the trial of my third great grandmother, Roseannah Mitchell (nee Dowds). Roseannah had been charged with multiple counts of theft by housebreaking and her trial was held in December 1877. This post will summarize the witness statements and evidence involved in the next charge against Roseannah.

Third Charge

Barbara Smith was a millworker residing in a ground floor flat at 47 Naburn St., Hutchesontown, Glasgow. Barbara testified that between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 25, 1877, she went up two flights of stairs in her apartment building to the flat of her sister. There she remained until about 3:00 p.m. She stated that when she returned to her flat in the afternoon the door was locked just as she had left it but that once in her flat, she noticed some cloth sticking out of a chest drawer. On further inspection, she found that four petticoats, two jackets, a plaid, a napkin, a tunic and a silk cape were missing.

She reported the theft to the police and over the next few days, she attended the police station to identify three petticoats, the silk cape, the tunic and the napkin that police had recovered. Barbara further testified that she knew Roseannah well as Roseannah was a 'hawker' who had been in her building almost daily for the past year even though Barbara stated she had never dealt with Roseannah personally. She had a "strong impression" that she had opened her sister's flat door to Roseannah but because she saw Roseannah so frequently she wasn't really sure it was her.

Elizabeth Gray (nee Smith) was Barbara's sister. She corroborated that Barbara was in her flat between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on September 25, 1877. Barbara left her flat but returned shortly afterwards telling her of the theft. Elizabeth stated that she went with Barbara to the police station when the missing items were identified.

Mary Jack (nee Duncan) was a widow who lived at 33 Duke Street in Glasgow and worked as a pawnbroker at 8 Burrel's Lane, Duke Street, Glasgow. Mary testified that on September 26, 1877, Roseannah 'pledged' a petticoat and was given 5 pence and a pawn ticket. Mary also stated that on September 29th, police arrived and removed the petticoat from the shop. Mary later identified Roseannah as the individual who had 'pledged' the item.

Patrick Blession lived with his mother at 1 Muse Lane, off Duke Street i Glasgow. Patrick testified that he took a woolen napkin to McGuire's pawn shop on September 26, 1877 and that Roseannah had given him the article in her house at Havannah Street. He stated that he received £2, 6 pence and a pawn ticket which he turned over to Roseannah.

Michael McElaney was a pawnbroker's assistant who resided at Stirling Road in Glasgow. Michael testified that on September 26, 1877, Patrick Blession 'pledged' a woolen napkin in McGuire's pawn shop and was given £2, 6 pence and a pawn ticket. Michael further stated that on September 29th, a woman 'pledged' "a pair of trousers" under the name Jane Mitchell and was given 6 pence and a pawn ticket. He later saw Roseannah at the police station but could not identify her as the woman who had 'pledged' the trousers explaining that he had been very busy at the time of the exchange so he didn't remember much of the woman.

Robert Smith resided with his father, Thomas Smith, a shoemaker, at Havannah Street in Glasgow. Robert testified that he knew Roseannah "as she lives below us." Robert testified that Roseannah asked him to take a petticoat and tunic to a pawn shop for her. He went to Conway's pawn shop, accompanied by Roseannah who waited outside the shop for him. He received 8 pence and a pawn ticket that he gave to Roseannah. Robert stated that Roseannah paid him a half penny. According to Robert, she told him "to give my own name but I did not do so but gave in her name."

Finally, the court heard from Edward McKay, a pawnbroker's assistant at Conway's pawn shop at 2 Duke Street in Glasgow, resided at 183 George Street in Glasgow. Edward testified that on September 28, 1877, at about 9:00 a.m., a person using the name of John Mitchell of Duke Street 'pledged' a petticoat and a tunic and was given 8 pence and a pawn ticket. Edward stated that he later gave these goods to the police when requested. Edward also couldn't remember nor identify the person in the transaction.

The jury found Roseannah guilty of theft by housebreaking.

My Opinion

As was the case with charges one and two, there doesn't appear to have been much of a defence, if any, offered on behalf of Roseannah. It might be that Roseannah was possibly in possession of articles that had been reported as stolen in the worst case but even with this, the witnesses were unable to positively identify the persons involved in the transactions that might have then linked back to Roseannah. There can be numerous reasons as to why Roseannah didn't complete all of the pawn transactions herself. As a 'hawker' I suspect she regularly bought, or otherwise received as barter, articles from a range of sources, both honourable and quite possibly dishonourable. Successful 'hawking' involved like most entrepreneurial activities, buying low and selling high. Roseannah again appears to have been an easy, expendable target for the charges chiefly on the fact that she daily was in the vicinity of where the theft occurred, the infamous being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Trial of Roseannah Mitchell (nee Dowds), Part 2

2011-08-14T14:31:00.010-04:00

Roseannah Mitchell (nee Dowds) is my third great grandmother. She was also convicted of theft by housebreaking in 1877 in a Glasgow court and was sentenced to eight years in prison. I have obtained the court records, including the statements of the witnesses, for the trial. Without a doubt Roseannah and her husband, James Mitchell, appear to have lived a hard life, scratching out a living in a hard knock world.

The following is a summary of the evidence that was presented to the jury in 1877 on the first two charges.

First Charge

Anna Thomson or Cullen, wife of David Cullen, lived at Malvern Place, Comely Park, Glasgow. She testified that on August 24, 1877, sometime between 10:00 - 11:00 a.m., the following articles of clothing were stolen from her home: a cloth coat, cloth vest, cloth trousers belonging to her husband and a silk dress, jacket, and tunic belonging to Anna Cullen.

Anna stated that she left the house, a second floor flat, at 10:45 a.m., locked the door, and returned at 11:10 a.m. When she returned, Anna states she found the door to flat locked, just as she had left it, and nothing in the flat looked out of place. She didn't notice the missing articles until about 7:00 p.m. that evening when she was putting other items away in a clothes chest. Anna asked a neighbour to report the theft to the police. Anna later identified the missing articles at the police station. She also testified that she did not know Roseannah Mitchell (Dowds).

David Cullen, Anna's husband, corroborated his wife's story and stated that he had been in and out of the house for various periods of time throughout the day. He testified that he reported the theft to the police and did not know Roseannah Mitchell (Dowds).

John McCann was an assistant pawnbroker to Charles Shannon at 4 Saint Joseph's Place, Abercromby Street, Glasgow. John stated that during the afternoon of August 24, 1877, Margaret Prentice (nee Brown) 'pledged' a coat, vest and trousers for which she was given £1 and a pawn ticket. Margaret, according to John, used the name of Mary Stewart for the transaction. John positively identified Margaret Prentice (nee Brown) as the woman who pawned the clothing articles.

Second Charge

Margaret Smith (nee Shearer), was the wife of William Smith, a cotton-yarn dresser, and lived on Bernard Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow. She testified that between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m. on September 17, 1877, her house was entered by someone using a 'false' key. She further testified that two dresses, two jackets, two napkins, a beaded bertha and a child's blouse and dress were stolen from her house. Margaret stated that when she returned to her home at about 1:30 p.m. the door to her third floor apartment was still locked and nothing looked out of place. Later in the day, she found the drawer where the clothes were kept to be empty.

Margaret told a neighbour, Mrs. Cree, of the theft. Mrs. Cree in turn told Margaret that a woman had been in the building selling things door-to-door. Margaret reported the theft to the police and later identified the recovered beaded bertha and napkins at the police station.

Margaret's sister, Matilda McDonald (nee Shearer), testified that she went with her sister to the police station and helped identify the recovered items.

David Cree, Jr. lived next door to the Smiths at 159 Bernard Street in Glasgow. David stated that at about 1:00 p.m. Roseannah Mitchell (Dowds) came to his flat door, selling pinafores. According to David, Roseannah was carrying a canvass bag over her shoulder. He stated he was able to identify Roseannah based on a mark on her face. He also testified that he didn't know if Roseannah had gone to the door of the Smith flat and he did not hear the door to the Smith flat open after Roseannah had left his door. David further stated that his mother was in bed at the time this occurred so she had not seen the woman.

Betsy Dunn (nee McDougall), the wife of John Dunn, a boilermaker, lived in a flat directly below the Smith flat on Bernard Street in Glasgow. Betsy testified that at about 1:00 p.m. on Monday, September 17, 1877, she saw Roseannah going upstairs in the building. "I took a good look at her, knowing she was a stranger." Betsy stated that she didn't hear anything out of the ordinary after seeing Roseannah, including any doors opening, and she did not see Roseannah come downstairs and leave the building. However, Betsy did testify that 15 minutes after Roseannah went upstairs, Mrs. Smith told her that her house had been entered. She then told Mrs. Smith about the "stranger woman" who "was alone and carrying a bag over her arm. There was nothing in it."

My Opinion

The justice system, then and now, places the burden of responsibility on the prosecution to prove guilt 'beyond a reasonable doubt.' Roseannah was found guilty by the jury based on what I think was very flimsy, circumstantial, and at times contradictory evidence. Nothing placed Roseannah near the Cullen home on charge one nor ever in possession of the stolen articles. In fact, the evidence suggests that the stolen clothing articles were in the possession of Margaret Prentice, using the name of Mary Stewart when she pawned them. Margaret Prentice testified that not only did she not steal the clothing, the pawnbroker's assistant, John McCann, was mistaken when he identified her as the woman who 'pledged' the clothing articles in the pawn shop.

On charge two, there were two witnesses, David Cree and Betsy Dunn, who placed Roseannah in the building around the time that the theft of the Smith clothing occurred. Roseannah herself did not refute that she may have likely been there, explaining that as a 'hawker' she went from place to place all day long selling various articles to make a living. No one saw or heard anything that directly links Roseannah with the theft of the clothing.

I'm certain that without the benefit of forensic evidence, prosecuting cases may have come down to credibility in 'he said - she said' scenarios in the era of these charges being heard by the court. It doesn't appear however that any substantial defence was put forward for Roseannah that would have pointed out the conflicting timeline offered by Betsy Dunn who stated that Roseannah went upstairs in the building at 1:00 p.m. and that at 1:15 p.m., Mrs. Smith told her about the theft from her flat even though Mrs. Smith's evidence was that she had not returned home until 1:30 p.m. and didn't notice the missing articles until later in the day. Betsy Dunn also stated that the bag she saw Roseannah carrying had nothing in it although no one seems to have asked her how she knew it to be empty.

If there is doubt, the accused is to be acquitted but Roseannah was somehow found guilty. I can't help but feeling that the proceedings were based on 'marching the guilty party in.' It seems Roseannah didn't stand a chance of finding justice and being acquitted - but then I'm a proud great-great-great grandson.

The Trial of Roseannah Mitchell (nee Dowds), Part 1

2011-08-12T08:00:00.001-04:00

Court records can be provide a bounty of genealogical information, especially if one of your ancestors has a central role in the records. I have been fortunate enough to find such records at the National Archives of Scotland concerning my third great grandmother, Roseannah Mitchell (nee Dowds). Roseannah was born around 1835 in County Derry, Ireland and married James Mitchell on September 4, 1855.

The trial of Roseann (or Roseanna or sometimes Roseannah) Mitchell (nee Dowds), was held in Glasgow in December 1877. Roseannah had been held in custody prior to the trial on eleven counts of "Theft by Housebreaking." The Crown Attorney, William Watson, proceed by way of indictment on the eleven counts, alleged to have occurred between August 24th, 1877 and November 15th, 1877. For the purposes of the trial, 34 witnesses were called and numerous alleged stolen goods, all of which were clothing items, were presented as evidence.

Roseannah consistently maintained and professed her innocence, including in two sworn statements, which form part of the 100 plus pages of the court file that I have received.

The list of witnesses was as follows (as it appears in the records):

1. Walter Cook Spens, Esquire, advocate, sheriff-substitute of Lanarkshire.
2. James Neil Hart, writer in Glasgow.
3. George Brander, now or lately clerk in the sheriff-clerk's office, Glasgow.
4. John Lindsay, now or lately clerk in the sheriff-clerk's office, Glasgow.
5. John Campbell, now or lately sheriff-officer's assistant, County Buildings, Glasgow.
6. Henry Banner Hill, now or lately sheriff-officer's assistant, County Buildings, Glasgow.
7. Anna Thomson or Cullen, wife of, and now or lately residing with, David Cullen, joiner, in or near Malvern Place, Comely Park Street, Glasgow.
8. David Cullen before designed.
9. John McCann, pawnbroker's assistant, now or lately residing in or near Abercromby Street, Glasgow.
10. Margaret Shearer or Smith, wife of, and now or lately residing with, William Smith, cotton-yarn dresser, in or near Bernard Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow.
11. Matilda Shearer or McDonald, wife of, and now or lately residing with, John McDonald, shoemaker, in or near Bernard Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow.
12. David Cree, junior, son of, and now or lately residing with, David Cree, engineer, in or near Bernard Street aforesaid.
13. Betsy McDougall or Dunn, wife of, and now or lately residing with, John Dunn, boilermaker, in or near Bernard Street aforesaid.
14. Barbara Smith, mill-worker, now or lately residing in or near Naburn Street, Hutchesontown, Glasgow.
15. Elizabeth Smith or Gray, wife of, and now or lately residing with, William Gray, powerloom-tenter, in or near Naburn Street aforesaid.
16. Mary Duncan or Jack, pawnbroker, now or lately residing in or near Duke Street, Glasgow.
17. Patrick Blession, now or lately residing in or near Meuse Lane, Duke Street, Glasgow.
18. Michael McElaney, pawnbroker's assistant, now or lately residing in or near Stirling Road, Glasgow.
19. Robert Smith, son of, and now or lately residing with, Thomas Smith, shoemaker, in or near Havannah Street, Glasgow.
20. Edward McKay, pawnbroker's assistant, now or lately residing in or near George Street, Glasgow.
21. Mary Ann Malley, shopwoman, now or lately residing in or near Victoria Street, Govan, near Glasgow.
22. Bridget Welsh or Malley, wife of, and now or lately residing with, Patrick Malley, in or near Victoria Street, Govan aforesaid.
23. Patrick Malley before designed.
24. Annie Hanlon or Breirton, wife of, and now or lately residing with, Charles Breirton, engineer, in or near Drygate Street, Glasgow.
25. Mary Hanlon, daughter of, and now or lately residing with, Patrick Hanlon, fruit and vegetable merchant, in or near North Albion Street, Glasgow.
26. Ann Brannan or Hanlon, wife of, and now or lately residing with Patrick Hanlon before designed.
27. William Booth, now or lately criminal officer in the Eastern District of the Glasgow Police.
28. Agnes Grant, now or lately female searcher in the Eastern District Police Office, Glasgow.
29. John Anderson, now or lately criminal officer in the Govan Burgh Police.
30. Margaret Brown or Prentice, widow, now or lately residing in or near Meuse Lane, Duke Street, Glasgow.
31. Donald Stewart, now or lately sheriff officer at the County Buildings, Glasgow.
32. Bernard McLaughlin, now or lately sheriff office at the County Buildings, Glasgow.
33. Archibald McKenzie, now or lately constable in the Partick Burgh Police force.
34. Dugald MacPherson, now or lately sheriff officer and bar officer at the County Buildings, Glasgow.

The items of evidence, seventeen items in all, the alleged stolen goods, ranged from napkins, to petticoats, to dresses, coats and trousers. Finally, the Crown Attorney entered into evidence Roseannah's prior convictions for theft, dated April 8, 1871, August 26, 1873, May 28, 1875, and January 7, 1876.

The Death of Mary Wagner (nee Staebler)

2011-08-10T08:58:00.003-04:00

Rev. Louis Henry Wagner, my wife Ellen's great grandfather, maintained a diary, off and on, for several years covering the time he was 15 years old until well into his 30's. Louis' diaries are significant in offering a glimpse of life into not just the family's history but also 19th century Ontario, Canada.

Louis' father, Rev. Jacob Wagner died only a week after Louis' first birthday. Subsequently, Louis was raised by his mother Margaret Wagner (nee Hailer) and later, by agreement following his mother's marriage to Daniel Bean, his uncle and aunt Louis Breithaupt and Catherine Breithaupt (nee Hailer). In 1884, at the age of 27, Louis married Mary Staebler, the daughter of Jacob Staebler and Anna Muerner. On May 10th, 1886, their only child, Louis Jacob Gordon Wagner was born in Hespeler, Ontario.

In great detail, Louis describes in his diary that at the beginning of May 1887, Mary wasn't well. She had experienced a deal of fatigue and some dizziness. On May 1st, Louis sent for Dr. Brown who provided Mary with some medicine. When her condition worsened, Louis gave Mary "3 drops each of Landinnin and Digitalis in a teaspoonful of Glycerene and went and reported to the Doctor. He was very indignant at me interfering with his patient, called it a "terrible blunder;" but I believe, what I gave her, did her good for it relieved her." Dr. Brown's opinion was that Mary had "inhaled a strong dose of poison somewhere."

Louis' diary account of the illness, of Mary's fever and high pulse rate, of Dr. Brown's vagueness in diagnosing what the illness was, is filled with the frustration of a young husband becoming more concerned and helpless to the events unfolding around him. On May 5th, Mary told him that "I am so glad that I attended to my soul long ago. If I would have to do it now it would make me crazy." Dr. Brown "wanted to make out it is a severe case of dissentary. Dave [Mary's brother Dr. David Staebler] refutes that and still believes it to be Typhoid fever." In Dr. Brown's absence, Dr. Whiteman from Shakespeare, Ontario attended to Mary and expressed his opinion that Mary indeed had typhoid fever. Louis noted in his diary, "My opinion of Dr. B[rown] is that he is neither a gentleman nor a physician and not near what some people think him to be."

Tuesday, May 10, 1887

"Last night between 12:00 and 1:00 Mary got such a weak spell that we thought she would pass away. Dave had just gone to bed, so we called him. Mary revived again, but began to rave and talk worse than ever. We had quit giving her medicine but we thought we should not let her quite alone. There might be a chance yet, so we began to give her tonic (Brandy and water) and medicine through the night with no seeming effect however.... Her breathing has been quite irregular - heart beat strong and good. Hands quite cold and feet getting cold at 4:00 a.m. Expect death at any time. May the Lord relieve her some way.

11:45 a.m. - I came down again. Mary much weaker. Eyes starey and getting glassy and she only moans with every breath. Aunt Breithaupt and John just arrived.

12:50 p.m. - My dear Mary just breathed her last. Thank God the struggle is over."

"Our baby was just one year old this 9:36 a.m. Poor motherless child!"

Mary Wagner (nee Staebler) was just 28 years, 2 months, and 26 days old when she died according to her death registration. Dr. Brown listed the cause of death to be Typhoid fever - 2 weeks.

The Diaries of Louis Henry Wagner

2011-08-08T07:53:00.006-04:00

While on vacation during the past week, I had the opportunity to intersperse visits with family members in various Ontario, Canada cities with genealogy pursuits. I finally donated the Henry Erskine manuscript to the University of Guelph's Centre for Scottish Studies and the professors at the university seemed genuinely thrilled to receive it.

I was also able to visit the Special Collections section of the Dana Porter Library at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. The library holds about 125 linear feet of original family documents connected with my wife Ellen's paternal ancestral family. In my two visits thus far, I think I have managed to go through only about one foot!

My goal on this visit, that I successfully completed, was to scan (the Special Collections section offers a great free scanning service) the four personal diaries kept by Ellen's great grandfather, Louis Henry Wagner (pictured to the right). These old, leather bound diaries contain Louis' descriptions of his activities and the activities of the family covering the period December 15, 1872 until November 30, 1891. They offer not only a great insight into the Wagner family but also into life in southern Ontario during that timeframe. I can only wish that my ancestors had left such great documentation for me!

Of the many entries that I will share over time, the following caught my attention as it is Louis' thoughts and recollections on the christening day activities for his son, and eldest child, Ellen's grandfather, Louis Jacob Gordon Wagner. The entry is dated:

"Saturday, January 1st, 1887

This morning finds us up in good time preparing for the christening of our dear little boy Louis Jacob Gordon.

We had quite a time getting a name for him. The first one selected was Jacob after his two grandfathers and three great grandfathers. The former - Jacob Wagner and Jacob Staebler and the three latter, Jacob J. Hailer, Jacob Staebler and Jacob Muerner. The second was Gordon after the English General Charles George Gordon, commonly called 'Chinese Gordon,' also 'The Hero of Khartoum,' a pious Christian soldier. The third we selected was Louis, after my Uncle and foster parent from my 13th year, Louis Breithaupt who died July 3rd, 1880.

Having the full name of my cousin Louis Jacob Breithaupt, he with his wife Emma kindly consented to be his Godparents. Rev. Father Wm. Schmidt who performed the sacred rite was the first to arrive - about 10:40 a.m. and very soon the old homestead erected by Grandfather Hailer over 50 years ago and now occupied by my mother, was filled with the pleasant faces of old and new relatives.

There were present beside ourselves and Mother's family consisting in herself, Alma, Wesley, Samuel and Eusebius, Aunt Breithaupt, Albert, Melvina, Caroline, John, William, Louis and family of 3 children, Louisa Hailer and child Erna, A. B. Augustine (Carrie's betrothed), Julius Knauf, Father and Mother Staebler, Ike K. Devitt with Annie and 2 children.

At 12:00 all was ready and we handed our boy to Louis and Emma and Father Schmidt preformed that beautiful and solemn ceremony baptizing in the name of "The Father, Son and Holy Ghost" in the German language. (Father S. also married my mother and two aunts). This was the first baptism in this old home, which was built by Grandpa Hailer about 1830.

Our charge is now publicly consecrated to God. May he grow up in the fear of the Lord, an honor to his Maker, a blessing to the world and a joy to his parents. May we train him up in the nature and admonition of the Lord! Amen - Amen.

The table set in the parlor was now surrounded and very soon all were busily engaged in supplying the physical wants of the body. We got two turkeys, one 18 pounds and the other about 8 pounds so there was enough and to spare. Immediately after dinner John took Will to Galt where he took the train for Kansas City and Albert B. Augustine also left about 3:00 p.m.

Mother was quite pleased that we had the christening at her house and everyone secured happy. In the evening we went out to Aunty's and next morning I left for my appointment to Strasburg and Hespeler leaving Mary and the baby to remain a few days longer in Berlin."

Roseann (Roseannah) Dowds Mitchell Revisited

2011-08-06T08:46:00.002-04:00

In May, I wrote a blog post entitled, "My Ancestor Did What?", about the discovery that my 3rd great grandmother, Roseann (or Roseannah) Mitchell (nee Dowds) appeared to have been convicted in 1877 of theft by housebreaking and that she had been sentenced to eight years in prison for the crime. I speculated as to what the motive might have been and recognized that only by reviewing the case file could I come close to any answers, including the most important one - was this 'my' Roseann Dowds Mitchell?

Although it is a bit of a lengthy process to receive a fee estimate for a copy of the applicable court file from the National Archives of Scotland, the wait was worth it. The cost of the file material was a little more than $100 but Roseann's is a thick file, more than 150 pages. I have received the first 100 pages, all high quality colour photocopies of the original file that includes the thirty-four witness statements from the trial in addition to Roseann's own statements.

As to my questions about the case, it is regarding 'my' 3rd great grandmother, Roseann Mitchell (nee Dowds), of that I have little doubt. Although I can't take pride in the criminal acts described in the case file, I am proud of my ancestor and not threatened at all by her 'record.' The information contained in the pages I have received adds dimension to her name in my database. The information adds bark to the family tree, not just another leaf.

As to the story surrounding Roseann's conviction, a single post won't do it justice and properly I need to see the 50 pages of the file that have not yet been sent to me but are "to follow ASAP" according to the note provided by the archivist who processed my request.

I have only had the opportunity to take a quick read of the file to this point and it is safe enough to say that Roseann was convicted and sentenced based on circumstantial evidence. The "he said, she said" variety of evidence that convinced a jury of guilt but leaves me wondering about the sub-text of the Glasgow street life of the time, with sufficient characters to fill a 'Dickens' novel.

In addition to the thirty-four witnesses, sixteen articles were admitted into evidence at the trial. Of these articles, twelve items were clothing - 'the stolen goods' - ranging from a napkin to trousers to petticoats. Roseann professed her innocence to the end but circumstances accumulated that lead to her conviction and separation from her family and an unhappy eight years in prison.

The Report of Henry Erskine, Lord Advocate of Scotland

2011-07-28T20:11:00.004-04:00

In 1980, as I was just beginning my family history research journey, I enjoyed for a brief time the hobby of autograph collecting. Back then, I received and perused mail order catalogues that various, primarily American, autograph and historic manuscript dealers would send me. The catalogues assisted me with valuing my 'celebrity' autographs and introduced me to a range of 'historic' documents that were available for sale from time to time. Usually these documents would be of direct interest to American collectors as they were Revolutionary War or Civil War era in nature. As my Hadden family ancestors had no ties to those times, I had little interest in purchasing those items.

Then I happened upon a document from Scotland - a report written in 1806 by Henry Erskine, twice Lord Advocate of Scotland. I had no idea as to who he was but it was from Scotland and that was all that mattered to me. I paid $25.00 for the 1806 document signed by Henry Erskine. For thirty years, the document has remained in my collection during which time I have never opened it nor read it's contents. Over the past few years I have become more and more concerned with my inability to properly care for and preserve this original manuscript that has survived for 205 years, likely not in the best of archival conditions for most, if not all, of that time.

So the time has come to fix that problem. As my wife and I prepare for this year's genealogy vacation and visits to friends and family, I will be donating the manuscript to the University of Guelph's (Ontario, Canada) Centre for Scottish Studies. It's somewhat embarrassing to admit but I began discussions about donating the manuscript with Kevin James, a professor at the Centre and a regular panelist on the Canadian genealogy television show Ancestors in the Attic, back in 2007. Well, the time has come.

But before it goes into the Centre's collection, here is a transcript of the text of Henry Erskine's report (I had to read it once before I donated it):

"To The Kings Most Excellent Majesty

May it please your Majesty

In humble obedience to your Majesty’s Commands signified to me by the Right Honourable Earl Spencer one of your Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State and assigns the Sole benefit and Advantage of his said invention within that part of your Majesty’s Kingdom of Great Britain called Scotland aforesaid for the Space of fourteen years if your Majesty shall be graciously pleased so to do –

Provided the said Petitioner do within such reasonable time as shall be limited in the said Letters Patent to be computed from the date thereof cause a particular description of the nature of his said Invention, and in what manner the same is performed under his hand to be enrolled in your Majesty’s Chancery in that part of your Majesty’s Kingdom of Great Britain called Scotland aforesaid otherwise the said Letter patent to be void.

All which is humbly submitted to your Majesty’s Royal Wisdom by

(signed) Henry Erskine

Majesty to encourage all arts and inventions which may be for the public good I am humbly of opinion that your Majesty may by your Royal Letters Patent under the seal appointed by the Treaty of Union to be made use of in that part of Great Britain called Scotland in place of the former Great Seal thereof grant unto the Petitioner his Executors, Administrators referring to me the annexed petition of Thomas Johnson Mechanic in Glasgow to consider thereof and to report my opinion what may be properly done thereon.

Which petition sets forth – That your Petitioner hath after much trouble, labour and expense invented a machine for Weaving Yarn. That your Petitioner is the first and true Inventor thereof and the same hath never been made or used by any other person or persons to the best of your petitioner’s knowledge and belief. Your Petitioner therefore most humbly prays that your Majesty will be most graciously pleased to grant unto your petitioner his executors Administrators and assigns your Majesty’s Royal Letters of Patent under the Seal appointed by the Treaty of Union to be made use of in that part of Great Britain called Scotland in place of the former Great Seal thereof for the sole use benefit and advantage of his said Invention within that part of Great Britain called Scotland for and during the term of fourteen years and that your Majesty may be pleased to direct that your Majesty’s said Royal Letters Patent may pass the said Seal per Lattum.

And I humbly beg leave to certify to your Majesty that in support of the allegations contained in the said petition the Affidavit of the Petitioner hath been laid down before me whereby he maketh Oath that he is the first and true Inventor of this said Machine for Weaving Yarn and that the same hath never been made or used by any other person or persons to the best of his knowledge and belief.

Upon consideration of all which, and as it is entirely at the hazard of the said Petitioner whether the said Invention is new, or will have the desired success, and as it may be reasonable for your Majesty."

The reigning Monarch at the time of the report was George III, someone apparently not too popular in that era in the United States.

Family Bean Counting

2011-07-24T17:25:00.006-04:00

Well, actually the family name started out in Switzerland as Biehn.

According to Ezra E. Eby's A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and Other Townships of the County, published in 1895, the name change occurred likely sometime in the 1870's when John Bean, the adopted son of Daniel Biehn (Bean), changed the spelling of his surname to the more anglicized version for reasons not fully explained although there is some suggestion that John's marriage to Susannah Biehn, an daughter of Daniel, may have caused a family rift that caused John to desire a way to distinguish himself from the family.

Eby's biography of the family indicates that John Biehn was born in Switzerland in 1737 and immigrated to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. in 1742. John eventually married Barbara Fried, a native of Montgomery County, and they moved along with their adult children to Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada in 1800 where they purchased and settled on a large tract of land immediately south of present day Kitchener, Ontario and immediately west of present day Cambridge, Ontario.

John's grandson, Daniel was born in this area around 1832. He married Mary Ann Shantz in January 1856. Together, they adopted a son John, and had three daughters. Mary Ann died following the birth of her third daughter, Emeline, in 1861. The following year, Daniel married Margaret Wagner (nee Hailer), the widow of Rev. Jacob Wagner, my wife Ellen's second great grandfather. Over the following fourteen years, Margaret and Daniel brought six additional children into the world. Daniel left farming following his marriage to Margaret and taught school in small communities across southwestern Ontario such as New Dundee, Freeport, Dashwood and Bright. In 1876, Daniel returned to farming near Mildmay in Bruce County, Ontario. It was here that he passed away on March 15, 1885.

Ellen's second great grandmother, Margaret, returned to then Berlin, now Kitchener, Ontario following her second husband's death. It was in Kitchener, where a major street is named in her honour, that the city paid tribute to Margaret on her death in 1918.

The Facebook Cemetery Hunt

2011-07-20T19:43:00.003-04:00

Michael and Kate are good friends, work colleagues, and additionally, Kate is an inspiration as a cancer survivor. During a conversation not too long ago, Michael told me they lived in the east end of Toronto, near the St. John's Norway church and cemetery. I was able to share with him a little of my family's history in Toronto's east end and specifically, that my great grandparents, Alexander Shand Hadden and Jessie McKenzie Hadden (nee Gaull) were buried in St. John's Norway cemetery but that I had yet to find their grave and headstone.

Kate seized the opportunity to provide a summer distraction and a bit of a history lesson for their children. So off they marched on "The Hadden Hunt" - an adventure to see if they could find my great grandparents! First, a bit of the magnitude of the search - the cemetery covers about 35 acres of land and contains about 50,000 graves. Little wonder I couldn't find the grave and a daunting task for my friend and her children.

I was able to provide a general location for the grave that older family members have over the years passed on to me - north-west part of the cemetery, a stone that lies flat on the ground near the cemetery's back fence, and both my great grandparents had died in 1945 within a few months of each other.

The grave and headstone was located in a low lying area, the inscription not fully visible due to years of growth around the stone. An easy solution was provided by the sleuths - gain the assistance of a cemetery worker who dug the stone out (pictured below), cleaned it off and re-laid it after explaining that the stone rested directly above my great grandparents heads and that they were facing east.

Photos of the event recorded the successful adventure and were quickly shared with me through Facebook.

For the first time, I have seen the headstone of my Hadden ancestors and I have the photo above to show for it!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My "Heritage Pie" Chart

2011-07-16T20:35:00.003-04:00

The Saturay Night Genealogy Fun (SNGF) challenge this week, presented by Randy Seaver at Genea-Musing, is to:

1) List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places).

2) Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death.

3) For extra credit, go make a "Heritage Pie" chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors.

4) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or Google+.

So here are mine:

16. John Hadden - born 1 Jan 1866 in Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and died 5 Nov 1924 in Glasgow, Scotland.

17. Helen 'Nellie' Shand - born 20 Sep 1864 in Forgue, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and died 2 Apr 1951 in Ponteix, Saskatchewan, Canada. John and Helen never married.

18. John Gaull - born 8 Feb 1860 in Chapel of Garioch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and died 6 Jul 1942 in Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

19. Harriet McKenzie - born 17 Mar 1858 in Cluny, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and died 26 Jan 1925 in Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. John and Harriet married 15 Jun 1883 in Cluny, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

20. James Little - born 19 Dec 1840 in Corrie, Dumfrieshire, Scotland and died 9 Apr 1911 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

21. Dorothea Carson - born about 1848 in Scotland and died 18 Dec 1916 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland. James and Dorothea married 30 Apr 1878 in Kilbarshaw, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

22. William Mitchell - born about 1868 in Scotland. His date of death is unknown.

23. Agnes Sweeney - born 17 Oct 1870 in Paisley, Refrewshire, Scotland and died 2 Sep 1928 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland. William and Agnes married 28 Sep 1886 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

24. John O'Neill - born about 1813 in Ireland. His date of death is unknown.

25. Mary Murphy - born about 1828 in Canada. Her date of death is unknown. No date of marriage is known for John and Mary.

26. Patrick Graham - born Mar 1802 in Ireland and died 8 Aug 1893 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

27. Catherine McRae - born 20 Dec 1822 in Glengarry County, Ontario, Canada and died 22 Mar 1907 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Patrick and Catherine married in 1838 in York County, Ontario, Canada.

28. William Foley - born about 1830 in Ireland. His date of death is unknown.

29. Bridget McTague - born about 1830 in Ireland. Her date of death is unknown. William and Bridget married 24 Aug 1852 in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.

30. Lewis Fitzgerald - born 9 Jul 1837 in New York State, USA and died 7 Jan 1910 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

31. Ellen Daley - born about 1841 in Ireland and died 21 Jun 1894 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Lewis and Ellen married 11 Sep 1856 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

And, here is my "Heritage Pie" chart:

The Berkely, California Squires

2011-07-13T19:51:00.007-04:00

Thomas Elliott Knox and Amy Jane Squires arrived in the Oakland, Alameda, California vicinity around the same time. Thomas arrived from Seaforth, Ontario, Canada and Amy (pictured on the right) from Sheffield, England around 1875. Thomas, a young plasterer, arrived on his own, perhaps the death of his father and namesake motivating him to leave home in Ontario. Amy arrived with her parents, John and Mary (nee James) Squires and her three sisters and four brothers. While Thomas settled in Oakland, the Squires settled in nearby Berkely.

They were there to see the first telephone service be installed in the area around 1882 and likely worked on the development and construction of housing tracts and business districts that encroached on the surrounding farmland.

According to an October 1932 article in the Oakland Tribune newspaper highlighting the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary, Thomas, or 'Tom' as he was often called, met Amy through a business deal with her father. I susepect that Thomas, the plasterer, and John, a brickmason, met each other while working on the same construction site. No matter how they met, Thomas and Amy, my wife Ellen's great grandparents, were married in 1882 and moved to Livermore where Thomas rose to civic prominence, first as a pioneer vineyard owner and later as town postmaster, and Mayor. In all, Thomas spent 16 years as a member of the board of trustees, 13 years as postmaster, and three years as a member of the county board of supervisors.

Amy's father, John Squires also involved himself in civic duties becoming one of the first Berkely town treasurers and tax collectors prior to his death in 1914. John's son, Harry followed in his father's footsteps holding the post of city assessor for many years. Amy Squires' sisters also married men of some public prominence. Her sister Emma married John M. Foy who was the Secretary for the State Board of Harbor Commissioners and her sister Olive married Frank L. Naylor, the son of Addison Naylor, President of the First National Bank of Berkely. Frank would work his way up through the banking business to succeed his father as bank president by 1920.

All in all, they formed an impressive group of men and women who contributed to the early growth and prosperity of the Oakland, California area.

As for Amy, when interviewed about the secret to a long and happy marriage, she answered, "Men like comfort. And I've never been too busy to see that things were just right for Tom."

Could The Foley Family Story Be True?

2011-07-09T12:35:00.005-04:00

Like most, perhaps all families, the oral history of the Foley family's history in Canada sounds fantastic complete with a rags to riches hero. In my last post, I wrote about my great grandfather, John Foley and the new connection I have made with another of his great grandchildren, my second cousin, Margaret. Because Margaret doesn't have any more information about our great grandfather than I do, it was time to take another swing by the records, hoping to find another 'needle in the haystack.'

The family's oral history starts out with, "There were these three brothers ...."

Knowing that endless family oral histories start out with three brothers had me sceptical from the start. But the Foley family story has John being born in Barrie, Simcoe County, Ontario in 1864. This was five years before civil registration began so no birth registration or certificate is available. As devout Roman Catholics, John would certainly have been baptized in their local church so perhaps a trip to the Toronto Roman Catholic Archdiocese archives might result in locating a baptismal record. John's parents, William Foley and Bridget McTague immigrated from their native Ireland in 1849, suggesting they were likely poor and escaping the ravages of the Irish potato famine. Like many Irish immigrants at the time, they landed at New York City and made their way to Canada. A marriage record exists that shows they were wed on August 24, 1852 at the Roman Catholic mission located at Newmarket, Ontario.

The family story, as told to me by my mother's older brother, claims that William and Bridget died suddenly when John was about 12 years of age. John, now an orphan, was left to fend for himself. Alleged he took to the back woods to carve out a meagre existence eventually surfacing to make his way to the 'big city' of Toronto where he became a teamster. When he suffered business setbacks, as apparently occurred from time to time, he took off back to the 'bush' to 're-group' before trying again. Eventually, John's business began to prosper and grow. He became a prosperous sand and gravel contractor, employing a number of men including his older brother, Thomas. When John passed away suddenly in 1927, he left behind an estate valued in modern terms of more than $1 million.

But what of the 'three brothers' Foley family story might be true?

In 1871, the Foley family consisting of father William and mother Bridget can be found in census records living in Barrie, Simcoe County, Ontario with their six children: Mary Anne (aged 15), William (aged 14), Thomas (aged 12), James (aged 9), John (aged 8), and Catherine (aged 6). In 1876, Mary Anne married married Patrick O'Connor in Flos Township, Simcoe County, Ontario and the following year William married Georgina Ducheneau in Barrie, Simcoe County, Ontario.

In 1881, the next census year, Thomas, James, John and Catherine, the remaining unwed Foley children can be found living in Vespra, Simcoe County, not far from Barrie. Although enumerators were required to be literate, the enumerator for their district was struggling a bit as the family name was listed as "Folly" and Thomas' occupation was listed as "labrer." It appears likely that William and Bridget had died sometime between 1871 and 1881 leaving their children orphaned and note, there were three brothers, as claimed in the oral tradition. There do not appear to be any records of their death but then would the 'kids' have known or cared about civil registration requirements or indeed would they have had the funds the pay the registration fees of that time?

In 1891, John cannot be found in the census records but his brother Thomas was located working as a horse trainer in Hallowell, near Belleville, Ontario. Working with horses would later become the family's prime means of a living and eventual wealth.

Records show that John was in Toronto, Ontario in 1894 when he married Mary Jane Fitzgerald, in 1901 with the three children of his marriage when the census was taken, in 1903 when he married Annie Teresa McElroy, and in 1911 when the last published census of Canada was taken. According to a newspaper article, dated January 14, 1927, reporting on his sudden death, John had lived in Toronto for forty years which would mean he arrived in the city around 1887. Where then was he in 1891 when the census was taken? Perhaps he had returned briefly to the back woods just as family tradition claims!

Connecting With Family Through Ancestry

2011-07-07T19:15:00.006-04:00

I am often asked if it's true that simply searching for a name of Ancestry (.com; .ca,; .co.uk;.au,etc.) can produce a shaking leaf providing you with a full family tree or an instant connection with a distant, previously unknown relative who sends family photos that you have never seen before as is suggested in some television advertising. My answer is usually along the lines that if it were that simple, I'd be really disappointed in myself for spending so much time over the past thirty years when only a few keystrokes and a mouse click were needed.

Ancestry is certainly a great Internet site to search for historical records and documents. I have maintained a world deluxe subscription for many years (and by way of disclaimer, I pay for this entirely myself, with my own funds). It has been a tremendous source of documentation and collaboration. I have previously posted that there is benefit to exploring the 'public' member family trees in spite of any criticism that the family trees may frequently contain erroneous information.

A recent additional benefit for me has been making new connections with cousins I didn't know about who either sent a message to me asking for some additional information based on details found in my posted tree or who I sent a message to with a similar request.

I have three (!) examples to offer from the past three months.

Donius contacted me offering a correction to a date associated to her mother who appeared in my posted family tree. It turns out that Donius is my wife Ellen's 4th cousin. They share Andrew Kimmerly, a United Empire Loyalist, and his wife Susannah Sagar as common ancestors.

Another Andrew Kimmerly and Susannah Sagar common ancestor connection was made when Pat contacted me with some questions about my family tree file. Pat, as it turns out is married to my wife Ellen's 5th cousin.

I have been able to share information, tips, sources, and photos with both Pat and Donius. A truly great connection experience.

My favourite recent connection was one that I instigated. Recognizing that new trees get added and older trees updated frequently on Ancestry, I found one of my second cousins of whom I had no previous knowledge, had posted a family tree. More important to me is that this cousin and I share a great grandfather, John Foley, in common. My maternal grandmother, Gertrude Ellen Foley, was John's only daughter. My cousin Margaret's grandfather was John Joseph Foley, my grandmother's half-brother (pictured above), and John's third son but only child from his second marriage (to Annie McElroy).

John Foley without a doubt has been my greatest genealogical challenge. I have posted previously a number of stories about John who was, in modern terms, a self-made millionaire, despite his inability to read or write. I am a namesake of John's oldest son who was my mother's favourite uncle and whose funeral I can vividly remember attending when I was ten or twelve years of age. Various records provide various dates and locations of John's birth. John appears and then ten years later disappears in census records. The only thing certain seems to be that John married my great grandmother, Mary Jane Fitzgerald in 1894 in Toronto, Ontario, that they had three children before Mary Jane's sudden death at age 33 in 1899, and that John married Annie McElroy in 1903 in Toronto, Ontario. John died suddenly in 1927 while on a business related trip to Los Angeles, California in 1927.

I have never seen a photograph of my great grandfather John Foley although I feel certain that one must exist somewhere. Fortunately, through the Ancestry connection I may be getting a step closer to breaking through this stubborn brickwall.

Prosperity Did Not Always Bring Happiness

2011-07-02T20:40:00.005-04:00

I have written a number of posts about my wife Ellen's cousins in the Breithaupt family. Phillip Ludwig 'Louis' Breithaupt had immigrated to Buffalo, New York as a teenager with his father Liborius in 1844 where the elder Breithaupt established a tannery business. Phillip Ludwig learned the tanning business from his father and would often make trips through Upper Canada (now Ontario, Canada) and the U.S. mid-west to purchase hides for leather manufacturing.

One of Phillip Ludwig's close friends in Buffalo was an Evangelical Association minister named Jacob Wagner, Ellen's second great grandfather, who was married to Margaret Hailer. In 1851, when Liborius died, it was Rev. Wagner who officiated at his funeral. Eventually, Jacob would introduce Louis Breithaupt (he had dropped the Phillip and anglicized the Ludwig apparently to carry on the family business of L. Breithaupt) to the Hailer family in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario. In 1853, Louis married Catherine Hailer, thus making he and his friend Jacob brothers-in-law. In late 1861, Louis left his Buffalo, New York business and established Breithaupt Leather Goods in Berlin.

Although Louis was successful in building his Berlin tannery into a thriving business, twice the tannery burned to the ground, once in 1867 and again in 1870. The adversity slowed Louis down but he carried on and re-built.

Louis and Catherine had ten children, the first three born in the U.S. and the remaining seven born in Berlin, Ontario. Their seventh child and fifth son was Daniel Edward Breithaupt (pictured above), born in 1868. By all accounts, Daniel was a normal, healthy three year-old. On July 9th, 1871 Daniel attended a Sunday School outing in a small area near the Breithaupt tannery that was in the process of being re-built. When it began to rain, the group of children took shelter on the main floor of the tannery building. Unfortunately, the floor collapsed beneath them, plunging the group into the vats below. Although there were very few injuries, little Daniel drowned. Following his son's death, Louis wrote in the family bible, "Gott schenke mir und uns allen die Gnade ihm Himmel einst wieder zu sehen," loosely translated as 'God grant me the grace and all of us to see him again in heaven.'

Their sixth child, and fourth son, Esra Carl Breithaupt was born in 1866 and although never physically considered to be robust, Carl, as he preferred to be called, was a capable student who graduated with a science degree from North-Western College in Naperville, Illinois in 1887. In 1892, Carl graduated as an Electrical Engineer from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Returning home, Carl (pictured above) transformed the horse powered Berlin and Waterloo railway to an electric railway. He also purchased a substantial stake in the railway company, becoming president and manager of the company. Carl was also a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, where he joined the likes of Thomas A. Edison and Alexander Graham Bell in an association formed in 1884 "to promote the Arts and Sciences connected with the production and utilization of electricity and the welfare of those employed in these Industries: by means of social intercourse, the reading and discussion of professional papers and the circulation by means of publication among members and associates of information thus obtained." Carl also held the position of Vice-President of the Canadian Electrical Association, formed in 1891.

During the evening of January 26, 1897, Carl was at the electric works when an explosion occurred. Early in the morning of the following day, Carl succumbed to his injuries.

A prosperous family was left to grieve.

The Death of 'Chuck' Hadden

2011-06-29T18:53:00.007-04:00

Chuck was our pet dog, a little fellow who believed he was much bigger and fiercer than his fifteen pound body suggested. Chuck was "my best pal" and Ellen's shadow.

I know that my some of my ancestors had pets, especially dogs, but Chuck was of course special! He recognized me as being the 'alpha' dog in the family, at least that is my interpretation of his behaviours over the last eight plus years. I was the one in the family who could scratch behind his ears just the right way and rub his tummy best. But he was Ellen's constant companion, a protector who ensured that no one came to the door or even strolled past the house without knowing that a ferocious guard was keeping watch over the lady of the house.

Chuck had a mischievous side as well. Despite Facebook's rule that one had to be over 13 years of age to have an account, Chuck broke new canine ground in setting up a Facebook page, despite only being a couple of years old at the time. Chuck sent 'friend' requests to his 'brothers and sisters' who all originally accused me of being behind the Chuck on Facebook prank. Eventually it was found out that Chuck was secretly using my computer for his social media exploits and we caught him "red pawed" at the keyboard. It was through Facebook that Chuck asked our daughter, Jenna, if her female dog 'Ivey' was seeing anyone - proof that he knew the power of the net!

While I was in the hospital last fall, what was later diagnosed as a cancer appeared on his upper lip. The tumour was treated with steroids, with some initial good results at first, but of late his condition worsened. Today, on the advice of our veterinarian, Chuck passed away peacefully and quietly, finally suffering no more.

Rest in peace, little pal. And, thanks.

The Preacher's License

2011-06-25T09:27:00.004-04:00

I admit that I had never seen one nor had I thought of looking for one - a Preacher's License.

My wife Ellen's paternal great great grandfather, Rev. Jacob Wagner (pictured left) had been a minister of the Evangelical Association and there are several records that provide evidence of this fact. His association with his brother-in-law Phillip Louis Breithaupt is well documented in local histories, family papers, and books on the Breithaupt leather business in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario, Canada.

Fortunately, Ellen's uncle Gordon Wagner, when compiling a substantive family history in the late 1970's and early 1980's, left behind a group of Jacob's Preacher's Licenses. Finding and holding these 150 plus year old occupational certificates provides a connection to the person and provides fact evidence I likely would not have thought to even look for. Pictured below is Jacob's Preacher's License from February 1848.

According to a compilation of Evangelical Association Annual General Conference proceedings, compiled by S. C. Breyfogel in 1888, Jacob was accepted by the church as a 'Preacher on Trial' or on probation i1847 at the Eighth Annual Session of the church held in Fayette, Seneca County, New York State. This conference was held between February 23 and March 3, 1847 under the leadership of Bishop Joseph Long. In addition to being accepted as a preacher, Jacob was appointed to the Buffalo, New York circuit.

The following year, in 1848, Jacob was appointed at the general session held at Allentown, Pennsylvania to the Waterloo circuit in the Canada district under the supervision of Presiding Elder M. Lehn. While 'working' the Waterloo circuit, Jacob, who was just 24 years of age, would visit and perhaps stay at the home of Jacob and Margaret (nee Riehl) Hailer. The Hailers were known to be very welcoming of their church's visiting circuit preachers. In 1849, Jacob married the Hailer's eldest daughter, Margaret, with whom he had three children.

Margaret was in fact pregnant with their third child when Jacob died suddenly in April 1858, shortly after Jacob and his brother-in-law Louis Breithaupt had formed a partnership and opened what would become a very successful tannery business. The third child, a boy was born 5 months after his father's death, and was appropriately enough named, Jacob.

Tracing Ancestry to Adam and Eve

2011-06-23T13:00:00.004-04:00

While I researching the recently concluded series about the Vermilyea murder and trial, I read many old newspaper pages from the Toronto Star's Pages of the Past newspaper archive. Reading old newspapers can be fascinating and I was especially taken by the prices of houses, goods and services through the 1930's period that I was reviewing.

One story on the front page of the February 25, 1935 edition caught my attention in particular. Genealogists may not get mentioned often but here they were on the front page of the daily newspaper in a major Canadian city debating the topic. Here for your enjoyment is the story.

The story's headline reads:

Tracing Ancestry to Adam, Eve Absurd, Say Toronto Genealogists

There are many people in Toronto with the name of Stewart who are descended from the Stewart kings, but they can't prove it, Col. Baptist Johnston, a fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, told The Star today, branding as "absurd" the claim of Mrs. Christian Sells Jaeger of Columbus, Ohio, that she has succeeded in tracing her ancestry back through 159 generations to Adam and Eve.

Col. Johnston declared, however, that Harry Drummond, of Deer Park Cres., is able to trace his ancestry back to the Earls of Perth, whose pedigree can be proven to approximately 1200 A.D. So quickly does the human race multiply, he pointed out, that Edward III of England now has tens of thousands of descendants.

"Some people have become almost insane on the topic of genealogy," Col. Johnston commented. "Very few people can prove their ancestry prior to 1100.

"The late Henry O'Brien K.C. [King's Counsel], of Toronto, was a descendant of the earls of Thomond, one-time kings of Munster."

"In the first place I don't think there is any such individual as Adam," declared Rabbi M. N. Eisendrath. "How can she trace her pedigree back through Zedekiah, David, Enos and Seth to Adam" he asked, "when many biblical names are not names of persons, but of tribes. In the Old Testament the union of two clans is expressed as a marriage."

"It is quite impossible to go back with any degree of accuracy beyond the time of the Norman conquest." observed Prof. R. Flenley of the University of Toronto. "Even the ancestry of kings cannot be traced accurately much more than 1000 years."

So now we know, we who "have become almost insane on the topic of genealogy."

Murder Near the Family Tree, Part 4

2011-06-21T13:00:00.000-04:00

This is the 4th and last post in a series recounting the events associated with the murder of Catherine Aureila Vermilyea on the night of Thursday, October 4th, 1934. Mrs. Vermilyea was the mother-in-law of my wife Ellen's second cousin, twice removed, Dr. James Albert Faulkner. The murder case and the ensuing murder trial of Mrs. Vermilyea's son, Harold Vermilyea (pictured on the left) caused a sensation in 1934 southern Ontario that was followed across North America.

Bringing a Murderer to Trial

When Harold Vermilyea, the son of the murder victim returned to his home in Ontario, California on Saturday, October 6th, he was greeted by the police who arrested him on a charge of murder. Harold professed his innocence stating that he had been away in northern California seeking employment at the time of the murder. On October 17th, Harold left Los Angeles where he had been held in custody and boarded a train, accompanied by two police officers from Ontario, Canada.

While on the train, Harold told a Toronto, Ontario newspaper reporter that he was glad he was going back to Belleville. "I want to get it over with." The crime was reported on across both Canada and the United States. Police boarded the train car in which Harold sat every time the train slowed or made a scheduled stop to provide additional security. By October 20th, Harold's trip 'back' had brought him to Toronto and an overnight stay in the infamous Toronto 'Don' Jail. The police made good use of Harold's short time in Toronto to construct several police 'line-ups' to allow potential witnesses, taxi drivers and hotel employees, to try and identify Harold. Not having enough men for the purpose, Toronto police reportedly went to the streets around police headquarters and 'recruited' passersby until they had sufficient numbers for the line-up.

On Sunday, October 21st, Harold was admitted to the Hastings County Jail in Belleville, Ontario, a place that was to be his 'home' for the next several months.

The Evidence

There was such interest in this case that crowds waited for hours, sometimes in the rain, in order to get a seat in the courtroom. Harold was identified by Miss Mountney, the maid, as the man who came to the Farley home on the night of October 1st, refused to give his name and left abruptly before Mrs. Vermilyea could greet him. Next, four hotel workers testified that Harold had stayed at the Walker House hotel in downtown Toronto, under the name of Mr. Carter, from Septmber 30th until October 5th. A taxi driver, named John Bannas, testified that he had driven Harold from Toronto to Belleville and back on both October 1st and October 4th. The round trip fare that they had agreed upon was $15.00.

A medical expert testified that blood stains were found both on the pants that Harold was wearing and that blood stains were also found in the taxi that Harold had been in for the return to Toronto. As this was before DNA testing could provide more definitive evidence, all the expert could provide the court was that the blood was human.

The evidence showed that Harold upon returning to his hotel in Toronto learned that the Belleville murder was already in the early editions of the newspaper. He immediately checked out of the hotel in the early morning hours and took a taxi to Hamilton, Ontario where he boarded a train, using the name of B. F. Collins, bound for Chicago, Illinois. Arthur Iszard was the porter on that train and he was able to identify Harold as the passenger named Mr. Collins who, upon entering the United States at the Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan border, wired ahead to Chicago for an "aeroplane reservation." The pilot on that Chicago to Los Angeles flight along with a passenger, the publicity director for the Metro-Goldwyn Moving Pictures Company, also identified Harold as being on the flight to L.A., occupying seat number 11.

And finally, the evidence showed that Harold had stored his car in a garage from September 25th until October 6th and then tried to have the operators of the garage erase the record of the car's stay.

The Defense

Two well respected lawyers were appointed to defend Harold at his trial. Both Charles A. Payne and Col. Richard H. Greer had received the honourary title of King's Counsel or K.C. in recognition of their legal work. They depended on the evidence of Dr. J. J. Robertson, a Belleville physician, to show that Harold was insane. Dr. Robertson testified that, based on his examination and interviews, Harold had thought up "the plan for weeks and weeks." Harold, the doctor continued, thought his mother should divide up part of her estate (which was valued at $40,000 at the time of her death). Harold's proposal was that he and each of his three siblings could be given $5,000 by their mother. As Dr. Robertson stated, "His mother was well off, a sister was well off and they didn't need any money, but his his children did need help." When his 'begging' letter was responded to by his sister, Harold saw this as a sign that they were conspiring together to ruin him, at least that's what the defense wanted to the jury to believe.

The Decision

Mr. Justice Jeffrey, the presiding trial judge, in his charge to the jury stated, "Some might say that it was only circumstantial evidence, but sometimes circumstances linked to form a chain of evidence beyond any reasonable doubt." The jury took four and one half hours to reach a verdict. During this time, the courtroom spectators refused to give up their seats but rather waited in the courtroom, in some cases sending their children home to bring food and drink. When the jury returned, they pronounced their verdict of guilty as charged.

The following day, Mr. Justice Jeffrey pronounced sentence on Harold - "The sentence of the court upon you, Harold W. Vermilyea, is that you be taken from this place to the place from whence you came and there be kept in close confinement until the second day of May, and upon that date you be taken to the place of execution and be there hanged by the neck until you are dead, and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul."

After the trial and sentencing, Harold's brothers, Arthur and Clarence told a reporter, "He got justice. He got a fair trial. What has happened is best for him and everyone else." His lawyers appealed his case unsuccessfully and on May 2, 1935, the sentence of the court was carried out in the yard of the Hastings County Jail ending the sensational trial saga of the mid-1930's, believed at the time to have been one of the longest murder trials in Ontario history to that time.

Murder Near the Family Tree, Part 3

2011-06-19T09:00:00.003-04:00

This is Part 3 in a series of posts about the murder of Catherine Aurelia Vermilyea (nee Farley), mother-in-law of my wife Ellen's second cousin, twice removed. The murder case and the ensuing murder trial of Mrs. Vermilyea's son, Harold Vermilyea caused a sensation in 1934 southern Ontario that was followed across North America.

Catching a Killer

On the night of Thursday, October 4th, 1934 the normally quiet town of Belleville, Ontario was shaken to learn that a long-time, prominent member of the community, Mrs. Catherine Aurelia Vermilyea had been found murdered. The crime had in fact taken place on the lawn of her daughter's Bridge Street home.

The Belleville police force immediately began their investigation. First they fond the murder weapon, a lather's hatchet, near the murder scene and next they believed they had the discovered the identity of the killer, the victim's son, Harold Vermilyea. Police later testified that they had narrowed their search for the killer to Harold within three hours of the crime. However, the mystery to solve was that Harold lived about 3,000 miles away from Belleville in Ontario, California. Undaunted, Belleville police contacted the police in California and requested their assistance in apprehending the suspect.

Harold Vermilyea was the oldest of four children born to Nathaniel and Catherine Aurelia (nee Farley) Vermilyea. Nathaniel was a prosperous farmer who provided for his family in the village of Thurlow, just east of Belleville, Ontario. According to the 1901 Census of Canada, the Vermilyea household included the parents, children, a lodger and a domestic servant. According to the 1930 U. S. Census, Harold indicated that he left home and made his way to California in 1909 where he was employed in the citrus fruit industry as the manager of a fruit packing operation.

All was well for Harold, his wife Clarise and their two children, a daughter Catherine Aurelia (after his mother) and a son Douglas Than until the Great Depression era took hold. Harold lost his job and for the first time was unable to pay the bills.

In June 1934, Harold wrote to his mother what he later described to be the "begging" letter. In his letter, which was printed in it's entirety in the October 6, 1934 edition of the Toronto Star newspaper, Harold explained his financial predicament to his mother, how he consulted with several prominent people about even broaching the subject with her, and asked for her help by giving him some money. He wrote, "If you could spare $1,000 now, it would be a life saver for this family. But whatever you do for us, should be done for others of the family. In other words, nothing is settled unless it is settled right."

His mother did not send any money and in fact, it was his sister, Mrs. Helen Faulkner, who replied to his letter offering some advice.

The Belleville, Ontario police sent a telegram asking about the whereabouts of Harold Vermilyea to the Ontario, California police on October 5th, 1934. California police went to Harold's residence and were told that he was away on an auto trip in northern California. So they did what was to be expected, they staked out his house and on October 6th, Harold returned, was met by the police and arrested.

Harold, a U. S. citizen since 1922, was held in custody at the Los Angeles County jail awaiting an extradition hearing. The process was shortened considerably however when on October 13th, Harold voluntarily agreed to waive extradition and return to Canada. Harold maintained his innocence stating that he was in northern California seeking employment at the time of the murder.

His trip back to Belleville, Ontario began on October 17th when he boarded a train, as Transcontinental Western Airlines reportedly "refused to carry a manacled man," handcuffed to Detective Frank Izard of the Belleville police force and accompanied by Inspector Gardner of the Ontario Provincial Police force.

Murder Near the Family Tree, Part 2

2011-06-17T12:00:00.000-04:00

This is Part 2 in a series of posts about the murder of Catherine Aurelia Vermilyea (nee Farley), mother-in-law of my wife Ellen's second cousin, twice removed. The murder case and the ensuing murder trial of Mrs. Vermilyea's son, Harold Vermilyea caused a sensation in 1934 southern Ontario that was followed across North America.

The Crime

Catherine Aurelia Vermilyea lived at the home of her sister-in-law, Mrs. Elizabeth Farley on Bridge Street in Belleville, Ontario. The town of Belleville in Hastings County has a rich history as an early settlement area for groups of United Empire Loyalists who were granted land in respect of the loyalty to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War and to compensate them for losses they may have incurred 'south of the border' during that war. Bridge Street, in particular, is a splendid avenue, lined with large Victorian homes whose occupants tended to be people of influence and means in the town.

Both Catherine and Elizabeth were widows who enjoyed the benefit of having two maids to look after the household chores and needs. On the night of Monday, October 1, 1934, one of the maids, Miss Eunice Mountney, answered the door of the home to a man who asked for Mrs. Vermilyea. The man however refused to give his name as he wished to "surprise her." The man left suddenly when he learned from the maid that Mrs. Farley was having guests that evening.

Three nights later, on Thursday, October 4th, the two maids had the evening off duty and so Mrs. Farley and Mrs. Vermilyea were occupying their time in the library of the home with another of Mrs. Vermilyea's sisters-in law, Miss Mary Kelso who had come for a visit, when the doorbell rang. As she customarily did in the absence of the maids, Mrs. Vermilyea answered the door. She returned to the library moments later explaining that it was someone asking for food. On two subsequent occasions that evening Mrs. Vermilyea answered the door. On the last occasion, at about 9:30 p.m., Mrs. Vermilyea answered the door but found no one there. On checking about the home, Mrs. Vermilyea found the office door ajar and when she entered the room she was heard to say "Is it you back again." No one was able to identify the caller nor state whether the person was a man or a woman.

Miss Kelso later testified that Mrs. Vermilyea and the 'visitor' went to the upstairs of the house and about ten minutes later they came back downstairs. At this time, Mrs. Vermilyea stated that she was going out for a few minutes. The time according to Miss Kelso was 9:40 p.m.

About this time, George Gorman was returning home from an evening at the theatre and he passed a man and woman "walking hurriedly" in a west direction along the south side of Bridge Street. Shortly after the two people had passed him, George reported that he heard a single groan so he stopped and walked back to find on the lawn of a home "a bundle." Mr. Gorman stopped a passing car and when someone lit a match to provide some light, Mr. Gorman saw that the 'bundle' was in fact a severely injured woman.

The lawn on which the victim was found was at the home of Mrs. Helen Faulkner, the wife of Dr. James A. Faulkner, then the area's new Member of Provincial Parliament and Minister of Health for Ontario. Hearing voices outside her home, Mrs. Faulkner called out and asked what was wrong. She allowed Mr. Gorman and Mr. C. B. Smith, the driver of the car stopped for assistance by Gorman, to carry the victim into her home and place the injured woman on an emergency operating table that her husband kept in the house. In the light of the home, Mrs. Faulkner recognised the victim and exclaimed "Oh, it's my own mother."

Catherine Aurelia Vermilyea died in her daughter's home, the victim of a brutal attack. The police immediately arrived and began their investigation. Police Officer Isard found the murder weapon near the home, a lather's hatchet (see image above of a lather's hatchet courtesy of the Florida Center for Institutional Technology) . Police also learned from the next door neighbour of Mrs. Faulkner, a Mr. Hunt, that "angry words" had been heard outside at the time of the attack, followed by the sound of several blows and a man saying, "Take that." No one saw the attacker fleeing the scene.

The hunt for a murderer was on!

Murder Near the Familly Tree, Part 1

2011-06-15T20:19:00.010-04:00

Last week, I shared that I had found 'new-to-me' information about one of my wife's cousins, Dr. James Albert Faulkner. James is Ellen's second cousin, twice removed and was, in addition to being a noted physician in the Belleville, Ontario region, the Ontario Minister of Health in the provincial government Cabinet from 1934 - 1937.

I got an additional surprise when checking information available on the Find-A-Grave site about the James Faulkner family when I found that James' mother-in-law, Catharine Aurelia Vermilyea (nee Farley) had been murdered. Mrs. Vermilyea suffered a violent and untimely death on the evening of October 4th, 1934, on Bridge Street in Belleville, Ontario. Although I would not usually pursue research into a family that is not directly related to either Ellen or myself, I will often at least record any vital record type information about a relation's in-laws to complete 'the picture' and for future reference. It was through this that I discovered the note on Mrs. Vermilyea's Find-A-Grave 'memorial' page that referenced the manner in which she died.

Thirty-six hours after the murder, her son, Harold W. Vermilyea, was arrested in Ontario, San Bernardino, California (Harold is pictured above with the arresting officer William Hammond of the Ontario, California police department). And so began a story that competed on the front pages of newspapers in Canada and the United States with the Linbergh baby kidnapping and the trial of Bruno Hauptmann for the crime as well as the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany. The Vermilyea murder story was gripping as there were no witnesses to the crime, the son of an affluent Belleville family was accused of matricide, and everyone wanted to know how someone, in 1934, who lived in Ontario, California could murder someone in Belleville, Ontario and be back home in California thirty-six hours later.

In the next couple of posts, I will re-tell what many pages of newspaper articles from the Toronto Star's Pages of the Past told captive southern Ontario communities about Harold, the Vermilyea family, the crime and the punishment.

Attending SCGS 2011 Jamboree Without Leaving Home

2011-06-12T09:12:00.004-04:00

I'm not quite ready for any extensive travel as I continue to recover from last fall's sudden illness so attending the Southern California Genealogical Society's (SCGS) 2011 Jamboree was out of the question. The Jamboree has for many years been one of North America's premiere genealogy conferences, one that I have heard glowing reports about and promised myself that one day I would get to attend.

Yesterday, thanks to a generous sponsorship from RootsMagic, I attended a number of the conference sessions from the comfort of the 'computer room' in my home. These sessions, talks by noted speakers in their fields of expertise, were 'streamed' or broadcast live over the Internet. Thanks to SCGS and to RootsMagic for this treat!

Genealogists have always been quick to embrace technology with all of the new applications, gadgets and voodoo that it offers. Live 'streaming' of conference sessions is just another step in the right direction. It does not and cannot replace the networking and socializing opportunity that live attendance at a conference offers but it can do a lot to further the education of the genealogy community, for both beginner and experienced researchers.

I 'sat' in on presentations by Lisa Louise Cooke from the Genealogy Gems podcast, Curt Witcher from the Allen County Public Library, and Kerry Bartels from the U.S. National Archives and Record Administration (NARA). All three presented their material with depth and clarity, providing key points of learning for researchers accompanied by meaningful examples to illustrate their research methods and techniques.

I noticed in particular a thread of research advice that each presenter covered - go beyond the vital record! Don't be satisfied with the hunt and capture of that elusive death record but see what else was going on in your ancestor's community that affected their lives. Each of the three presenters illustrated the types of resources and, yes, records available that are often forgotten as we scour repositories and the Internet searching for a surname. From my perspective, this is certainly a sign of a maturing genealogy community.

Clear evidence was provided that the saying "An historian doesn't have to be a genealogist but a genealogist has to be an historian" can never be forgotten!

Citing Sources Finds James Albert Faulkner, M.D., M.P.P.

2011-06-06T17:56:00.008-04:00

Thanks to the viewing of a RootsMagic webinar, I was able to get more organized in achieving my goal of recording source citations for all of the facts in my genealogy (RootsMagic 4) database. Unfortunately, also thanks to the same webinar and the subsequent listing from my database of the the facts needing a source citation, I can see how large a task I have in front of me.

Although I wrote down source citations when conducting research before the computer age, once I started using electronic data and was able to save document images, citing sources in my database seemed pointless. After all, I had a copy of the original record electronically saved and filed on my computer hard drive. The more I researched, the more documents I gathered. Things seemed good, going the way they should. That is, until I realized that I couldn't possibly remember which of the hundreds of electronic records went with which facts.

So I started citing sources but frankly did a poor job of it, so poor in fact that some of these citations are now meaningless to me let alone someone else who might review my work. Forunately, I am much better at citing sources now, with proper form and detail.

I decided to start the task of citing my sources with large family branches that I haven't 'visited' that much lately. The first large family branch I set out to tackle was the Faulkners, the family of my wife's paternal grandmother, Charlotte Marion 'Lottie' Faulkner.

Lottie Faulkner lived her life in Saskatchewan, Canada but her family's roots go back to Ontario, to New York State, to Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Revolutionary War era Massachusetts. It was Lottie's great grandfather, Sylvester Faulkner who moved the family into present day Ontario, Canada in the early 19th century. While Lottie and my wife are direct descendants of Sylvester Faulkner and his wife Mary Cram, another descendant whom I was already aware of was James Albert Faulkner. Sylvester and Mary had nine children and all lived into adulthood so there are many descendants.

Like Lottie, James was also a great grandchild of Sylvester and Mary. James was born to Sylvester and Mary's grandson, Dr. George Washington Faulkner, in 1877 in Stirling, Ontario. As a young man, James attended first McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and then McGill University in Montreal, Quebec where he studied medicine. Upon graduating as a physician in 1904, James returned to Hastings County, Ontario and established his medical practise. Numerous Faulkner family histories indicate that James served as the Medical Office of Health for Thurlow Township in Hastings County for as long as thirty-seven years.

While checking my sources for information and completing proper citations about James, I discovered that he also served the Province of Ontario in a political role. The year was 1934 and the majority provincial Conservative Party government of Premier George S. Henry had fallen out of favour with rural farmers and with the population at large who were suffering from the effects of the Great Depression. James accepted the rival Liberal Party nomination to stand as a candidate for the provincial legislature representing the riding of Hastings West. On 19 June 1934, James was elected along with 68 other provincial Liberals who swept to power with a majority government under the leadership of newly elected Premier Mitchell F. Hepburn.

James only served a single term as a Member of Provincial Parliament but during that term, according to the Ontario Legislature's history of past members, he held the prestigious Cabinet role of Minister of Health, in addition to serving on several legislative committees. Although Premier Hepburn's government was returned with a majority again in the October 1937 general election, James left politics and returned to work in the region of his birth.

James died in Toronto, Ontario on 27 April 1944 at the age of 66. An obituary in the June 1944 Canadian Medical Association Journal noted, "During his term of office as Minister of Health for Ontario, Dr. Faulkner was active in the fight against cancer, mental disabilities and streptococcal infections."

The Webinar Explosion

2011-06-02T20:01:00.003-04:00

Without a doubt the genealogy world is filling up with webinars. These Internet or 'web' based seminars, from which the term webinar is based, have become a popular and practical means of instruction for beginners and experienced genealogists alike.

The technology is really not that new, at least in 'technology' terms - it's been around for a few years. Initially I was introduced to the technology through my 'day' job. Web based meetings were a means to providing instruction and explanations of new business processes with colleagues and/or clients irrespective of their geographic location. The technology also allowed people to collaborate by meeting on-line to view and work on a document they could all see and discuss at the same time.

Training, for example, could be offered without the costs to participants and their organizations for travel and accommodation to attend 'traditional' in-class "courses." The ability to record these sessions meant that the training could be offered time and again as new staff joined the organization and the 'webinar' content only needed to be changed if the business processes changed. Although viewing the recorded version of the training lacked the interactive component of the 'live' version, that is the ability to ask questions, it was still was an efficient means of training.

The genealogy community, always quick to embrace advances in technology, has picked up on this impressive means to share best practises, tips and techniques. I have enjoyed attending a number of live webinars but because other commitments also impose on my time, I have greatly benefited from viewing recorded sessions. Although I can't raise my hand and ask a question when viewing a recorded webinar, I still benefit from the core instruction. I still learn.

I have two recommendations. First, check the website for your favourite genealogy database software. The software providers have certainly discovered that webinars are a powerful way to help those using their product get the most from the software's features. I use RootsMagic 4 and enjoy learning about the features and shortcuts that I probably would not have found on my own. Maybe it's a 'guy' thing but I tend not to read the instruction manual (hardcopy or on-line) and sometimes wander around the software menus hoping that intuitively I'll just figure it out. I have used and own most of the major genealogy database software available so I don't limit myself to one 'brand' on software webinar but pick and choose the instruction I think best suits my needs.

My second recommendation is that you visit the Utah Genealogical Association site and take advantage of their 'special time limited' offer to view a number of webinar presentations. My favourite so far - "How Mature Are You (Genealogically)?" by Robert Raymond, Deputy CGO of FamilySearch.org. Robert explains a genealogy maturity model that allows you to systematically complete a self-assessment of your present genealogy skill or practise levels in some key areas. The real benefit of this evaluation is to then provide you with the basis to determine your priorities for establishing a self improvement plan. Robert explains the model in easy to understand terms with the added benefit that the presentation syllabus is available through the FamilySearch wiki. The Utah Genealogical Association is making this and other presentations available until August 1, 2011 so don't delay too long in checking it out.

If you are looking for a break from searching through records or you're feeling a little down about not being able to attend every genealogy conference on the continent, relax and learn in the comfort of your home by inviting the experts in through a webinar.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with RootsMagic nor have I received any form of compensation for noting that RootsMagic is my current preferred genealogy database software.

Facebook Genealogy

2011-05-31T19:37:00.003-04:00

I can now admit to being an early 'adopter' of the use of Facebook, now one of the most popular social media tools in use. For a long time I felt like I was the oldest person on the planet to have a Facebook account. It was almost embarrassing when I told family, friends, and colleagues of my Facebook use. My reason for using Facebook was simple - it helped me keep an 'eye' on and stay connected to my children who were living in different locations, busy studying or starting out with efforts to establish their toehold in life.

Well, times have changed. Oh, I still stay connected to my kids in addition to many family members have been added to the mix. The biggest change however is that I use Facebook to help me stay current in the genealogy world! It is not the only tool I use for this purpose but it is one of the most frequently used in my genealogy 'toolbox.'

Much of my experience in genealogy is based on connecting. I do the research, well, because I love it. I'm intrigued with the information I find about my ancestors, the good and the not so good. They are all part of the fabric that makes me, me. But I connect with family members who share an interest in the discoveries of our mutual ancestor's lives. I connect with member of the genealogy community with whom I can share success-based techniques and tips, winning resources and tools, as well as useful information sources. This is where Facebook comes in for me.

Facebook, perhaps like all social media, allows me to "harness the wisdom of the crowd." I don't remember who said that or where I read it but it sums up nicely a chief benefit of what I call 'Facebook Genealogy.' If I have a genealogy problem that I am finding difficult to solve, one question thrown out to my Facebook genealogy friends and help arrives like the cavalry charging over the hill in an old western movie.

As important as the comfort of knowing that help is available might be, equally important to me and I hope to others is the ability to see and read those things that are of interest to my many genealogy friends. Seeing what professional or notable genealogist friends are learning from offers me an inherent mentorship of sorts in that I am being provided with a map to further genealogy learning opportunities I might not (maybe I should say probably wouldn't) have found on my own. I find out about upcoming events, who is attending, the topics being covered along with the different means with which I might be able to participate, even from a distance.

Internet World Stats published statistics to the end of March 2011 showing that there are now more than 664 million Facebook users worldwide, meaning almost 10% of the world's population are on Facebook. In North America, 50% of the population uses Facebook. In Canada, the percentage of the population using Facebook is 54.7% compared to 49.5% in the U.S.A. so there is still some room to grow.

Technology is moving us closer together rather than moving us further apart and while I can't predict the next iteration of social media, it is clear to me that it will likely entail a technology that further enhances our "need for social interaction and collaboration" (T. MacEntee, N.Y. Times).

Frederick Henry Nusbickel

2011-05-29T14:43:00.002-04:00

Frederick (or Fred as he was known) Henry Nusbickel is my wife Ellen's second cousin, twice removed. Fred was the grandson of Elizabeth (Wagner) Nusbickel, a sister of Ellen's second great grandfather, Jacob Wagner.

Fred was born in 1881 in Lyons, Wayne County, New York, the first son to Frederick Nusbickel and Anna Maria Kletzing. In 1905, Fred married Maisa Parker and the two subsequently left New York state and moved to California where Fred took up citrus farming. The 1910 US Federal Census shows Fred as being a 'nurseryman' of citrus trees in Glendora, California, which suggests he was an employee, but it appears that by the time of the 1920 US Federal Census, Fred had acquired his own lands and was listed as a Fruit Grower of Citrus Groves in San Dimas, California.

In a February 1945 letter to his sister, Tusanelda (Nusbickel) Simpson, Fred recounted a time when Ellen's great grandfather, Rev. Louis Henry Wagner, came to California for a visit: "I remember that when Maisa and I were living in Glendora, he [Cousin Henry as they called him] came to see us for about three days. He was attending a minister's conference in Los Angeles. I remember that on a Sunday morning after breakfast, I asked him if he wanted to go to church or to the beach. He asked what we would do if he were not there. I told him we would go to the beach. He said that he would like very much to see the Pacific Ocean again. So we all went to the beach. He rolled up his trousers and in his bare feet ran up and down the sands and gathered shells. As he was over sixty at the time, it did not occur to me that he would want to go in swimming. After Maisa and I had our swim, we were dressed and lying on the sand. He came up and asked if I cared if he used my suit to go in. I told him that I was much embarrassed that I had not brought another suit for him but that it had not occurred to me that he would want to go in. So he put on that wet suit and acted like a kid in the water. In fact, I had to insist that he come out, as I was afraid that he would get too chilled after a rather long time. We enjoyed his stay very much."

Following my last post that introduced the Nusbickel family name and my wife's connection to it, friend and terrific genealogy blogger "Apple" provided a comment with a referral to the 'Old Fulton New York Post Cards' site. The Fulton history site offers access to more than 15 million old New York historical newspaper pages and what a treasure of information these old newspapers have been for my Nusbickel family research. For example, the Lyons Republican and Clyde Times newspaper, in the April 5, 1951 edition, published the following obituary for Fred:

"FRED H. NUSBICKEL,
LYONS NATIVE, DIES
IN CALIFORNIA

Frederick H. Nusbickel of San Dimas, Calif., died suddenly of a heart attack, March 31, according to word received Sunday in Lyons.

Mr. Nusbickel was born in Lyons, the son of the late Frederick Nusbickel, prominent merchant of Lyons, and Mrs. Nusbickel. He was graduated in 1899 from the Lyons Union School, valedictorian of his class, and from Syracuse University in 1903, where he was a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity.

In 1905, Mr. Nusbickel began a career in California, pioneering in the perfection of pedigreed citrus stock, and developing from virgin soil his extensive citrus groves in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Mr. Nusbickel's first wife, the former Maisa Parker, died in 1922, and in 1926 he married Marjorie MacPherson Herlighy, who survives.

Also surviving are two sons, Frederick of California. David of Winter Park, Fla.; a step-son, John Herlighy, of California: four grandchildren; a brother, Thomas Raymond Nusbickel, of Glendora, Calif.; two sisters, Mrs. O. E. Van Slyke of South Pasadena, Mrs. R. S. Simpson of Lyons, and six nieces and nephews."

Although a newspaper account may considered as a secondary source of information, this obituary helps confirm information that I already had obtained and helps provide good clues as to where I need to look further for some primary information sources such as Maisa's death in1922 and Fred's second marriage. If you have ancestors who lived in New York State, particularly the Fulton, Wayne, and Erie County areas, these newspapers will be of great value to you.

Unique American History Connections in Family

2011-05-27T21:12:00.003-04:00

There are possibly not many Canadians who can boast the unique connections that my wife Ellen can claim with her ancestor's connections to significant events in American history.

One of Ellen's fourth great grandfathers is Andrew Kimmerly, a United Empire Loyalist, essentially someone who remained loyal to the British crown through the American Revolution and was subsequently granted lands in the area of present day Belleville, Ontario in recognition of his loyalty.

Another of Ellen's ancestors from that era is Francis Faulkner, her second cousin six times removed, who fought against the British during the Revolutionary War. Francis' home in Acton, Massachusetts was, in fact, the destination of Dr. Samuel Prescott who travelled there after escaping from the British who had held him and Paul Revere, carrying the warning of the British troops being on the move. Francis, upon receiving the warning from Prescott is reported to have fired three warning shots into the air signalling the other town folks on April 19, 1775.

Now joining the group of ancestors is Philip H. Wagner, Ellen's second great granduncle and a Captain in the 65th Regiment of the New York State National Guard and later the 187th Regiment of New York Volunteers during the American Civil War. Philip was born in Wayne County, New York State, probably just after his parents and older siblings including brother Jacob (Ellen's second great grandfather) had immigrated from their homeland of Germany. It appears that Philip enlisted in the 65th Regiment, likely at Elmira, New York and while it also appears that he saw some action involving Rebel forces, his regiment under the command of Colonel William Berens was sent in July 1863 to New York City to assist in quelling the Draft Riots.

Philip led a company of troops and was assigned to protecting the treasury buildings on Wall Street. Colonel Berens in his report on the regiment's actions mentioned Philip and his role in New York, "At 11 p.m. orders came from General Couch to report with my command at Bridgeport, to General Hall, commanding at Fort Washington. At 7 a.m. next morning took the cars, arriving at Bridgeport at 5 p.m., and reported. I remained with my command at Bridgeport, doing guard duty, till the 14th, at 7 p.m., when I was ordered by General Hall to proceed to the city of New York. By great activity and exertion, a train of cars was gotten together and provided for the next morning. At 4 a.m. July 15, I put my men on board the cars, leaving our camp and garrison equipage at Fort Washington, and arrived at the city of New York at about 5 p.m. Before leaving Fort Washington, a battery of four howitzers, belonging to the Eighth New York National Guard, was attached to my command. On arriving in New York, I immediately marched my command to headquarters, reporting in person to General Wool. On the way from the dock, a large mob gathered about, and attempted to get possession of two negroes who were serving as cooks with the artillery company of the Eighth New York National Guard. I protected them from harm by placing them amidst the battery, and protecting the same by a company thrown on either flank.

Upon reporting to General Wool, I was ordered to take quarters at Centre Market, and to report to General Harvey Brown, which I did. Pursuant to orders from General Brown, the same evening I sent two companies to guard the treasury buildings, on Wall street, viz, Company E, Captain [Philip H.] Wagner, and Company H, Captain [Christian] Schaeffer, and two other companies, along with some United States troops, to restore order in the vicinity of Union Square, viz, Company A, Captain Seeber, and Company D, Captain [Charles] Geyer."

Philip was mustered out of military service on July 1, 1865 and returned to his wife and family in Buffalo, New York where he made his living over the next years in the quieter life as a carpenter before passing away in an 1889 drowning accident.

The Wagner Family Immigration Experience

2011-05-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

The following is an excerpt from materials compiled by Gordon Gilbert Wagner, my wife Ellen's uncle, while he was researching the Wagner family history. Gordon's genealogy research was conducted the 1970's and early part of the 1980's when records were collected using 'snail' mail or by travelling to various repositories to search, find, and photocopy.

One of the documents that Gordon acquired was a memoir of sorts written by Anna May Tusonelda Simpson (nee Nusbickel), one of his second cousins once removed. In the document, Tusonelda (as she preferred to be known) retells the story told to her by her paternal grandmother Elizabeth Nusbickel (nee Wagner) about the Wagner immigration to the United States.

"In 1836 (date fixed by my remembrance of Grandmother Nusbickel telling me that she was 14 years old the year they came) a group of families from Siefereheim and neighboring Wollstein - three miles away, and the town from which my Grandfather Nusbickel came in 1839, although my grandparents never met until they lived in Wayne County, decided to emigrate to America. After landing in New York, they came up the Hudson, and took a packet boat on the Erie Canal. Whether Lyons was their ultimate destination or whether they were influenced to disembark by one, Philip Dorscheimer I do not know. I think the latter theory may be the correct one.

This man Dorscheimer was quite a character - he was a native of Wollstein, had been a miller in Lyons and later an innkeeper, and met the packet boats as they arrived. He influenced many to settle in Wayne County. This group included the Conrad Youngs, the Klippels, the Rodenbachs and the Wagners.

They were attracted to the rolling hills of Wayne County, not unlike the country they had just left in Rhinehessen. So they bought land and settled - many of them on adjoining farms or near by, all near the small settlement of Wayne Center. They were all members of the Evangelical Church, and continued their allegiance to the Evangelical Church in this country. They never were members of the Lutheran Church, established after Luther's death, but to the Church he founded, the Evangelical Church. Wayne Center is about eight miles from Lyons, and they drove this distance each Sunday for church services.

Ferguson's Corners is a hamlet east and south of Wayne Center - about three miles from Lyons. There is a school-house there, no longer in use. Behind it is quite a large cemetery, where many of the surrounding area had lots. The Wagners [referring to Heinrich and Anna Maria Wagner (nee Eckhard)] had a lot there. Quite a number of years ago, when my brother, Fred, from California was in the east on a visit, he and I went out there to see our ancestor's graves. We found the stone tilted, the markers not in good condition. So we had them repaired at our own expense - the least we could do in their memory. I went out later, and found the work had been well done. The cemetery, however is in a deplorable condition."

"Cousin Henry [referring to Rev. Louis Henry Wagner, Ellen's great grandfather] on his European tour with his Aunt visited Siefersheim but found no living relatives. He did visit cemeteries.

I remember that he came to Lyons after that trip and he brought my Father a cane from Ireland. It was of peat wood - black, with carvings of the snakes of Ireland, etc. up and down its length. A very handsome present. Other visits I remember was when he came with his second wife [Sarah Moyer], and Louis [referring to Louis Jacob Gordon Wagner, Ellen's grandfather] accompanied them. Louis must have been about five or six. My brother Fred and I were very fond of this little cousin, a year or two younger than we were. But we felt very sorry for him because he had a 'stepmother' - something very strange to our young minds, which made us feel very close to him."

Tusonelda was born in 1882 in Lyons, Wayne County, New York and lived her whole life there. She married Dr. Reuben Spencer Simpson around 1913 and passed away in 1971.

'Unusual' Names Help

2011-05-22T22:24:00.003-04:00

One of the lessons I have learned over the years to get through 'brickwalls' in my research is to look to 'unusual' names for an answer. 'Unusual' or unique names will typically narrow the search through databases to records that aid in going around those 'brickwalls' when going through them isn't working. Using this technique in addition to researching 'laterally' in a family through a sibling, have been research lifesavers for me.

Such is the case in researching my wife Ellen's ancestors prior to their time in Canada. Ellen's second great grandfather, Rev. Jacob Wagner, immigrated to the United States with his parents Heinrich and Anna Maria Wagner (nee Eckhard), along with his older sister Elizabeth, in 1832. The family settled in Lyons, Wayne County, New York State. Although I know much of Jacob's life as a 'preacher' in the Evangelical Association, little was known about the remainder of his family's life in Lyons. Until I noticed that his sister, Elizabeth, about whom little was known (pictured above right), had married Frederick (Friedrich) Nusbickel in 1843.

Frederick, as further research indicated, also had immigrated from Germany and had arrived in the United States in 1839. The family story has it that Frederick found employment on a farm and saved his full wages, living off the means provided to him in an 'immigrants trunk' his father had given to him. Eventually, his saved wages allowed Frederick to purchase land in Rose, New York for he and his wife Elizabeth to settle and raise a family on.

Finding Nusbickel records is much easier than finding Wagner records. In U. S. Federal Census records, Frederick can be seen making his living farming in Rose, New York but by 1880, he and his son, Frederick (Jr.) had opened a hardware business in Lyons.

Frederick and Elizabeth had four children that I know of: Mary b. 1847; Frederick b. 1849; Elizabeth b. 1851; and, Catherine b. 1855. The senior Elizabeth Nusbickel passed away in 1896 and Frederick (Sr.) died a year later, in 1897. Little would have possibly been known about Ellen's second great grandaunt had she married someone named Smith or Jones.

Tracking O'Neills

2011-05-20T17:29:00.006-04:00

My mother was an O'Neill and she had two brothers, still both living, who are O'Neills. My mother's father, my grandfather, was John Graham O'Neill (although throughout his adult life he preferred to be called Graham and signed his name J. Graham O'Neill). That is the easy part, the part that I know from personal experience.

Getting beyond my grandfather to my O'Neill great grandparents was not too much of a challenge thanks initially to the O'Neill family cemetery plot in Mount Hope Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario. The photo below shows the headstone from the O'Neill family plot. Clearly marked on the stone are the names of the four adults and one infant buried in the plot. Missing from the headstone is my grandfather's name who is also buried in the plot.

William Emmett O'Neill was the first to be buried in the family grave when he died in 1924. He was joined in the grave in 1927 when his grandson, John William O'Neill, the infant son of John Graham O'Neill and Gertrude O'Neill (nee Foley), died. William's wife Margaret O'Neill (nee Graham) died at 189 Pickering Street in 1937 (creepily in the very bedroom in which I was conceived according to what my mother told me) and was interred with her husband and grandson.

When William Emmett O'Neill and Margaret Graham married on June 4, 1894 at St. Mary's Church in Toronto, Ontario, they would not have been considered to be young people. William was listed as being 42 years old and Margaret was 39 years of age. Their marriage registration indicates that both were Roman Catholic and that they were both born in Canada. Unfortunately, this means that they were born prior to the commencement of civil registration in 1869. Remarkably, despite their ages, William and Margaret had three children - a boy (my grandfather) and two girls, Kathleen who would enter the convent and become Sister St. Edwin, and Avila who never married.

The records about this family, though at times difficult to find, paint a picture of a middle class family that seemed to maintain a comfortable but not luxurious lifestyle. In 1911 for example, the census shows the family living at 400 Margueretta Street in Toronto's west end. In that census, respondents were asked to report on their annual earnings in 1910. William reported that he had earnings of $500 from his work as an insurance agent. To gauge the current equivalent value of $500 in 1910 today, I used a number of online calculators. The buying power of $500 in 1910 is about $11,500 today, hardly a wealthy annual salary. The better comparison however was able to be drawn from a Statistics Canada report that shows the average salaries or earnings for production workers and supervisory and office workers. William's earnings in 1910 were slightly above the average for production workers but was about half the annual average earnings for supervisory and office workers.

William listed his parents as being John O'Neill and Mary Murphy on his marriage registration. Just as the headstone indicates at his grave, William also consistently listed his birth date as February 26, 1849 in census records. For his marriage registration however, when he indicated his age to be 42, the math would suggest a year of birth as 1852. I did find John and Mary O'Neill, my second great grandparents in the 1851 Census of Canada West (as the current Province of Ontario was then called).

William was listed in that 1851 census as a one year old living with his parents John and Mary, along with an older sister, Hanora, aged 4, and John's mother and my third great grandmother, Hanora O'Neill (no maiden name known). John and his mother were listed as both being born in Ireland but Mary was listed as being born in Canada around 1828. It appears that Mary was about 18 or 19 years old when she married John who would have been probably about 33 or 34 years old.

Unfortunately, no additional information about the O'Neills can be found and the usual databases sources used don't seem to be able to help despite using various surnames variations and data 'mining tricks.'

William’s Abandonment Issues

2011-05-15T10:34:00.002-04:00

Put me on the list of those who wish their ancestors had shot some video of important moments in my family’s history and uploaded it to YouTube. Aside from actually being there, at least the videos might help fill the gaps and answer the questions that the documents about my ancestors and their troubled times leave void.

I have recently been spending time pursuing my paternal grandmother’s family and while I had initially believed that her family branches looked fairly stable, I have found them bending and shaking through many storms. My paternal grandmother is Agnes Little, a four foot, ten inch ball of fire born in Greenock, Refrewshire, Scotland, who was the daughter of James Little and Margaret ‘Maggie’ Mitchell.

Margaret Mitchell was the second child born to William Mitchell and Agnes Sweeney, my grandmother’s grandparents and my great-great grandparents. William was born around 1868 and Agnes was born in 1870, both in Scotland. They married, as teenagers, on September 28, 1886 in Greenock. On the marriage registration William listed his parents as James Mitchell and Rose Ann Dowds. Agnes’ parents were listed as Edward Sweeney and Ellen Dickson.

All seemed good and stable. William worked at the local Greenock shipyards as a Labourer and the year after they married, William and Agnes welcomed their first child, a daughter they named Ellen into their new family. In 1889, Margaret was born followed by Edward in 1891, William in 1892, and James in 1895. It was at this point that things started to take unexpected twists and turns.

In 1897, another daughter, Matilda was born. Her birth registration clearly states that William was her father and Agnes was her mother. While she like her other siblings, was born in Greenock, the specific location of her birth is not a street address or a hospital but rather “H M Prison” or Her Majesty’s Prison in Greenock! The National Archives of Scotland file catalogue does not list any court records regarding Agnes so I’m uncertain as to why she would have been in prison at the time she gave birth to Matilda.

I usually welcome the finding of a family record on which the registrar or other official has included additional information but the birth registration of Agnes’ next child, a daughter named Agnes born in 1899, included a notation unlike any I had previously seen. In the section of the registration that names the parents, no father is listed. Rather the following is the full text of the parent’s name section: “Agnes Sweeney wife of William Mitchell, shipyard labourer, who she declares, is not the father of the child, and that she has had no personal communication with him for close on 4 years."

So Agnes has clearly declared that her husband William left her around 1895 and that he was not the baby’s father. No clues were provided in the document as to who the father might be.

In 1901, Agnes was living at 40 Dalrymple Street, a multi-family building, in Greenock West. Living with her were her two youngest children, daughters Matilda and Agnes. Also living with her were two boarders – 18 year old Cecillia McCormick and 22 year old Joseph Branchfield. Agnes indicated that she made her living as a shopkeeper and no doubt the two boarders helped her ‘make ends meet.’ Agnes’ older children can be found living with Agnes’ mother elsewhere in Greenock.

Just more than two months after the 1901 census had been completed; Agnes gave birth to another daughter, Catherine. Catherine’s surname was listed as “Sweeney or Mitchell” and again the registrar made a note in the parent’s name section, "Agnes Sweeney who is married to William Mitchell, Shipyard Labourer, who, she declares, is not the father of the child, and, further, that she has had no personal communication with him for eight years."

In 1903, Agnes gave birth to a son named Joseph Branchfield but this time the father was listed as Agnes’ 1901 ‘boarder’, Joseph Branchfield. Yet another notation was made by the registrar naming Agnes Sweeney "married to William Mitchell, Labourer, who, she declares, is not the father of the child, and further, that she has had no personal communication with him since he left her 8 years ago."

The pattern and the big picture is clear. At some point in the mid-1890’s (even though all the math in Agnes’ declarations doesn’t quite add up), William Mitchell abandoned his family, perhaps as a result of whatever issue landed his wife, Agnes in prison. Subsequently, Agnes took in boarders at her Dalrymple Street ‘apartment’, one of whom was a younger man named Joseph Branchfield. Joseph and Agnes it seems shared more than just the apartment. Eventually, on September 12, 1905, Joseph and Agnes married. The marriage registration indicates that Agnes was a spinster, simply by legal definition an unmarried woman although no death registration can be found for husband William nor can a reference to divorce proceedings be located.

Margaret ‘Elizabeth’ Branchfield was born to Joseph and Agnes in 1907 and in 1911, the family, with the five youngest children, was together, living at 3 Harvie Lane in Greenock.

Agnes died September 2, 1928 of colon cancer and heart failure at the young age of 57, still married to Joseph. William, her first love, was, it appears, just a distant memory.

My Ancestor Did What?

2011-05-10T22:19:00.009-04:00

[NOTE: This post was originally published on Thursday, May 12, 2011. Unfortunately due to technical issues with the Blogger site, the post was lost so this is my attempted rewrite of the original.]

There are some occasions when I am amazed by the events that I uncover in my ancestors lives. The lives of James Mitchell and Rosannah (sometimes Rose Anne or Rosean) Dowds, my 3X great grandparents is just such a case.

I'm fortunate enough to know the names of all sixteen of my great great grandparents. I also know the names of all sixteen of my 3X great grandparents on my father's side of the family or my paternal line - but only six names of 3X great grandparents in my maternal line (so more work needed there with a heavy dose of Irish records education thrown in for good measure). While I have tended to concentrate on my Hadden ancestors (my father's paternal line), I have recently spent time researching my father's maternal family, the ancestors of my grandmother Agnes Little.

Agnes' great grandparents, and therefore my 3X great grandparents were James Mitchell and Rosannah Dowds. Both were born in Ireland, James in County Fermanagh and Rosannah in County Derry. James and Rosannah married in Glasgow, Scotland on 4 Septemeber 1855. It seems that neither was literate as they both signed the marriage registration with an "X."

In 1861, James and Rosannah can be found in the Scottish census records for that year living on the Glasgow Road in Old Monkland with their first child, a one year old daughter named Margaret. James was employed according to the record as a "Predsman in Pit." I have no idea as to what that job refers to and the job title is a best effort to decipher the poor penmanship of the census enumerator. Any assistance with identifying the nature and type of job that this refers to would be most welcome!

Although I would have thought it would have been easy to find the family in subsequent census reports like 1871 and 1881, that is not the case. Failing to find the family in those records, I turned to the Scottish National Archives that includes a searchable catalogue of their records holdings. To my astonishment, I found records relating to Rosannah and two criminal trials. According to these records Rosannah Dowds Mitchell was convicted in the High Court at Glasgow on December 28, 1877 of theft by housebreaking. For this crime, she was sentenced to eight years in prison. The record of this trial notes that this was not Rosannah's first offence!

I have contacted the Scottish National Archives and requested a fee estimate to receive a copy of the files and I will of course share the results of the process and the contents of the files if I am lucky enough to receive them. While it is possible that their was another Rosannah Dowds Mitchell living in the same vicinity as my ancestors, I suspect the Rosannah who is the subject of the court file is 'my' Rosannah as she appears in the 1881 Scottish Census as a "Prisoner" at the General Prison for Scotland in Perth, Perthshire, listed as "Rose Ann Dowds or Mitchell," a married 45 year-old 'hawker' who was born in Ireland. Similarly in the 1871 Scottish, Rosannah can be found as a 'criminal prisoner' in a Glasgow prison which may be related to the previous conviction noted at the 1877 trial.

I suspect that Rosannah's convictions may be related to stealing in order to provide basic sustenance for her children but this may only be my way of rationalizing my great-great-great grandmother's criminal ways! The photo above right from the Scotland National Galleries depicts a gloomy High Street in Glasgow, Scotland during the Mitchell family's time there. Only a review of the trial documents may enlighten me as to her true motives.

Sometime after Rosannah's release from prison, she and James moved their family to Greenock in Renfrewshire. They lived on Charles Street in Greenock when their son William married Agnes Sweeney in 1886 and they were in also living on Charles Street in Greenock when their daughter Helen married Dougald Carmichael in 1889.

Tragedy struck the family again however when on the morning of February 16, 1899 the body of James Mitchell was found drowned in Cowdenknowes Dam. A subsequent 'Record of Corrected Entry' was registered by the Procurator Fiscal, a Scottish public prosecutor who investigated all sudden and suspicious deaths similar to a coroner that we might be more familiar with. The Procurator Fiscal determined that James Mitchell drowned in the Dam sometime between 4:00 p.m. on February 15th and 10:00 a.m. on February 16th. The drowning was further determined to be accidental. Sadly, James was listed as having no fixed address but usually resided at the Smithston Poorhouse (also known as the Smithston Poorhouse and Asylum).

As for Rosannah, she died in December of 1905 at the age of 59 years, the victim of a stroke. A generation of hardship and tragedy in the family ended.

Census Day in Canada!

2011-05-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today, May 10th, is Census Day in Canada! All Canadians are asked to complete a census form that asks for the basic census information we have typically found in past census records like name, gender, relationship to 'head' of the household, marital status, and language. Completing the census, which can be completed online or on paper, is voluntary.

Last year, in July, I wrote about the error in judgement being made by the federal government in a) making the census voluntary and, b) providing respondents with the option of not allowing their information to become public after the elapsed statutory period of 92 years.

According to most dictionaries a census is an enumeration of the population, in this case Canada's population, at a point in time. I not certain that if I voluntarily choose not to complete the census tomorrow, Canada's population is really enumerated. I'm certain that statisticians can use mathematical formulae that I may not fully understand to derive the country's population but I struggle with the concept that it equates to an enumeration.

As for the election that I can make to not let my information be made public in 92 years, to address any privacy issues and concerns that I may have, seriously? I have no real prospects of being alive to worry about the disclosure of the information the census asks of me. I don't know what would be so scandalous for the public to find out that I have an address, I'm married, and I speak English. I think all of my family, friends and co-workers already know that information and didn't need to wait 92 years to get it. I can even figure out this level of information for Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister who is married with two children, is employed (the result of the recent Canadian federal election), and lives at the Prime Minister's residence (24 Sussex Drive) in Ottawa, Ontario. I didn't need Wikipedia, which goes a step further and even provides his date of birth, to figure this out.

Statistics Canada, the arm of the federal government in Canada that is responsible for the census hopes to have one in three households complete a "long form" of the census that will ask for additional information. It has always been my view that all households should have received the long form and should be required to complete it.

I have completed my census return (I chose to complete it online), I elected to make the information I submitted publicly accessible in 92 years and I asked to receive a long form. If one of my descendants wants to further research their family history, and all the research I am currently doing is mysteriously lost, I ought to try to help where I can. All Canadians get the chance to do the same today!

For Mom - Anne Margaret O'Neill

2011-05-07T10:40:00.003-04:00

Anne Margaret O'Neill, 'Mom' to me, left us in January 1994, a victim of cancer. She left behind a husband, her children, and perhaps most important to her, her beloved grandchildren.

Anne (also known as 'Anna', 'Mom', and 'Granny') was born in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Her parents had moved to Detroit from their home in Toronto, Ontario because work was available for my grandfather - and finding work in the Depression era of the 1930's was important. My mother's older brother, Edwin ('Ed') had been born in Toronto a couple of yearas prior to the family move and a couple of years after my mother's birth, the family expanded again with the birth of William ('Bill') O'Neill.

Following the death of my mother's paternal grandmother in Toronto in 1937, the family moved back to the house my grandfather had inherited. The same house became my parent's home after they married in 1953 and was the house that I was raised in through my early childhood years.

My mother graduated from Notre Dame High School in 1948 and entered nursing school as it was referred to then at St. Michael's Hospital in downtown Toronto. She graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1952. My mother loved nursing but took a hiatus from her work from the mid-1950's through the early 1960's during which time she gave birth to five children in six years, only three of whom survived to adulthood. It wasn't until I became a parent that I could even fathom the anguish my parents must have experienced at the deaths of my brothers Brian (1956-1957) and Stephen (1957-1959).

My mother often displayed an off-beat, quirky sense of humour. While in high school, she and a friend would pass a local funeral parlour while walking home from school. They started making it a habit to stop in and visit the funeral parlour each day - just to see who was there! The anecdotes from her professional life working in a hospital ranged from technical medical procedures to the bizarre. Her favourite however was always 'The Chocolate Cake' story.

St. Michael's Hospital, or St. Mike's as it is locally known, operated in an older part of the city not known for glitz and glamour. As such my mother's patients were often those that suffered from alcohol and mental illnesses. My mother worked on "1D", a first floor unit that was close to the street and all that the rundown neighbourhood had to offer. She worked with a close-knit team of nurses and they used any occasion to brighten otherwise tough days.

One such occasion was the birthday of a colleague unit nurse. Mom's best fiend, Marie (known in our house as 'the tall blonde') baked the birthday cake and spread far more chocolate icing on it than was required. As Marie was carrying the cake into work for the birthay ccelebration, the cake fell out of it's box, landing on the florr of the hospital's lobby. My mother and Marie quickly assessed that with the excess icing, the cake could easily be salvaged by re-spreading the icing that remained.

A short time later as my mother was walking through the lobby, she encountered two nuns dressed in their full black habits (the hospital was run by the Sisters of St. Joseph religious order). The nuns, thinking that someone had defecated on the floor, called to my mother and pointed out the brown lump. Without missing a beat, my mother told the nuns not to worry and promptly put her finger into the 'lump' then put her her finger bearing the brown goo into her mouth, proclaiming"Ummmm, it's wonderful!" The shocked nuns hastily left to report that a nurse was having some kind of breakdown.

In her retirement years, my mother shopped, a lot. She explained to me that she was simply exercising her "God given right to spoil" her gandchildren.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom and to all mothers in heaven or still struggling here on Earth! You deserve a day to be recoginized for the nurturing care we have all benefited from.

The Plus Side of On-Line Family Trees

2011-05-04T20:55:00.003-04:00

The use of on-line family trees has certainly been a contentious issue for a long period of time. I have heard many people express the opinion that these on-line trees should be avoided completely as they are filled with erroneous information. Unfortunately that can often be true.

Too often, I have encountered well meaning individuals who proclaim a relationship to royalty or persons of historic significance because they found the information on the Internet, the inference being that if it's posted on the Internet is must be valid and correct. This is similar to the argument that an elder family member 'once upon a time' researched the family and told them they were related to royalty or persons of historic significance and therefore it is true.

From my experience, it is absolutely true that on-line family trees can be suspect and error filled. I have maintained a posted public family tree on the Ancestry site for several years. It is absolutely not perfect and sadly not everything in my posted tree is correct and not all facts have sources. Some would advise me that I should therefore not post the tree. I disagree.

My posted family tree is what I consider the other posted family trees to be - a work in progress. For instance, there was a time in my research life when I saw no need to cite my sources when, after all, I had downloaded and filed a digital image on my computer pertaining to a life event or fact in an ancestor's life. As my research continued and I found more and more ancestors and acquired more and more documentation, I discovered that I couldn't possibly remember which document verifying a fact was stored in which file nor could I keep track of matching the documentation to the ancestral life events. So, for some time I have been very busy 'backtracking' and recording source citations in my genealogy database. I know of many reputable genealogists who fall into this same category. I currently have just over 12,000 individuals in my database so there is a lot of work ahead for me to prune my tree and cite my sources.

This is where I see the benefit to me of on-line family trees. In a number of my family branches, I have been successful at finding other researchers that are researching common ancestors, some with whom I have made solid collaborative contacts. Their trees may also contain errors however they may greatly assist me by pointing to facts that I can research, verify, obtain and cite sources for. I'm experiencing a few direct benefits from these on-line family trees.

One, I am able to gather solid source evidence for the events in the lives of numerous ancestors; two, I am gaining exposure to and experience with the records of previously unfamiliar jurisdictions; three, my skills with properly citing sources has greatly improved; and four, my database has become richer and more meaningful as a family history. This has allowed me to periodically replace my on-line family tree with a version that will be more helpful to family members with whom I am collaborating as well as for family members with whom I make new connections.

My family tree has many branches and I owe a debt to those family members, however distant from me, who are pointing me in the right direction to do my own research on a branch where I can find records, verify facts and cite good sources. My advice - use the on-line family trees that you find but also use common sense and be slow to accept what you find as true until you have the facts verified and sourced.

Tracking The Elusive Thomas Latimer

2011-04-30T22:05:00.004-04:00

Thomas Latimer is the great granduncle of my wife, Ellen. Tracking his whereabouts, even his very existence at points in time has created numerous 'brickwalls' and has caused many hours of frustrating research. Finally, using a tried and true 'brickwall buster' I have been able to piece together a reasonably good timeline of his life.

Thomas (pictured to the right in a 1912 photo shared by Latimer cousin Robin) was the eldest child of Daniel Latimer and his wife, Mary (nee Beatty or Beattie) . He was born in Enniskillen, Ireland on the 20th of September 1846. When Thomas' father died, his mother decided to move the family to Canada and in 1863, Mary and four of her six children immigrated to Seaforth, Huron County, Ontario, Canada. Thomas was trained as a carpenter, his brothers John ('Jack') Latimer was a tailor and youngest brother Edward Latimer (Ellen's great grandfather) was a shoemaker. The three young men plied their trades in Seaforth to ensure a comfortable living for their family.

Sometime around 1872, Thomas married Charlotte Marriot (or Marriott). Charlotte was born in Stephen, Huron County, Upper Canada about 1848 according to the 1861 Census of Canada. I have yet to find however a marriage registration for them despite viewing all of the Huron County marriage registration images for 1872. Their marriage registration also does not seem to among any databases for Ontario marriages.

In March 1873, Thomas and Charlotte welcomed their first child, a daughter they named Mary Elizabeth. She was the first of ten children, nine of whom lived into adulthood. Their last child, Mazey Beatrice, born and sadly died around 1890.

Sometime prior to 1881, Thomas and Charlotte moved their family which consisted at the time of three children to Marquette, Manitoba where Thomas took up farming for a living. Sometime prior to May 1891, Thomas, now a widower, moved his family about 74 kilometres (or about 45 miles) east to Selkirk, Manitoba. In April 1892, it was reported in the Manitoba Daily Free Press that Thomas met with a bad accident which required that he be sent to a Winnipeg hospital for treatment. This is where the trail of Thomas Latimer runs cold despite the use of numerous of database searches using every variety of search criteria imaginable.

One of the tips I have learned in breaking through these kinds of 'brickwalls' is to search for someone else in the family, especially if they had an unusual name. Fortunately for me, Thomas and Charlotte named their youngest son, and ninth child, Ormand Adwell Latimer. Where that moniker came from I do not know but it was key to finding more information about Thomas' route through life.

Further searching based on locating Ormand (or 'Orm' as he was known) found the family living in Louise, Lisgar, Manitoba in April 1901. As may be derived from his photo, I suspect that Thomas was a bit of character for he told the enumerator in that census year that he was born on the Atlantic Ocean! By 1906 when the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta were undergoing another census to determine the number of seats they would have in the Canadian parliament, Thomas was again reporting his place of birth as Ireland.

In that 1906 census, Thomas and five of his children were living in Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan. His trail again runs cold after 1906 and some further 'digging' is needed to determine his whereabouts although according to family stories, Thomas passed away at the age of 87, in 1934 in Benson, Saskatchewan. I suspect Thomas experienced a tough, rugged but clearly long life.

Edwin C. McRae, Attorney and Inventor

2011-04-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

I love researching ancestral family lines and stumbling upon an ancestor who was both successful and particularly interesting. Edwin C. McRae, my second cousin twice removed from my maternal family branches is just such a person.

Edwin was born on January 4, 1900 in Mount Pleasant, Isabella, Michigan, USA. He was the youngest of seven children in the family of William Alexander and Anastasia (nee O'Neill) McRae. William and Anastasia were both born and raised in Victoria County, Ontario, north-east of Toronto. William had been trained in the building trades and made his living as a contractor. Sometime in the mid-1890's, he moved his family from the quiet rural setting of Victoria County, Ontario to the quiet, rural setting of Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

William and Anastasia's eldest son, William Vincent McRae, followed in his father's footsteps as a contractor, although for some time around 1920 he was also employed as an auto worker in Detroit. Second oldest son, Colin Joseph McRae moved to Detroit as a young adult and similarly gained employment as an auto worker.

Edwin moved with his parents to Detroit where they can be found living in 1920. By 1930 however, Edwin was married and living with his wife Grace (nee Bunt) on Sherwood Drive in Huntington Woods, Michigan. Edwin worked like other family members at the auto plant but he was the company attorney.

I'm not certain how long Edwin worked as an attorney in the auto industry but at some point, he left Michigan and he and Grace settled in Cusseta, Alabama where he passed away in August 1983.

What is most interesting about Edwin is not only his success at becoming an attorney but he was also granted 28 patents for inventions connected to a variety of automobile engines and accessories. Everything from an anti-skid braking control system to a vehicle torque converter to a ball cock valve. I cannot claim to understand nor fully appreciate the complexity of his inventions and I don't know if any of them were used in automobile production but it is clear the Edwin C. (for Cyprian) McRae clearly had a brilliant mind and put it to good use.

Testing My Family History Assumptions

2011-04-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

When I was a young child (oh, so very long ago!), my mother often told me stories about her grandfather, John Foley. She never knew her grandfather as he passed away before she was born but she was proud nonetheless of his success in life as a contractor. At the time, we lived on Pickering Street in Toronto's east end. According to my mother, John Foley had either built or owned numerous homes in our neighbourhood and in fact, he and his family lived in "the big house on the corner."

There was only one big house on the corner in my world at the time, at the intersection of my part of Pickering Street and a street called Swanwick Avenue. Despite the passage of time I believed that the house, not far from where we lived at the time, had been my great grandfather's house. It certainly was big, at least three times the size of the house my parents and I lived in. I realize now that I never did ask my mother which corner she was referring to and so I assumed that that I knew which house was "the big house on the corner."

I like to apply a research lesson I learned early in my family history quest - read your documents again! If you are like me, there is an excitement about just finding the document or record that interferes with the more serious review and extraction of the actual information contained in the document or record. As an example, I once researched, quite thoroughly I would add, a totally incorrect Hadden family believing one member of the family to be my second great grandfather.

Recently, while doing some research on the still too mysterious Foley family, I re-examined the World War 1 Attestation records for uncles 'Gerald' and 'Clarence' Foley. Uncle Gerald was still living at home when he signed up for military service in August 1915. He was five feet five inches tall and worked as a teamster, like his father before him, and listed his address as 96 Pickering Street. Why I hadn't noticed the address I can't say. Perhaps I only noticed that he was living on Pickering Street and for some reason thought the house number was just a minor detail.

While re-examining the record, the house number caught my attention and thanks to Google Maps I was able to see that I had been a large city block off on the actual location of the "big house on the corner." The Foley home was on Pickering Street but not at the intersection with Swanwick Avenue. Rather it was much farther south, at the intersection with Lyall Avenue. Below is a photo of the 'real' Foley house that I recently took while visiting in the area. Ironically, this house is directly across the street from my paternal George Irvine Gaull's grocery store and likely the place where my paternal and maternal family lines first intersected.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

My family didn't celebrate Easter with a chocolate egg hunt, rather we left our hats in the living room, usually on the sofa, and the Easter Bunny filled them with chocolate treats. I have no idea as to where that tradition or the idea for it came from but the chocolate was always good and I didn't get tired having to hunt for it!

Easter also meant dressing up for church and typically a day trip somewhere. For a time, the day trip was to Niagara Falls, Ontario. We enjoyed the scenery, well at least I think my parents enjoyed the scenery while we waited for them at signal that it was time to head over to the fudge shop. You know, the kind of shop that produces every imaginable variety and flavour of fudge that you could think of!

While we had to pose for photos on the eve of Easter usually wearing new pajamas, there was no such requirement on the Easter trip. Below is a moment that captures the magic of one of those early 1960's trips to Niagara Falls when my father caught my brother and sister at the perfect moment smelling tulips in the spring, one of my absolute favourite family photos.

The Easter Weekend for Grandparents

2011-04-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

There was nothing like a visit with our grandson Marcus to help us prepare for the Easter weekend, especially when Marcus dressed the part to deliver treats to his 'Grammie.'

Enjoy!

The Pro Versus Hobbyist Genealogist Debate

2011-04-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

When I was a kid, growing up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, my life revolved around hockey. I played day and night, year round. In the summer, my friends and I would dabble in baseball but hockey was our passion. We dreamed of improving our skill levels so that one day we could be pros and play for our beloved Maple Leafs. Signing a contract to play in an elite developmental league was a step closer to that dream and a moment that I won't forget.

Lately, genealogy blogs have been filled with opinions on how the community of genealogists, particularly the genealogy blogging community, can see itself. Essentially the question seems to be (and I admit I may be missing the point of the conversation) whether it's okay to generate money through blogs and professional work as a genealogist versus being a hobbyist. The conversation was initiated by Joan Miller at her Luxegen Genealogy Blog in a post Genea-Bodies: The New Somebodies. To give Joan credit, she started a lively discussion with 72 comments added to her post at the time of this writing. I think it took this blog about 200 posts before I had received 72 comments in total for all the posts combined.

Joan notes that the recent highly successful Rootstech conference recognized and elevated the status of the genealogy blogging community who tremendously aided the conference through their blogging and tweeting in social media and as such the "Genea-bodies" became the "new Somebodies" as conference cheerleaders. The engagement of the genealogy blogging community at the conference helped to unleash their passion.

Some great opinions have been added to the conversation at several different blogs and I would encourage you to read them all. Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers has started a series of posts on the issues surrounding fun or profit and opportunities for professional genealogists. Michael Hait also offers some interesting insights in the Tricks of the Tree blog. And IllyaD'Addezio shares his perspective quite well at his Genealogy Today blog. Finally for some good insights from a very popular and well respected blogger check out Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings opinions.

So where am I in the discussion? Well, I take a centrist view, not to be mistaken for 'sitting on the fence.' Just as I experienced in hockey, some want to be professional and hone their skills to a level that supports that experience. Some don't want to push that hard for that goal - and that's absolutely fine. I agree that almost everyone starts with a hobbyist interest and some pursue that interest and then are able to make a living with it. It really is to each their own!

There is nothing wrong with making money especially if you can do that while pursuing your passion for family history. I personally don't make any money from my genealogy pursuits. In fact, the opposite is true - I spend lots of money through society memberships, family history related trips and excursions, on-line subscriptions and document searches, conference attendance, and the list goes on. This blog has no ads which I recognize was and still is my choice for the moment. I have never received any 'freebies' and I have no affiliations with any vendors of genealogy services or products (not that I wouldn't mind receiving something for free but if I do, I recognize my need to be transparent and to disclose that fact).

It is great to see as Joan Miller indicates that the geneablogging community is being recognized but there is also a danger in the discussion. The danger in my view is that there can creep into the community an elitism that somehow the professional knows far more and is automatically more competent than all hobbyists. This has led sadly to some self-proclaimed genea-cops patrolling blogs and trying to belittle some bloggers. I know first hand as I have experienced it.

A well respected genealogist and blogger named 'Apple' who writes the Apple's Tree blog has recently announced that she won't be continuing because of the 'geneabullies' as she described them. This simply must stop. We must play nice together in the sandbox!

I have been researching my family, through one brickwall after another, for more than 30 years. Next year I plan on retiring from my 'day' job and will clearly have more time to devote to my favourite passion but I must admit I have little tolerance for someone trying to bully me or smugly suggesting that my research or it's presentation in this blog is less than the pure academia they feel is fitting based on a self-proclaimed area of expertise.

I'm happy having fun with my research. I'm happy sharing my trials and tribulations while hopefully adding to and benefiting from the support of the international community of genealogists. As Curt Witcher stated at the Rootstech conference,this is "the best of times" for genealogists. I say we should enjoy it - professional and hobbyist alike.

When 'Distant' Cousins Connect

2011-04-18T16:40:00.003-04:00

I suspect that there are as many reasons for beginning to research your family history as there are family historians. For some it will be a curiosity, for others it might be completing a family tree that someone else in the family started, and for others it is a love of historical connections. I have written often that for me it was a desire to know more about the ancestors, not too distant, that I didn't get to know like great grandparents and wanting to discover their reasons for making in many cases life altering changes in where and how they and their families would live.

My ancestors came to Canada from Scotland (paternal side) and Ireland (maternal side). A strong motivation then was to determine what drove their decision making to leave their native countries for a land half a world away. In addition, I wanted to know about the family they left behind when they set out to establish their new homes. Just a desire to know more about my family. There were no illusions of a new career in genealogy (more about this is a subsequent post).

This blog started as a means by which I could share the knowledge I have acquired about the family history with family members who now live great distances from each other. I had no idea that it would also serve as a means of connecting with some of those family members 'left behind.' I have been amazed at those "cousin connections" that have emerged because a blog post caught someone's attention in other parts of Canada, in the United States, in Finland, Australia, Scotland, or Luxembourg, and, has led to connecting through email and social media like Facebook. This, in the past year, has led to face to face meetings.

This past week another 'face to face' connection has occurred as my second cousin Pamela Gaull has journeyed from her current home in England to visit Toronto, Ontario to have a chance to meet with me and other cousins. I have shared some of the story previously in the blog about how Pamela and I initially connected and that she is the author of the novel The Darkness of Dreams.

Aside from getting together during her visit here to chat and drink voluminous amounts of coffee (me!), I had the pleasure of touring Pamela around to show her the homes that our common ancestors lived in up to 100 years ago when members of the Gaull family first immigrated to Canada.

Below are two photos from our travels today. In the first, Pamela is with my father, Lewis Hadden. Pamela's grandfather, John Stalker Gaull, and my father's grandmother, Jessie McKenzie Gaull, were brother and sister. Pamela and Lewis then share a great grandfather in John Gaull. In the second photo, I am seated with Pamela at a restaurant where we stopped for lunch. Connecting with the family 'left behind' makes the hours of research work all the more worthwhile - they were already enjoyable!

Mary Jane Gaull, Part 2

2011-04-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

In my last post, I summarized the first half of my 3rd great grandmother Mary Jane Gaull's life, as best as I can determine.

Mary Jane was born around 1837 in Kintore, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and when she was 23 years of age, gave birth to twin sons whom she named George and John Gaull. She seems to have refused to name the twins' father. Six months after the twins were born, Mary Jane married Alexander Glennie and moved to Tillyfro, Cluny, Aberdeenshire without the twins.

The closest, arguably the only match for Mary Jane in both the 1871 and 1881 Scottish Census appeared to be a Mary Glennie who was a patient at the Aberdeen Asylum at Old Machar. However a closer examination of the 1871 census records uncovered Alexander and Mary Jane listed as "Alex and Mary Glenie." They were residing right where I would have expected them to be in Tillyfro, Cluny, Aberdeenshire with at the time three of their five children: Mary Christie Glennie, James Gaull Glennie and Alexander Ingram Glennie. Their first child, a son named Alexander had died in 1867. In 1873, they added John Glennie to the family.

It seems then that Mary Glennie, patient at the Aberdeen Asylum, is not my ancestor.

Alexander Glennie died of bronchitis in February 1879 and Mary Jane's father John helped her out with the 'final arrangements.' This aid became a contentious issue in 1892 when Mary Jane's father John Gaull died for in his will he listed as part of his estate monies he had lent to her. His estate inventory states, "Sum due to the deceased by his daughter Mrs Mary Gaull or Glennie in connection with the Executry of her late husband or the management of the farm of Tillyfro, occupied by her, estimated at two hundred and fifty pounds Sterling but being disputed by the debtor and the deceased having held no voucher for the amount the debt can meantime only be valued at 1 shilling." John Gaull's will did direct his executors to not press the issue of the debt with Mary Jane which explains their actions in removing the debt. However, nothing seems to have been easy between father and daughter.

Mary Jane appears to have lived out her life, it appears somewhat quietly and, perhaps with the sizable estate left to her by her father, somewhat comfortably on the farm at Tillyfro in Cluny. She can be found on the farm in the 1891, 1901 and 1911 Scottish censuses. Living with her were some of her children and eventually grandchildren. It seems that her children Mary, James and John in particular had no desire to move out on their own, preferring to stay and work the family farm.

Mary Jane died on the farm at Tillfro, Cluny in January of 1925 at the age of 88. The cause of her death was listed as "senile decay." The informant of the death registration was her grandson Arthur Glennie who had lived with her on the farm for many years. Mary Jane was at times, I suspect, depicted in the family as someone who did things that others were not able to understand.

A rebel perhaps but a scoundrel, well, I don't think so.

Mary Jane Gaull, Part 1

2011-04-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm certain that all families have them. You know, the characters. I am holding back using terms such as 'black sheep' or 'nuts' mainly because I remind myself that 'the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.'

My own lineage certainly has it's share of interesting characters - those ancestors whom you want to have answer that one question - "Why?" or "What were you thinking?"

My second cousin, Pamela Gaull is currently visiting Toronto and after having met through Internet channels like Facebook and email, we have finally had a chance to meet face to face. In our meandering conversations so far, we happened upon our common great grandmother Mary Jane Gaull (2nd great grandmother to Pamela and 3rd great grandmother to me). We agreed that Mary Jane seemed to be a 'character' or at least a rebel in her time as far as her family relationships went. In order to get a better sense of Mary Jane's life, I decided to use a timeline chart to tease out some of the interesting episodes of her life.

This first part will look at Mary Jane's life from birth until 1881, a period of approximately 44 years or about half her lifetime.

Mary Jane was born around 1837 in Kintore, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the only child of John Gaull (1806-1892) and his wife, Mary Christie (1818-1879). While it is hypothesized that John would have liked to have had a larger family and more specifically a son, Mary Jane remained his only child. Based on census reports and the last will of John Gaull, he appears to have been a strict, stern, hard working man. He left land and money through his estate to his family, something not everyone was capable of doing in 19th century Scotland. His dismay then, was likely somewhat strong when his only child, Mary Jane would have announced sometime in 1859 that she was pregnant.

In February 1860, Mary Jane gave birth to twin boys that she named George and John Gaull. No father was named, something that has lead to much speculation. When George (who lived most of his life as George Irvine) died in 1941, his daughter Margaret provided the information to register his death. Margaret indicated that George's father's name was also George Irvine.

My theory is that Margaret was informed at some time during her life of the name of her father's father but there is no evidence to suggest that a George Irvine (Sr.) existed. In the 1861 Scottish Census, there is no George Irvine who seems a likely suspect to be the father. Presumably the George Irvine that Margaret named as her father's father and whom she described as a farm servant, lived nearby the Gaull farm in Chapel of Garioch. Of the six George Irvines listed in 1861 Aberdeenshire, one is the year-old son of Mary Jane, two appear too old to be the father, and the others in my opinion lived too far away to likely be the father.

In any event, Mary Jane sent infant George to live in Inverurie with a family named Hooey and kept infant John Gaull to live with her and her parents on their farm. In spite of giving birth to the twins, Mary Jane's maternal instincts didn't really seem to kick in. Six months after becoming a mother, Mary Jane married Alexander Glennie on August 11, 1860 at Whitehaugh, Chapel of Garioch. Mary Jane and Alexander had five children between 1861 and 1873 yet neither of the twins factored in to their family life. In 1871 for instance, George continued to live with the Hooey family in Inverurie and John lived with his grandparents at Chapel of Garioch.

Interestingly the only Mary Glennie to found in Aberdeenshire in the 1871 and 1881 Scottish Census records that might match Mary Jane was an inmate or patient in the Aberdeen Asylum located at Old Machar. Could she be my great grandmother?

My Father's Namesake

2011-04-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

I have often teased my father, Lewis John Hadden (pictured right), about allowing me to be named after my mother's favourite uncle, Gerald Foley, from whom I get my middle name, only to find out that Uncle Gerald's name wasn't Gerald. He was born Louis (after his maternal grandfather) Fitzgerald (his mother's maiden name) Foley. It seems he preferred to go by a part of his middle name, 'Gerald', and it stuck throughout his life.

This conversation about naming had led to my father explaining that he had been told that he was named after an uncle of his named Lewis. Having studied the family for more than 30 years, I knew there was no uncle named Lewis but thought it best not to challenge the myth. But it is now a myth no more!

Some days ago, I recounted the information that I had gleaned from the newly released 1911 Scottish Census. In particular, I noted "Sadly, Jessie also reported that she had given birth to four children but that only three were still alive. I have no idea as to who this fourth child might as the only known child death in the family was Hilda who was born in 1914 and died in 1917." I noted as well the need for further research to figure this part of the story out.

So, I did some more research and I found the missing child, a child that I quite frankly had never heard mentioned in any family story but whom appears to be my father's namesake, just as he had always been told. Lewis James McKenzie Hadden was born on 17 April 1908 at 771 Great Northern Road, Woodside, Aberdeenshire. Lewis was the third son of Alexander Shand Hadden and his wife Jessie Hadden (nee Gaull). One week before his first birthday, Lewis lost a short battle with capitis and died at the only home he had known, 771 Great Northern Road, Woodside, Aberdeenshire. His grandfather and Jessie's father, John Gaull registered his death on April 12th, 1909.

My father was the first grandchild for Alexander and Jessie and it appears that his father, John Gaull Hadden, named him Lewis to honour his brother's memory and John after himself. After all these years, Uncle Lewis has been found at last!

The Gaulls in 1911

2011-04-10T08:01:00.003-04:00

In my last post, I shared some new information about my direct ancestral Hadden family, revealed for the first time through the release of the 1911 Scottish Census. The census was taken on April 2, 1911 and the census records were released following a statutory 100 year wait on April 5, 2011. It struck me, looking at the census record for my Hadden family that all of them, a whole generation, of family members were gone. Uncle Alec (Alexander Gaull) Hadden is sadly missed having passed away a week shy of his 93rd birthday. Aunt Edith Groves (nee Hadden), who was adopted as a young child into the family, was the last of the generation to pass away, more than nine years ago.

The 1911 census also shows what was happening in other family branches, notably the Gaull family (shown above in a photo from the 1920's). Interestingly, if you search for someone named 'Gaull' in Aberdeenshire of either gender and of any age, you will find my one Gaull family of five. John Gaull (born in 1860), along with his wife of 27 years, Harriet (nee McKenzie), and three of their eleven children: daughter Elsie and the two youngest, William Fowler Gaull, then aged 14, and Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Fraser Gaull, then aged 11.

The census also shows that John and Harriet had 12 children but that only 11 were still living in 1911. They had lost a son, also named John Gaull in 1888 at the age of sixteen months. Little John Gaull (Jr.) died following an eight day battle with diphtheria, according to his death registration. In 1911, everyone's age was listed accurately on the census record except Harriet who shaved a year off for good measure.

John was listed as a crofter and cattleman by trade which confirms information passed along verbally to me by my late Uncle Alec who spent a lot of time in his youth at the Gaull farm. Uncle Alec's description was more pointed, John Gaull was a dairy farmer who sold his milk from barrels that he would take by wagon to neighbouring villages. If, according to Uncle Alec, John found that his supply of milk was running low because of brisk sales, he would stop at a creek to top up the barrels!

Daughter Elsie, aged 26 in 1911, was working at home on her "own account" as a dressmaker. When Elsie would later live in Canada for some years, she worked as a dressmaker for the T. Eaton and Co. department store. William Fowler Gaull was working on the croft, assisting his father while Lizzie was attending school.

Meanwhile, further south in Scotland, John Gaull's twin brother, George Irvine was aging at a slower rate than his twin. George listed his age as being a year younger than his actual age. George can be found living at 47B Eglinton Road in Old Monkland, Lanarkshire with his wife of 27 years, Isabel Watt. George and Isabel reported that they had five children but that only four were still alive. George listed his occupation as being the Foreman Fitter for the General Engineering Company. Three of their children were living with them in 1911: 23 year old Isabella was working as a clerk at a local grocery store, 19 year old Margaret was working as a typist at an Iron Works company, and 16 year old John Gaull Irvine was working as a grocer.

The geographic distance between the twin brothers, John and George was not that great but as I have recounted previously, I'm not certain they bridged the gap.

1911 Census of Scotland

2011-04-08T20:07:00.004-04:00

At long last April 5th arrived, marking the release of the 1911 Census of Scotland. Somewhat sadly, I realized that I had become so used to not having access to the 1911 Census that I almost (note that I stated "almost") forgot about it's release this week.

The 1911 Census of Scotland was the country's 12th and was taken on the night of April 2, 1911. The census included some important information that was not found in previous censuses like the duration of marriages, number of children and number of children still alive.

I immediately undertook a search for my immediate Hadden ancestral family. I expected to find my great grandparents, Alexander and Jessie Hadden living in Aberdeenshire with their three sons, Alexander (Alec), Andrew (Andy), and John (my grandfather). Finding the Hadden family through the ScotlandsPeople 1911 Census search engine was easy. I inputted their surname "Hadden" followed by their given names, "Alexander" and "Jessie." I felt confident enough to search based on exact matches for the Hadden surname in the county of Aberdeen.

I was a bit surprised by the search result. Oh, there was only one record matching my search criteria as I expected but when I looked at the record, my great grandfather was missing from the family.

Jessie Hadden (nee Gaull), my great grandmother, was listed as the 'head' of the family. She correctly gave her age at the time as being 29 years old (her birthday was in March just prior to the census). Living with her in the house at 6 Pirie's Lane, Woodside, Aberdeen (pictured above in an image captured from Google Earth) were her three sons: Alexander, aged 7 and going to school, Andrew, aged 5 and going to school, and finally, my grandfather John, aged 1. The 'Alexander' (later Uncle Alec as I would know him) was not the same Alexander I expected to find with my great grandmother as I had forgotten about the two Alexanders in the family unit.

Jessie indicated that she was married and had been for 8 years. The reality is she had only been married for seven years and four months to that point in time. Minor detail perhaps but I suspect that Jessie who had only been married four months when Uncle Alec was born did not want to risk any suspicious looks from the enumerator. Sadly, Jessie also reported that she had given birth to four children but that only three were still alive. I have no idea as who this fourth child might be as the only known child death in the family was Hilda who was born in 1914 and died in 1917. Jessie did give birth in 1901 to a boy named Disney Hay but Disney did not die and lived into adulthood. More research is clearly needed to address this issue.

My great grandfather was found in the 1911 census after all. He wasn't living with his family because he was away working in the fishing industry. Alexander (Sr.) is listed in the census as a 28 year old married Officer, 2nd Engineer on the S. S. North Star. I had been raised hearing about my great grandfather the marine engineer. Now I have a record that proves the family story is not legend or myth!

Genealogy School

2011-04-06T20:48:00.002-04:00

When I was in my early 20's, I knew it all! Unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten some it with the passage of time and so I have gone back to school, specifically genealogy school, and even more specifically, the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. I mentioned my course work a few posts ago when I shared my success in connecting with one of Ellen's cousins through a message board inquiry that had been posted in 2003.

I have been interested in pursuing a formal genealogy related curriculum for quite some time. When I started researching my family history around 1980, there were only a few rudimentary books that I was able to find to act as guides. I joined the local genealogical society and picked up some useful research tips on how to use the local archives resources. There were no formal education opportunities presenting themselves to help my research.

Well, times have changed. We now have computers with good quality database software available to us. We have mobile computing devices. I can even carry my software, database, family history documents, photos and books on a small USB key. In addition, there has been a tremendous expansion in the educational opportunities available to genealogists with numerous post secondary institutions now offering certificate and/or degree programs.

I chose to pursue course work towards a Certificate in Genealogical Studies at the National Institute, with the accompanying post nominals of PLCGS (Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies).

Why I chose the National Institute for Genealogical Studies has a couple of components to the answer. One, NIGS, as it is sometimes referred, is affiliated with St. Michael's College of the University of Toronto - my alma mater. I already know the school and it is located close to me. Two, as a follow-up to the 2011 RootsTech Conference and their recent purchase of the GenealogyWise social media website for genealogists, NIGS offered, for a limited time, free enrollment in their "Social Media for the Wise Genealogist" course. Free is a really good price particularly as I was interested in the program and the free course got me started and got my feet wet. I could try the on-line education program to see how it fit with my needs and style of learning.

I intend to specialize my certification in Canadian research but will also be studying Scottish records research. Maybe an old dog can learn new tricks!

So far, so good - and that's not counting the new, very unexpected cousin connection!

Mary Latimer (nee Beattie)

2011-04-04T20:04:00.004-04:00

It must be something in the air other than snow, sleet or rain that has brought photos of great great grandmothers to me! First, there was the discovery of a photo of Helen Gammie (nee Shand), my great great grandmother who had immigrated from Scotland to Saskatchewan, Canada in 1907. Later, Helen had successfully urged my great grandfather Alexander Shand Hadden to bring his family to Saskatchewan to help her manage the homesteads she possessed.

Now, I have been presented thanks to Latimer cousin and co-researcher Robin of British Columbia with a photo of Mary Latimer (nee Beattie)(see photo to the right), Ellen's great great grandmother. Just as was the case for me with Helen Gammie's photo, Ellen had never seen a photo of her great great grandmother.

Mary Beattie was born in Ireland around 1813 and she married Daniel Latimer when, I suspect, she was in her early 20's, probably around 1835. Between 1839 and 1853, Daniel and Mary had six children - 3 boys and 3 girls. Thomas the oldest was born in 1839, May was born about 1846, Annie Jane born in 1847, John born in 1849, Edward born in 1851, and finally, Sarah born about 1853.

Some records suggest, though perhaps not conclusively, that Mary, as a widow, and four of her children immigrated from Ireland to then Canada West around 1864. May and Annie remained in Ireland and did not make the journey with the rest of their family. It might have been that they were already or were about to be married. The preponderance of evidence indicates that the family resided in County Fermanagh although there is less uniform support for the parish of residence. It appears it was either Enniskillen or Derryvullan.

In Canada, Mary and her children settled in Seaforth, Huron County, Ontario. Oldest son Thomas was a carpenter by trade, married Charlotte Marriot in Seaforth in 1872, and then later moved his family west to Manitoba. John, the second oldest son, was a tailor by trade married Margaret Eliza Sills in Seaforth in 1871. John died at the tragically young age of 35 in 1884 in the nearby town of Wingham, Ontario. Edward 'Ned' Latimer, the youngest son (and Ellen's great grandfather) was a shoemaker by trade who married widow Theresa Delmage Sparling in 1872 in Seaforth.

Mary appears to have stayed with son John based on the location of her death in March 1884 in Wingham, Ontario. When her son John joined her in death just a few months later and he was buried in the same plot in the Maitlandbank Cemetery in Seaforth, Ontario.

Sister St. Edwin

2011-04-02T07:39:00.002-04:00

With all of the information I have shared recently about my maternal Irish Catholic ancestors, I realized one gap was apparent. Where was the call to a religious life?

It can be found in Kathleen Marie O'Neill, a younger sister of my maternal grandfather, J. (John) Graham O'Neill. Kathleen was born May 12, 1896 to William Emmett and Margaret (nee Graham) O'Neill. Not much is known of Kathleen's early life other than the few tidbits offered by the 1901 ans 1911 Canadian Census returns.

On July 1, 1920, Kathleen entered the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. According to the records provided by the Congregation's archivist, Kathleen was 24.8 years of age when she entered the order. She received her habit and her religious name, Sister St. Edwin, on January 5, 1921. She made her first profession of vows on January 5, 1923 and Kathleen made her final vows on January 5, 1926.

After completing her novitiate, Kathleen was assigned to Sacred Heart Orphanage, which was located originally in the Sunnyside area of Toronto and then in Scarborough, an eastern suburb of Toronto, where she spent some years, until forced by ill health to relinquish her charge. Following a long illness, she died on March 22, 1953 and was buried in the Sisters' plot at Mount Hope Cemetery, Toronto. Kathleen was only 56 years of age when she passed away.

Sacred Heart Orphanage no longer exists but I remember donating a large 'slot' car track to the orphanage when I was young. I can remember taking the track into the orphanage and all of the boys asking me which cottage I was in and why I was so special that I got the track. A number of years later, when orphanages were no longer in existence, the facility was used for the residential treatment of emotionally disturbed children. I spent a summer there in the early 1970's completing a study on the residential program's success. I never knew through those times that my grandaunt Kathleen had given so much of herself in the same halls.

What Did Your Ancestor Do For A Living?

2011-03-28T20:46:00.004-04:00

I can remember reading and hearing talk shows announcing that 'my' generation was likely to be the last who would likely expect to have one employer for life. The next generations, it was said, would be comprised of workers and professionals who would expect to have multiple employers, including being self-employed. The challenge put out to employers at the time of this theorizing then was how do you instill loyalty in employees who expect to leave you?

What of our ancestors then - if they typically had but one employer to whom they remained loyal their whole work life, how easy would it be to research their occupation and perhaps even their employment history? I'm beginning to suspect that the answer to the question is, it depends on when you asked them. Here's a case in point, my wife Ellen's maternal grandfather, Edward Arthur Latimer (pictured to the right with his youngest daughter Tess on her wedding day in 1942).

Edward was born in 1877 in the village of Seaforth, Ontario. In November of 1899, he married Harriet Sooles and listed his occupation as tinsmith. The only records earlier than this marriage record that I have found with Edward listed were the census records for 1881 and 1891 when Edward was too young to be described as having an occupation. Although he was 14 years of age in 1891, he was not even listed as a student. Tragically, in February 1901 Harriet Sooles Latimer died as a result of complications from giving birth to her and Edward's daughter (the daughter also died later in 1901). On his wife's death registration, Edward is listed as a mechanic.

By 1907, Edward had traveled to California where he met and married Mattie Diona Knox, the daughter of a former Seaforth native and then prominent Livermore, California politician Thomas E. Knox. Edward and Mattie left California immediately after their wedding and settled in Orillia, Ontario, a town about a ninety minute drive north of Toronto. There, in 1907 Mattie gave birth to their first daughter, Albertine, followed by a second daughter Hazel in 1909. Edward listed his occupation as plumber on both his daughter's birth records. In 1911, the most recent of the available census records shows Edward as recording his occupation once again, having come full circle, as tinsmith.

According to family members, Edward was in the hardware business so may he did some of everything - some plumbing (supply) work, some tinsmithing, some mechanical work - all with the intention of helping the customers of his hardware business.

My paternal grandfather, John Gaull Hadden on the other hand, married and became a father just as the world entered the Great Depression era. As a result, it seems John worked at whatever he could find to scratch out a living. Whether it was working as a day labourer and eventually settling in to a career as a milk delivery man to being an apartment building superintendent later in life, he took on work as he found it. Out of necessity, it appears he was loyal to whomever was employing him at the time.

I have essentially had one employer for my entire working career. As for my children and their children - who knows?

The Obituary of Edward Latimer Sr.

2011-03-23T19:57:00.006-04:00

Thanks to Latimer cousin and co-researcher Robin for a copy of the obituary of Edward Latimer, my wife Ellen's great grandfather which appeared in the Seaforth (Ontario, Canada) News on August 7, 1932.

Edward (pictured to the right in 1923) was born around 1851 in County Fermanagh, Ireland. He immigrated to Canada with his mother, Mary Latimer (nee Beatty) and three of his five siblings (two of his sisters remained in Ireland). The family settled in the village of Seaforth, Ontario where Edward made his living as a shoemaker.

In 1872, Edward married Theresa Sparling (nee Delmage), a widow, and accepted her four children as his own. Edward and Theresa had five additional children together before they left Seaforth and moved to Brampton, Ontario, immediately northwest of the city of Toronto. In 1917, Theresa passed away and Edward went to live with his son Edward Arthur Latimer in Orillia, Ontario. It was in Orillia that Edward died suddenly in 1932.

His obituary reads as follows:

"News of the illness and death of Mr. Edward Latimer in his 82nd year came as a surprise and shock to many friends. Mr. Latimer was a shoemaker in the Richardson shoe store (now T. Dickson's seed and feed store) for many years. His son Mr. Ed Latimer carried on a ... business in the Princess ... site. The late Mr. Latimer took ill with pneumonia while at the summer cottage of his daughter, Mrs. Mullett. He was taken to Soldiers' Memorial hospital, Orillia, last Wednesday, at which time friends were notified. He passed away in the hospital on Monday, August 1st. The remains were brought to Seaforth and a service was held in Northside United Church on Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock, internment taking place in the Maitland Bank Cemetery. Mr. Latimer is survived by one son, Mr. Edward Latimer, Orillia; and four daughters, Mrs. Mullett (Lottie), Toronto; Mrs. John McIntosh (Margaret), Detroit; Tessie, who is married and living in Brampton and his step-daughter, Mrs. Baker (Rebecca), Toronto. It is almost thirty years since the Latimer family lived in Seaforth. They went to Brampton where Mrs. Latimer, who formerly was Mrs. Sparling of Seaforth, predeceased him about fifteen years ago. His mother and sister, Mrs. Webster of Wingham, also predeceased him here. While in Seaforth they resided on W. William st. for many years and also on North Main st. and James st. After Mrs. Latimer's death at Brampton, Mr. Latimer went to live at Orillia.

Below is a photo of the monument in Maitland Bank Cemetery erected on the grave of Edward and Theresa Latimer.

One Lovely Blog Award

2011-03-21T19:32:00.006-04:00

I have to give a shout out and big thank you to Kay Sturgeon of the Gol Gol Girl blog from Australia who 'bestowed' on me the 'One Lovely Blog Award.' It's a terrific honour to be receive the recognition so thanks Kay for your kindness. I'm glad you enjoy stopping by my blog and reading the comments and stories that I love to share.

As Kay describes, the rules of this award are:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted the award and their blog link. [Done!]

2. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you have discovered.

3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

In no particular order, here are the nine blogs that I have chosen to 'pay it forward' to and please note that not all of the blogs are genealogy related, although most fall into that category. There are additional deserving blogs that I also had in mind for this award however those blogs have recently received the award from some else. Please stop by these blogs and enjoy the contributions that their writers are making.

- Apple's Tree
- Auntie Cake's Shop
- Ontario Genealogist
- Random Relatives
- The Educated Genealogist
- The We Tree Genealogy Blog
- Veterans of Southwestern Ontario
- The Family Curator
- A Twig in My Tree

Don't Give Up On Mailing Lists and Message Boards

2011-03-18T12:26:00.006-04:00

It must have been the luck of the Irish and all those smiling Irish eyes on March 17th that brought a new cousin connection! I began the course "Social Media for the Wise Genealogist," offered through the National Institute for Genealogical Studies affiliated with the University of Toronto, on March 15th (more on that in a future blog post). One of the course assignments involves reviewing and providing an analysis of mailing lists and messages boards.

I have subscribed to mailing lists for some of the family surnames that I am researching and I have from time to time perused genealogy message boards. Generally, these have not provided much benefit to me. While these forms of inquiry and attempts to connect with researchers of common families or locations were quite popular a few years ago, social media use for the genealogists, it seems to me, has moved beyond message board or mailing list postings.

While doing research for my assignment, I checked the Rootsweb Irish-Canadian list archives for the Latimer surname, the family name for my wife Ellen's maternal line. An advanced search brought me to a posting from 2003 by a researcher looking for information about Ellen's great grandfather's family (his parents and siblings). Ellen's great grandfather Edward Latimer is pictured below on the far left. The little girl in this 1923 photo is Edward's granddaughter and Ellen's mother, Olive Theresa Evelyn 'Tess' Wagner (nee Latimer). The Latimer family as I have previously mentioned in this blog, immigrated from County Fermanagh, Ireland and settled in Seaforth, Huron County, Ontario, Canada. Depending on the information source used, the family immigrated between 1856 and 1868.

I thought it amazing that I had found a reference to a family I was also researching. More on a whim than anything, I decided to try to contact the inquirer using the email address that has been posted since 2003. Sure enough, the researcher is still interested in learning more about her Latimer family and a new cousin connection has been born! And not only have we connected via email but we have also been able to quickly connect on Facebook!

The lesson in this - don't underestimate or dismiss those mailing lists and message boards. There are obviously still some family gems to be mined.

Here's to the Irish!

2011-03-17T13:32:00.005-04:00

In honour of St. Patrick's Day, presented here are photos of some of our Irish ancestors who have filled our families with smiles and laughter.

"When Irish eyes are smiling,
'Tis like a morn in spring.
With a lilt of Irish laughter

You can hear the angels sing."

~Author Unknown

Anne Margaret Hadden (nee O'Neill) (1930 - 1994)

Olive Theresa Evelyn Wagner (nee Latimer) (1920 - 1997)

Edward Arthur Latimer (1877 - 1951)

Edward Latimer (Sr.) on far left (1851 - 1932)

J. (John) Graham O'Neill (1895 - 1979)

Gertrude Ellen O'Neill (nee Foley) (1898 - 1962)

Citing Sources for Your Blog Posts

2011-03-14T19:22:00.003-04:00

There has been some debate over the past few years about the need to cite sources. I think it safe to say, from my perspective, that it is now accepted that citing sources is important, maybe even required, for our family history databases. But what about our blog posts? Does the same apply? Should bloggers be required to cite the sources they used for each blog post?

These questions arose following my recent series of posts about my mother's family and the different experiences that the Irish Catholic branches had when immigrating to Canada. One branch, the Fitzgeralds, had immigrated in 1825 to Cape Vincent in New York State and then made their way to Toronto around 1843. The Foley branch on the other hand appears to have been one of thousands that escaped Ireland around the time of the famine in the late 1840's.

A blog reader, Jennifer, questioned some of the facts stated in one of my posts, specifically the stated fact that of the 100,000 Irish who were traveling to Canada, 30,000 died enroute. I did not cite a source for this and I admit that although I had a source, I have been unable to find it again and provide a citation. I had also stated that "almost 6,000 Irish immigrants died and were buried in a mass grave" on Grosse Ile. Jennifer tells me that a maximum of 5,424 were buried in 1847 on Grosse Ile, although the exact number of burials varies according to different sources. Not being able to locate my information source admittedly is not good on my part. But it also does not make it incorrect. Estimates that I have since found suggest that perhaps the number ought to be 20,000 that died "from disease and malnutrition", lower by a third than my original information source stated.

The point in all of this is that the Irish fleeing the ravages of their homeland caused by the potato famine traveled in extremely poor circumstances and conditions. Arguably these conditions were worse for those destined for Canada as American ships operated at higher standards for passengers than did British ships. I have seen nothing to strongly suggest to me that my Foley ancestors came directly to Canada but then the Foley name is not unique enough to allow me to definitively identify the ancestors on ship's lists who immigrated from Ireland during this terrible time.

I try to describe the general type of record, if one exists, that I rely on for my family's history in blog posts or in the alternative, state that no record exists save a family story. I haven't done the same for all of the general history facts contained in every blog post, nor have I seen that as a practise in other genealogy blogs that I read on a regular basis. While I can see some merit to citing blog sources I tend to think it unnecessary with the caveat that I remain open to providing those sources if a reader requests them. It's more work I suppose to also keep track of general history sources but perhaps it provides a more scholarly approach to genealogy blogging.

Any thoughts?

Historic Scenes in Family Photos

2011-03-13T08:30:00.000-04:00

So often I have looked through family photo albums and not really noticed the historic scenery that the album's photographs contain. The photos and their scenes perhaps have been viewed many times and there is then a tendency to skip past something that is telling and important.

This came to mind when I noticed a photo depicting the 1932 city of Toronto's skyline in an old Hadden album. I have seen the photo many times when scanning all the photos, at times even pausing to remark at how changed the city skyline is compared to the time in the photo taken by my grandparents.

Below is the Toronto skyline in a photo taken August 8, 1932. Having grown up in the city, I can recognize that the photo appears to have been taken from a point on the Toronto islands, a small group of naturally occurring islands that form a harbour on Lake Ontario.

The two prominent buildings in the photo are the Royal York Hotel on Front Street and to the right of the hotel building is the Bank of Commerce Building, then the tallest building in the city and a tourist destination with it's observation deck styled like that of the Empire State Building in New York City.

Below is the Toronto skyline as it looks today (photo from Toronto.com) from about the same island location. The CN Tower, for a long time, the world's tallest free standing structure joined the skyline in 1976 and the Rogers Centre domed stadium (originally named the Toronto Skydome) joined the grouping in 1989.

The lesson for me is to slow down a bit and take a good look at all of the photos. The photographer, family member or professional, was wanting to capture a moment, a particular memory. We only appreciate that memory when we take the time to see it and feel it.

Coming to Canada - An Irish Family Experience, Part 3

2011-03-11T20:18:00.003-05:00

In my last couple of blog posts I have tried to capture a taste of the Irish Catholic immigration and settlement experience in Ontario, Canada (then Canada West) as they escaped the Irish famine of the late 1840's. In doing so, I have shared the stories of my Irish Catholic roots. In this post, I will pass along the story of a young, married John Foley, my great grandfather.

On Thursday, April 26, 1894 a small announcement appeared in the Toronto Star newspaper. Under the heading of "A Wedding" it read, "Mr. John Foley and Miss Fitzgerald were quietly married yesterday evening in St. Joseph's church, Leslie street, by Father Fagan. After the ceremony an adjournment was made to the residence of the bride's parents, Brooklin [sic] avenue, where supper was served and the happy couple received the congratulations of their friends." As I recounted in my last post, John and Mary Jane had three children, two boys and a girl, over the next five years before Mary Jane died suddenly of septic poisoning.

At the time of Mary Jane's death, John and his children were living at 25 Blong Avenue in Toronto's east end. In 1901, John and his children were still at the same address but had been joined by Mrs. O'Sullivan, an Irish Catholic widow, and her two children. Mrs. O'Sullivan served as the housekeeper and 1901 version of a 'nanny' for the Foley children. Living next door on Blong Avenue was John's brother Thomas, his wife Kate and their children. Thomas worked for his younger brother as a teamster while John by this point in time had begun building his contracting business.

The next few years brought about significant change for the family. In October 1903, John Foley re-married. His new bride was Annie Teresa McElroy, the daughter of an Irish Catholic family. Annie had been born north of the city of Toronto in the then village of Thornhill, Ontario to Henry McElroy and Mary McTague. At the time of her marriage to John Foley, Annie has been a resident of the village of East Toronto, an area that was eventually amalgamated with the city in 1908. It was in East Toronto that John and Annie decided to live and raise their children. John moved the family to a large house on what was originally named Catharine Avenue. Later, during the amalgamation process when the city recognized there already existed a Toronto street named Catharine, the city proposed to re-name the street in East Toronto as Foley Avenue. A humble John Foley refused the honour of having a street named after him and the street was named Pickering Street.

John and Annie can be found living at 96 Pickering Street in the 1911 Canada Census with the three children from John's marriage to Mary Jane and with the addition of a new son John Joseph Foley, born in 1905. My mother was the daughter of the one Foley girl (Gertrude Ellen Foley O'Neill pictured above right) and she often spoke of her Foley uncles: Gerald, Clarence, and John. Unfortunately Uncle John Foley passed away in 1949 and so was not part of a favourite Foley anecdote concerning my parent's wedding. Following the church ceremony, the wedding party was receiving the well wishes of guests on the sidewalk in front of the church prior to their departure to a formal wedding reception. My father was approached by Uncle Gerald and Uncle Clarence who were both sobbing, tears running down their cheeks. They grabbed my father, hugged him tightly and said "You poor b&#@&." (I'll let you fill in the blank) We all still laugh about the incident and perhaps only my father knows of which they were speaking!