Oh, The Place You Will Go!

Dr. Suess’ rhyme line comes to mind when I comtemplate the movements of the Douglass families in the late 1800s and early 1900s. As modes of transportation became more available, rail and motor car, and the country expanded its development of natural resources, jobs other than farming became available to the younger sons of large farm families. Typically, but not always, the oldest son joined his father on the farm while the younger sons left home to find a job that would support them and their own family. As the country expanded rapidly westward, good farm land was taken up quickly so people kept moving to find that job they needed.

The oil fields of Oklahoma which were discovered in the 1920s drew young men from the east to work as roustabouts, pipefitters and laborers. The giant Seminole oil field was one of the largest historical oil fields ever found. Discovered in 1926, it contained an estimated 822,000,000 barrels of oil. Other important fields in Seminole County were the Cromwell field of the early 1920s and the Maud oil field. The Maud field, discovered in 1927 by Amerada Petroleum, was the first discovery using reflection seismology and marked the beginning of modern geophysical methods in the petroleum industry.

No wonder the Santee brothers came from West Virginia to Oklahoma to make their fortune. It was hard work but it paid better than farming and one had opportunity for advancement. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Prior to learning from Gretchen about her great, great grandmother, Almira Cramer Colborn, I had done very little research in Oklahoma. I had researched in Kansas where  some of the descendants of our Canadian Douglass families had moved from Kansas to Oklahoma cities. But one of Almira Colborn’s daughters, Lydia Jane Colborn, called Jennie, probably counted the number of moves in her life on the fingers of both hands and maybe her toes too.

As I began to learn about Almira Cramer Colborn’s family of eight children, at first I did not find much for her daughter, Lydia Jane, probably because she went by Jennie. The only time I have found her listed as Lydia Jane was in her childhood. Even her marriage certificates say Jennie. (It was not uncommon for women named Jane to be called Jennie; I ran into that once before that caused me many hours of searching before I was sure I was studying the right woman) I had pieced a few things together for Jennie when I received an email from another genealogist, Diana, who said Lydia Jane was her great grandmother. And she filled in some info for me.

I have great admiration for Lydia Jane Colborn. She was one tough cookie. She had to be in order to survive. And survive she did. There are pictures of her with her family, probably taken about 1915. She was a comely woman and looked pretty good for age 65.

Lydia Jane “Jennie” Colborn was born in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada in 1851 and moved with her parents to Sauk County, WI before she was old enough to start school. Her father, William Colborn, enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 and died two years later having contracted a disease while in service. His widow, Almira, did not remarry. Jennie age 19, was not in Almira’s household in 1870, probably “working out”, household help for a neighboring family. Almira’s oldest son, Amos, also was in the Civil War, from 1862 until 1865. He would have been able to help the family once he was mustered out.

In 1874 Jennie married George Palmer in Marinette, Wisconsin. George died three years later. When he died, Jennie was 7 months pregnant with baby Walter who was born Feb 1878. Little Walter died a week before his first birthday, at “Mr. Armstrong’s house” in Reedsburg, WI.

Jennie’s older sister, Mary Armstrong died in May 1979, leaving three small children, and Jennie was probably helping to care for Mary and the James Armstrong family during that time which would explain why Walter died at the Armstrong home. At first I thought Jennie had married James Armstrong, not uncommon for men to marry their deceased wife’s sister, but the 1880 census shows James with three children and no housekeeper, so Jennie probably was helping but was not living in the household.

In January 1882, Jennie married Noble Armstrong in Reedsburg. James Armstrong had remarried, so Jennie’s help was not needed there. Noble, probably related to James Armstrong, was living in Reedburg with a married brother in 1880. Noble and Jennie moved to Kansas soon after their marriage. Bessie Armstrong was born later that year and Jennie Armstrong was born in 1885. Things were looking good but, unfortunately, Noble, age 39, died in December 1885 in Barber County, Kansas.

There is a marriage record showing that Jennie Armstrong married Terrel Parks in Barber County, Kansas in January 1888.  A son, Lee Parks, was born in Kansas in May 1889. His twin sisters, Mary and Myra, were born in Oklahoma Territory in September 1891. That must have been some feat, to bear and nurture twins in a area struggling to create order out of the chaos following the Oklahoma Territory runs.

There were several “runs”, those times when land seekers could run into the designated area and claim a portion of land for themselves. After the first run in April 1889, which land was free, land seekers had to pay for their claim as well as establish it by improving it. As the various Indian tribes were persuaded to accept allotments, the “unclaimed land” was opened to settlers in four additional “runs”, but it is likely that Terrel Parks participated in the initial run, since Kingfisher County where he died in 1893 was opened as part of the initial run of 1889. As a matter of fact, Terrell, Jennie and their three children are enumerated in the first OK Territorial Census, taken June 1890.

Jennie would not have gone on that first run, being 8 months pregnant with their son, Lee. But since Terrel might have had to stay to defend his claim, she likely followed as soon as she was able. Many squabbles broke out over land claims and there was no legal way to settle disputes until, belatedly, Congress established the Territorial Government a year later in 1890. Diana says the story is that Terrel Parks died from falling into the well he was digging on his property in Kingfisher County, OK.

How Jennie survived from 1893 until 1899, with a family of five, including three very young children, is unknown. Did she stay on the property her husband had claimed? Not likely, but at this point I don’t know. She might have. In January 1899 Jennie married Richard Baker, a widower, with a six year old daughter, Lillie, in Garfield County, OK, the next county north of Kingfisher.

But by 1910 they were separated and Jennie was living in the city of Lawton, OK, the county seat of Comanche County. What drew her there, I wonder. Lawton is a long ways from Garfield County or even from Kingfisher. Maybe that was the object. Maybe she had had enough of homesteading. Comanche County is where her daughter married Henry Russell and it was with this daughter that Jennie (Lydia Jane Colborn Palmer Armstrong Parks) was living when she died in 1936 in Muskogee, OK, at the age of 85.

Lydia Jane Colborn sure had bad luck with her marriages. George Palmer m. 1874, d. 1877, Noble Armstrong m. 1882, d. 1885, Terrel Parks m. 1888, d. 1893, Richard Baker m. 1899 and in 1910 he says he is widowed (but he’s really divorced; Jennie took back the name of Parks) Each time one of her husbands died, he left her with very young children and in two cases she was pregnant when her husband died.

Lydia Jane Colborn, born in Canada, moved to Sauk County, WI, to Marinette, WI, back to Sauk County, to Barber County, KS, to Kingfisher County, OK, to Garfield County, OK, to Comanche County, OK and died in Muskogee, OK.  She certainly went further south than most of the Douglass descendants from Canada. She died 1500 miles from the place where she was born, not a great distance today, but she must have seemed a world away to her mother and her siblings, most of whom stayed in Wisconsin.

Oh, yes, about the Santees. Hershel Santee, and his older brother, Daniel, came from West Virginia to work in the oil fields of Seminole County. Hershel married Myra Parks, one of Jennie’s twin daughters. In time this couple moved even further south – to Texas.

No wonder the settlement of the west inspired so many romance stories and historical novels. Jennie Colborn’s life could make a great movie.

Jennie’s lineage: (Lydia Jane/Jennie-5 , Almira Colborn-4 , Mary Ann Cramer-3 , John Douglass-2 , Alexander Douglass-1) To view the Cramer branch of the Douglass family, click here.

The Great Peshtigo Fire

 Most people have heard of the Great Chicago Fire in October 1871 that destroyed a large part of that city. But most people have never heard of the Great Peshtigo Fire, which happened on the very same day. That there were two “great” fires was not a coincidence. It was the result of a nasty weather phenomenon, a cyclonic storm, that swept across the upper midwest. A fierce wind, high temperatures and very dry conditions created a maelstrom that swept over Peshtigo, surrounded as it was by forest, completely destroying the town, with much greater loss of life than in Chicago.

Chicago lost around 250 people, but Peshtigo lost 1200 of its 2000 population. Chicago was a great industrial city, of course, and Peshtigo was unknown except to those who lived in the northern areas of Michigan and Wisconsin.

Peshtigo, Wisconsin, is located practically on the border of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan on the Peshtigo River, which empties into Green Bay. A large area on both sides of Green Bay, the arm of Lake Michigan that reaches into Wisconsin, were burned; some reports say a swath 10 miles wide and 40 miles long. Several other towns in the path of the fire, Menominee, MI, for example, had many buildings burned, but no loss of life. Peshtigo was directly in the path of the fire and nothing could have saved it from its fury. Small settlements to the west of Peshtigo were completely obliterated and never heard from again.

You can read a first hand account by a minister who survived the Peshtigo fire at wisconsinhistory.org.

It is hard to even comprehend how there were any survivors. They went into the river, of course, but they had to stay there for hours, and keep their heads showered with water, or covered with wet clothes, the heat was so intense. Then there was the risk of hypothermia, and many could not stay above water. Those that survived were dazed, half blind from the smoke and heat, and it was days before help began to trickle into the town.

When word arrived at the Wisconsin Governors’ mansion, two days later, Gov. Fairchild was away in Chicago assessing damage and offering assistance there. His wife, however, sprang into action, and in a short while, sent carloads of supplies to the survivors in Peshtigo. The Governor diverted some of the aid for Chicago to Peshtigo to help rebuild the town. He also sent an appeal in the newspapers across the country for donations to a fund to help the burned area. Then, as now, people gave generously in the face of disaster.

The Cramer Connection to the Peshtigo Area

 I “discovered” the Great Peshtigo Fire when I was researching the family of Almira Cramer Colborn. I had looked for years for additional children of Mary Ann (Douglass) and Samuel Cramer who settled in Merrimac, Wisconsin. I knew of only seven children but Mary Ann’s obituary in 1885 said that she had born 14 children and nine were still living when she died.

A few months ago I received an email from Gretchen, a great great granddaughter of Mary Ann Douglass Cramer. Gretchen had what I had been searching for: a death certificate that stated Almira Colborn was the daughter of Sam and Mary Cramer. She sent me a large descendants tree (well over 150) for Almira and William Colborn which I have added to that family branch and have spent many hours fleshing out information about Almira’s descendants.

Almira Cramer, oldest of Sam and Mary Ann’s children, born 1825, married William Colborn in 1842 in Blenheim, Oxford County, Ontario. Most likely they moved to Sauk County, Wisconsin, when her parents, Sam and Mary Ann Cramer did, between 1852 and 1856. Five of Almira’s children were born in Canada, the youngest in 1852; then the sixth child was born in Sauk County, WI, in Jan. 1856.

William Colborn, Almira’s husband, died of disease during the Civil War in 1863. Almira did not remarry. Her oldest daughter, Melissa, married Samuel Clark in 1861. At the time of the Great Fire in 1871, Melissa (Colborn) and Samuel Clark and their three children lived in Menominee, Michigan, which suffered loss of many buildings but no loss of life and certainly not the extreme loss of Peshtigo.

Peshtigo, Wisconsin, is a neighboring town only a few miles to the south of Menominee, Michigan, with the Michigan-Wisconsin state border running between them. Stories of the Great Fire of Peshtigo and Menominee must always have remained a part of their lives. Even if the children were too young to understand it all when it happened, they would have heard the stories retold throughout their lifetimes.

Sam Clark was a carpenter by trade and certainly would have had work in rebuilding the burned out areas. I do not find Sam Clark in the 1880 census but he was still living in 1900, listed with his married daughter. Melissa Clark died in 1877 and her two children, Grace and Frank, are living in 1880 with their grandmother, Almira Colborn, in Sauk County, WI.

Subsequent records show that both grandchildren moved back to the area where they were born. Grace married Frank Salzeider. They farmed in Menominee County. Frank Clark married and farmed in Norway, Dickinson County, MI, to the NE of Menominee.

Marinette County, Wisconsin, which includes Peshtigo, is a large county. Several of Melissa’s siblings married in Marinette County: Amos Colborn married there two years after the fire; Lydia Colborn and George Palmer married there in 1874: Alexander Colborn married Martha Washburn there in 1879. Perhaps the lumber industry which was the core of Peshtigo’s economy, drew them there for work.

Their mother, Almira Colborn, widowed, is shown in Sauk County, WI, in both the 1870 and 1880 census, but there is a possibility that after her husband died, she lived in Marinette County, nearer to her married daughter, Melissa, and that her younger children grew up there. That would account for so many of them marrying there. She could have moved back to Sauk county before 1880 when she was caring for Melissa’s children. This is all supposition on my part, but Merrimac, Sauk County, WI is 180 miles from Peshtigo, WI, so I am assuming that the Colborn children were living in Marinette County, at least at some time, since that is where several of them married.

The wholesale destruction of Peshtigo and surrounding area is akin to the huge natural disasters of our time. The scars, physical and emotional, remaining with the survivors, can not but have changed them as people, and affected their lives in a multitude of ways.

One Mystery Solved in Menno

Agnes Douglass died in Minneapolis. I could not find an obituary for her. Her death certificate said she was buried in Menno, South Dakota, but that her usual residence had been Mankato, MN. I stopped in Mankato at the library to see if I could figure out how long she had lived there. It appears that she lived there only a couple years and probably moved from Mankato to the Care Home in Minneapolis only a few months before she died. Where she lived between Platteville and Mankato is still unknown.

I hoped that Menno would have an obituary. I had little hope of looking at death records. The state of South Dakota has some very strict laws about giving out vital information. It costs $15 per name just to have them look in their books for a record, whether they find one or not, and if they do and you want a copy, it costs another $15! So different from all the other places I had been. But I had to ask.

I first stopped in Elk Point, SD, where Chester Douglass had established a drug store that later was run by Gerald Douglass, his cousin, and later still by Edward Swanton, husband of Gerald’s sister, Minnie. The Douglass drugstore occupied a place of prominence on a corner in the center of town. Today the building houses an insurance agency. The village has changed so little it is not hard to imagine what it looked like when the drugstore was in business. The Douglass drugstore is an integral part of the history of the town. Across the street from the original site is a small soda fountain and gift shop that has the name Douglass Drugstore on it. The owner had moved a large old marble soda fountain counter from another town to her store and serves ice cream, capitalizing off the Douglass name. I talked with her at length. Elk Point had recently had it’s sesquicentennial celebration and she showed me some books they had printed up for the event. One book had pictures of all the high school graduating classes. I found pictures of Gerald’s daughter, Carolyn, class of 1923 and Carolyn’s daughter Julie, class of 1964. A calendar with photos showing the town as it looked in the late 1880s noted that Chester Douglass and two partners formed the Pioneer Drug Co. in March 1904.

I went on to Hutchinson county seat, Olivet, where the clerk reiterated what I already knew: she could not give me any information. But she suggested, almost in a conspiratorial aside, that I walk down the street one block to a museum and talk to the woman there. The woman had lived in Olivet all her life and had many records and knew lots of local history. The lady at the museum house was very helpful. Though she did not have old newspapers that might have held an obituary for Agnes, she called the library in Menno for me. They did not have the newspapers either. But when I inquired about the cemetery in Menno, she pulled out the cemetery record book and Caroline Douglass was listed! She even had an old map of the Menno cemetery and was able to show me where the graves were. She was truly a fund of information.

I hurried back to Menno again about 4:30, hoping that the city hall office was still open. When I found it, I asked where the cemetery was, got a quick answer and headed out there. It was a small cemetery on the edge of town. Not far from the entrance was a Douglass monument inscribed Wesley Douglass and under that Caroline His Wife/Dec. 12, 1847-Sept 11, 1930. So, finally, the question of when Agnes Douglass’ mother, Caroline, died and where she was buried, is answered. To the left of the monument was a stone for Agnes Douglass and to the right stones for Agnes’ brother, Gerald, the Elk Point pharmacist, and his wife, Annette. Marjorie Douglass Detlie, Gerald’s daughter, said there had been a fracture in the relationship between Agnes and Gerald over medical treatment for their mother. Whatever the difficulty, they were all gathered together at the end of their lives in the prairie town where Wesley Douglass, youngest of Robert and Jane’s sons, had carved out a place for himself and his family back in 1874.

The next day, I visited the huge state archives in Pierre, SD, and while they had many old newspapers on microfilm, they were missing the issues that might have included obituaries for Agnes and Caroline. It seems we will never know if there was one or not. But my time in South Dakota was most satisfactory, considering the constraints upon my research there.

(Lineage: Agnes and Gerald-5, Wesley-4, Robert-3, John-2, Alexander-1)

Re-e-eally Big Bones

One of the biggest treats I gave myself on my long trip was visiting Dinosaur National Monument in Jensen, Utah. Before I went there I stopped in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah to look at their Special Collection of Earl Douglass’ papers. I would have been more disappointed to find only the photos were available (his papers were stored in another location) if I had not received a remarkable communication only days earlier on my trip. Earl Douglass’ granddaughter, Diane, wrote me an email of the centennial celebration she had just attended at Dinosaur National Monument honoring Earl’s discovery of the mammoth dinosaur fossils. Earl’s son, Gawin, had been writing a book about his father’s discovery, which had been edited and now published by his granddaughter! She said the book contained many pictures and that it was available on Amazon.com. I was thrilled to know about the book. I had not realized that August 1909 was when Earl made his great discovery so was unaware of the anniversary date. But I was so pleased on stepping off the elevator at the U. of Utah to see large photo displays of Earl at his discovery site, along with a glass case containing samples of his diaries and his poems. Yes, another poet. His poems are written much in the same style as Dr. John Douglass’ are. This simply whetted my anticipation for reading the book.

The Dinosaur National Monument Visitor’s Center also had evocative displays of the work Earl Douglass had done there. I walked to the top of the hill overlooking the area that had been mined for the great bones. Such a rugged area, it is hard to comprehend the tremendous effort it took to dig out the huge fossils and transport them to Pittsburgh or Salt Lake City. I felt like I was treading on hallowed ground. At the store I wanted post cards with Earl’s picture on them but found none. However, they had the book. I couldn’t wait to read it. Created in large part from Earl’s diaries and the memories of his son, Gawin, it is a wonderful testimony to the passion that stayed with Earl all his life. Look for it: “Speak to the Earth and It Will Teach You: The Life and Times of Earl Douglass (1862- 1931)” by G.E. Douglass, and edited by Diane Douglass Iverson. It’s fascinating.

Ida Douglass’ Daughter, Viola

A few months back I wrote about breakthroughs in finding what happened to Earl’s sister, Ida. (There are pictures of Ida, as well as Earl’s whole family in Diane’s book.) Shortly before I left on my trip in August, I found a death date for Ida’s only daughter, Viola Battin Gates, in Tulare County, California. Tulare was off my travel itinerary quite a ways so I wrote to the Genealogical Society there and asked them to look up records for me. I was unprepared for what I received.

According to the newspaper account, Viola had been staying with her daughter, Dorothy, in Terra Bella. Evidently she had been despondent for some time. She committed suicide in 1954 by jumping off the bridge into the Friant-Kern canal. Her obituary mentioned that her husband, William Gates, had died in 1950. The Sequoia Genealogical Society had looked up his obituary and sent that too. He died as a result of an auto accident, the day after Christmas, when they were leaving Terra Bella after visiting Dorothy’s family. His 24 year old son, Harold, had been driving; other members of the family survived. Such a sad, sad story.

(Lineage: Viola-6, Ida Battin-5, Fernando-4, Alexander-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

Another Mystery Solved

Montana was persuaded to give up one of its secrets, too, this time related to James Heber Douglass. James Heber was the oldest son of William and Polly Douglass. (You may recall me telling you of William, a farmer in Port Elgin, Ontario, who suffered a paralyzing stroke) James Heber, whether he had the option or not, chose to leave the farm. He and his wife, Minnie, emigrated to Chicago in 1889, the same year they married. Wilfred wrote in his “Canadian Genealogy” in 1926 that Minnie had died and James was at that time living in Butte, MT.

I could never find James and Minnie in any census except the 1900 one in Chicago. I never found a death record for Minnie, have no idea where she died. I had very little to go on. Minnie had died and James was in Butte, Montana. When I found his brother William Somerset Douglass’ obituary, however, it did not list James Heber as surviving, so that narrowed the date of his death to 1926-1938. Finally, when Montana put a death index online, I found a record for James Douglass, in Deer Lodge County, MT, that looked promising. Though Butte is in Silver Bow County, not Deer Lodge, I hoped the Butte newspaper might carry an obituary. I checked out the date in the local newspaper and found the following:

The Butte Miner, Sunday Morning , June 3, 1928

Deer Lodge Bureau

James R. Douglas Fatally Stricken

Clothing Salesman Drops Dead on Street of Deer Lodge;
His Relatives Are Notified.

Butte Miner Bureau

Deer Lodge, June 2 – James R. Douglas, aged 63 years, dropped dead on Main street today. He was passing the John Truscott residence when he fell and before Dr. F.L. Unmack could reach him he had passed away. Mr. Douglas was a clothing salesman and came to Deer Lodge about once every month. In the latter part of April he had a similar attack on the street, but Dr. C.S. Powell rushed him to St. Joseph’s hospital, where he recovered. Dr. F.G. Douglas of Chicago, Ill., and W.S. Douglas of Yakima, Wash., have been notified and the funeral arrangements are pending replies from them. The remains are at the Bl\ien and Ross chapel. ###

No further mention of a funeral was found in the paper through June 7. I am assuming that the body was forwarded elsewhere for burial. Chicago? Or perhaps wherever Minnie is buried? At least now we know when and where he died. He was truly a long way from any members of his family when his life ended.

(Lineage: James Heber-5, William-4, Robert-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

Byron G. McKeeby

Evidently I was not done with the McKeeby family yet. I received in the mail copies of articles from the Knoxville, TN newspapers which gave substantial information about Byron G. McKeeby and also pictures of him and some of his prints.

Prior to receiving these copies, I knew that Byron was a printmaker of some renown at the Univ. of Tennessee. Also Cecil Douglass had reported in a 1977 letter, that Byron had been to Scotland, thought Edinburgh a beautiful city, and did not understand why his grandfather had not held a plaid instead of a pitchfork when he posed for Grant Woods’ “American Gothic”.

Byron’s dry wit and the wry humor is reflected in many of his prints. His student, Paul Wenzel, said that Byron always wore a Scottish Tam-o-shanter hat, with a fuzzy knob on top and ribbons down the back. Even after he used the hat to beat out a fire someplace and it was singed and darkened, he continued to wear it; he did not care what others thought. He had such presence he could carry it off without drawing ridicule; no student would ever, EVER snicker at him.

As is often the case with some oddity, the hat became legendary from another story students told. Byron would toss his hat over “No Smoking” signs before he lit up.

Despite Byron’s reputation as an intense artist and stern teacher, Charles Moore, a UT professor of chemical engineering who knew McKeeby through their children, said he was a gentle, patient father. “One time when our children all wanted tree houses, the two of us entered into a silent competition to see which dad could build the best one. Byron put me in the shade. His tree house was first class. He even put in windows with etched glass.”

Though early-onset acute diabetes shortened his life, Byron made a name for himself and his art in his 22 year career. One article noted that he single-handedly did much to revive the art of stone lithography. Soon after his death UT made an exhibit of more than 50 of his prints available for display at venues across the country.

(Lineage: Byron G.-8, Miriam McKeeby-7, Wm.Gordon-5, John G.-4, Robert-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

A Road Trip

I was so inspired by my field trip to Allen County Library that I began thinking of all the other places I would like to go to look at records. If I made field trips every few months I could visit different places each time. OR I could make one long field trip and visit many places on the same trip. The latter idea grew and gradually I began to put together an itinerary. On August 5th I set out in my trusty Chrysler van, intent on camping my way across the U.S. so I might look up all those elusive bits of information I wanted.

One of the first places I stopped was in Lee County, Illinois. I knew that the MacKinnons (Catharine Harrison branch) from Canada had lived all their lives in Lee county, where John MacKinnon had been a cheesemaker. I had not been able to find obituaries or death notices for them. In the Dixon, Illinois, library I found a front page article in the local newspaper. John MacKinnon had dropped dead of a heart attack while fighting a fire at the local hotel. See excerpts from this news piece at headliner.

Then I went on to Wisconsin to follow several elusive clues for Giles Douglass and his son Robert. Looking for Giles in Wisconsin has been like trying to track down a specter or a ghost, a will-o-the-wisp or one of the “little people”. I get a clue that there just might be something but when I look, it’s not there, or it only hints of what I hoped for. Checking county records in Janesville, West Bend, Wisconsin Rapids, Black River Falls and Sparta netted nothing that even was close to info on Giles or Robert. There are several Robert Douglasses but none fit the info I have for him and nothing at all for Giles. Many records were not instituted until after the time span I need which means very little will be in the public records. If there is anything anywhere, it is going to be informal, in someone’s diary or letter or church newsletter or such. I have to keep reminding myself that untold numbers of people lived and died upon this earth leaving no scrap of written record. Giles Douglas remains the only one of the nine siblings that I have been unable to trace at all. Next stop: the archives in Albany to see what they have from Jefferson County before 1848, when Giles left for Wisconsin.

One of the places I really wanted to visit was Platteville, WI, where Agnes Jean Douglass had taught Art in the college there. I arrived in Platteville on a Saturday evening and was disappointed that the library was not open on Sunday. I did a lot of reading Sunday and walked around the small town and found a large map of the Platteville/UW campus. I was able to plot out where the administration building was and where I could park. The campus was deserted except for other walkers. Monday morning was rainy. I first stopped at the Alumni office and they were very helpful, going through old college yearbooks to determine when Agnes had taught there. They copied several pictures for me and referred me to the Luce Room archives which were in the same building.

Just as I was leaving the Alumni office the fire alarm in the building went off so we all had to exit, of course, and it was raining steadily right then. Since I had an umbrella, I offered to shield Lois, the woman who had been so helpful to me, and we stood really close together under my small umbrella for at least 15 minutes. Finally the all clear sounded and we parted company. In the Luce Room they had copies of the student newspaper, which had been indexed, and I found a few more references to Agnes. I was unable to determine whether she retired or left due to ill health. She evidently taught there in 1947 but the college directory for 1948 has her listed as on faculty but “on leave”. Her classes had been taken over by someone else. I searched in vain for any retirement notice in the newspaper and when I wanted to look at city directories to see how long she continued to live there, they had no directories that went back that far.

And I found no clue about when her mother died. I knew her mother, age 82, had been living with Agnes in 1930 in Platteville. Marjorie Douglass Detlie thought her grandmother was buried in Worthington, MN, but I had been unable to find a date when Caroline Church Douglass (Wesley’s wife) died. It would have been extremely time consuming to read local newspapers on microfilm, with just no idea at all of when she died.

So I left Platteville with one question answered. Agnes Douglass taught Art at the Platteville college from 1926 -1947. She was the only Art teacher and had a full complement of classes. She arranged for art exhibits to be displayed at the college. She also participated in conferences where she presented on the topic of Art Occupations. She spoke to community groups. More notes on Photo page.

(Lineage: Agnes-5, Wesley-4, Robert-3, John-2, Alexander-1) – another artist from the Robert Douglass branch of the family.

Field Trips Can Be Fruitful

I spent a couple days at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, IN, last week. I have wanted to get there for a while and decided it would make for a nice two or three day excursion. Besides all it was doing here in Covington was raining and I could not work on the garden or lawn anyway.

As always I went with a list in hand; there is always so much information, one gets side-tracked very easily. I had been wondering about the McKeeby’s and trying to finish up my data for them. I needed Byron J. McKeeby’s mother’s name. I had found the family in the 1920 census, but by that time Byron’s mother had died. I could not find them in the 1910 census.

I knew that Byron J. McKeeby who married Miriam “Mimi” Douglass had lived in Cedar Rapids in 1920. His father Byron H. McKeeby was a dentist there. (In fact Byron H. has some notoriety having posed for Grant Wood’s popular painting, “American Gothic”) So I looked at Directories for Cedar Rapids on microfilm and was able to establish that Byron H. McKeeby was indeed a dentist in Cedar Rapids inclusive of years 1903-1912 and his wife’s name was Belle. So back to the 1910 census. I finally found them. The census taker had been distracted, or else Byron H. used a nickname, because on the census it says McKeeby, M.C. and then goes on to list Belle, Gerald, 11, and Byron, 8. Interestingly, in years 1904-06, Byron H. is listed as dentist and druggist. Dentists had long been sources for potions and pain killers but I did not realize that practice reached into the early 1900s. He had an office at 1508 1st ave. Cedar Rapids, IA. They bought the Blake avenue house about 1911.

So now I had his mother’s first name, but I could not find any marriage record. Then I started looking in the large collection of books and found one titled “Linn County and Cedar Rapids, Iowa Records.” And there, practically the first item in the book, is a listing of all the names from a McKeeby Bible record giving the births, deaths and marriage of Byron H. McKeeby and Belle Metcalf. The Bible that supplied the records was in the possession of Gerald R. McKeeby, Byron J.’s brother.

So this mission was successfully accomplished. (Lineage: Mimi McKeeby-6, Wm.Gordon-5, John G.-4, Robert-3, John-2, Alexander-1)

The next item on the list was what happened to Fernando Douglass’ daughter, Ida? You may remember Fernando; he was one of the first pioneers to settle in Medford, Steele County, Minnesota, and wrote back exultingly to his parents that he was growing wheat and getting top dollar for it. (In my book, Only a Week Away, you will find the story of his losing his mill in Greenboro, Oswego County, NY, after which he departed for MN) I wrote in my February 2007 Digest about Fernando’s son, Earl, who gained prominence for his discovery of dinosaur skeletons. And I knew that Fernando’s middle daughter, Nettie, never married and was living with Earl in Utah when she died. Ida was the third and oldest sibling and in 1885, at age 27, she was living with her parents in Medford. I had checked and re-checked the 1910 and 1920 census on Ancestry, online, for an Ida of her age who might have married and had a different surname but could not find anyone that seemed to fit. So I decided to try the 1895 MN State census.

The 1885 and 1895 State censuses are valuable because the 1890 federal census was almost completely destroyed by fire so that means tracking by census leaves a big gap between the census of 1880 and the census of 1900. The states usually held their censuses between the federal census years, and if it was a territory being settled, census was taken even more often.

I carefully scrolled the 1895 census, Town of Medford, and there were only two Ida’s in the whole town, one a child, and one listed as Ida D. Battin, 37, wife of Alfred Battin, with children, Greta, 17, Jay, 10, and Viola, 5. Aha! I liked the middle initial D.; it could stand for Douglass. She could not be the mother of Greta and probably not Jay, but she could have married Alfred as a second wife and Viola was hers.

Alfred reported he had lived in the state of MN for 42 years but in the local enumeration district only 4 years, 6 months. I found him in the 1880 census with 1st wife, Mary, in Sibley county, MN. So with this framework of names and dates, I checked with Rootsweb Family Trees and was amazed to find the Brasfield-Brassfield Genealogies tree with all the information I had just teased out of the census for the Battin-Douglass family and more besides. Someone has spent a good deal of time and effort putting this information together. The genealogist had Ida’s death date (1910) and the fact that she is buried in Union cemetery, Medford. Also Viola’s marriage to William Cecil Gates in 1917.

I had suspected Ida died before her father, Fernando. Otherwise he would have likely lived with her instead of going, in his eighties, to Massachusetts to live with his brother Orlando’s widow. But now I know she had a daughter and even have the daughter’s married name. Fernando had only a couple grandchildren and I am still trying to find any great grandchildren. The Brassfield tree says Viola had two children but I need to find documentation of her marriage to Gates.

(Lineage: Ida Battin-5, Fernando-4, Alexander-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

I might have found Ida in the Rootsweb Family Trees if I had looked for her there. I undoubtedly did look at some time in the past but I forget that more names are being added to that database all the time and I need to check it out again every few months or so.

Anyway I was pleased with my time at the ACPL and there is plenty of info there when I have the inclination to go back. I left there to visit the graves of Cy and Isobel (“Issy”) Douglass Parker (sister to Mimi Douglass McKeeby) in LaPorte, Indiana. I spent the night at a campsite and had breakfast in downtown LaPorte at Louie’s Cafe. I love to have breakfast where the “locals” do. They know all the best places. I had a good chat with my waitress, spent an hour at the cemetery searching for the graves, taking pictures and talking to cemetery staff and then headed south to the Crown Hill cemetery in Indianapolis.

When I was planning my trip to the Allen County Library, I was dismayed to learn that both David and Rosemary Parker Laycock had died last year. I had talked with Rosemary on the phone years ago and she sent me some information for their family tree, but I never did meet her. David and Rosemary’s urns are stored in a beautiful mausoleum in the Crown Hill cemetery. I have seen mausoleums before and they never appealed to me much, but this open construction and adjoining garden gave me a great feeling of airiness and beauty and peace. You can find the Laycock pictures and obituaries in the Photo Gallery.

(Lineage: Rosemary-7, Isobel Parker-6, Wm. Gordon-5, Dr. John-4, Robert-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

No More French Fries Please

This title is a reference to the difficulty I have had this past couple months trying to document the family of George A. French. Not since the early days of my research have I had such a problem, trying to sort out men who have the same name and nearly the same birthdate, and determine which one might be the REAL son of Gideon French.

Gideon French was born in 1856 in Oxford County, Ontario, grandson of Betsy Douglass Flewelling. Gideon left few traces and it was years before I discovered he did not die in his youth. I found a marriage record for Gideon and Altha Leech. After many census searches, I found them in the 1880 census in Midland, Michigan, and they had a two year old son, George A. French. I have not found Gideon and Altha in any other federal census, in the U.S. or in Canada.

So I tried to follow their son George. Perhaps his census records would give me a clue as to what happened to Gideon.

In the 1900 census, there was a George A. French, b. Dec. 1878, 21, boarding in a home in Detroit, MI. That seemed reasonable, to have moved as a young man from Midland to Detroit. But I needed proof. So I checked for a birth registration and found a George A. French, born in Oxford County, Ontario Dec. 3, 1878 to Gideon French and Altha Leach. Right! This must be Gideon’s son in Detroit in 1900.

So far, so good. But when I tried to follow George A. French, born 1878 in subsequent census records, I became very confused. There were at least two, maybe three, George Frenchs born in 1878, two even on the same date! One of them lived and died in Louisville, Kentucky. (When I first found this record in the census, I thought, hey, maybe I have a Douglass descendent living in KY where I live.) But it seemed like they had different wives in every census and different occupations.

George #1, to denote the one who I have a birth registration for, lived in Detroit for 30 some years, had a wife, Mary, who was born in Scotland and a daughter Brenta May.

George #2, also born in Canada, lived in Kentucky as of 1920, with wife, Martha, and step-son, Fred, both born in KY. His WWI draft registration has the exact same date of birth, Dec. 3, 1878. Only his death certificate says his father is Arthur!

George #3, on his WWI draft registration, was living in Cadillac, MI, but his birthdate was Jan. 21, 1877, and born in the U.S., not our man, but with a birthdate close enough to crop up on census searches and keep confusing the issue.

These records did not come all neatly composed as I have offered them to you, but with each new record I unearthed, I would have to analyze again and puzzle over which one referred to my George French. To confuse things even further, I finally found a marriage registration for George #1 (listing his parents Gidd French and Altha Leitch) to Barbara McMahon. None of my three Georges have a wife Barbara. And in the marriage registration, 1902, George #1 has occupation: underwriter but in the next three census reports he is a carpenter. George #2 is also an underwriter and then a draftsman for an oil refinery.

I finally think I have them sorted out but need some more documentation to be sure. Some of the information or clues that I got came from Family Trees on the internet. One has to be careful in taking that information as accurate if there is no citing of sources attached. Many people enjoy the search for family connections and will copy any family trees from the internet which seem to have some of the same people as theirs, but without doing any of their own checking for sources. One does not know where the information came from. It could simply have been copied from some other website or family tree. I have found errors in family trees on the internet, errors I can identify because I have documented a source.

Part of my time now is spent searching for documentation, so that others can know where I got my information. I currently have 4104 individuals on my Douglass database. Of those I have birthdates for 3152. All but 250 birthdates are documented. Some are very difficult because in the beginning of my genealogy research I was not aware of the importance of documenting and did not always record where I got the date. But little by little I am getting them documented.

Seydal, Don’t You Saddle My Sidle

Ready? Here we go again. In searching for Gideon, I never found him, as I wrote above, in a federal census after 1880. But, surprise, surprise, I found him in a Kansas State census in 1885. Gideon, Altha, George, age 6, and sister, Nella, 2. This immediately throws all of my neat analyzing into the hat again. Is the George in 1900 Detroit really George #1? Or could it be George #2?

Being a little tired of the quandary at this point, I concentrated on Nella. Until this record I did not even know George had a sister. I found a marriage registration for Nellie French (parents Gidian and Altha) to Frederick Sidle in Blenheim, Kent County, Ontario, July 4, 1899. So at some point Gideon, or at least his daughter, returned to Canada from Kansas.

Whereas French has pretty straightforward spelling and only becomes a problem if one is doing a general internet search, not just a family tree search, (in which case “French” pulls every reference to that word) “Sidle” has other problems. I could not believe how many different spellings one could find in the census for this family name. But I did find Fred and Nellie in the 1910 and 1920 census records in Presque Isle, Michigan. All eight of their children were born in MI, so they must have been there from 1900 on. But they are not in 1930 census, at least I cannot find them anywhere. I have checked out Seidl, Siddle, Seidel, and several other spellings but I really had to throw up my hands when I found them in the 1920 census listed as Fred and Nellie Saddle! In this case I am grateful to the Ancestry search engine which makes allowances for crazy spellings.

Documenting

Sometimes the only way I can finally get documentation is to pay for it. Even that does not always work. I sent to Montana for a death certificate for Nina Flewelling. Nina lived to be nearly 80. Her husband and only daughter predeceased her, so information was given for her death certificate by her grandson and he did not know Nina’s parents’ names.

This is the same family as above: Flewelling.

Nina’s husband, John Flewelling, was Gideon French’s uncle. If you look at the genealogy chart for Betsy Douglass Flewelling, you find Gideon’s family at the top of the page, and if you scroll all the way to the bottom, there you will see John Flewelling, Betsy’s youngest son.

The Flewelling researchers in Canada have “assigned” John Flewelling to Betsy, but at this point there is no proof he is her son. At age 19, he was still in Canada, but in 1881, he married Nina Gilbert in Pine Run, Genesee County, Michigan. It was no surprise that he was in Michigan; several of his siblings had homesteaded there, but I was still wondering about his parentage. If John was born in 1852, Betsy would have been 46 when he was born, not impossible for that era, but reason for caution. I tried to access John’s marriage record in Michigan when I was there several years ago. There was a Flewelling/Gilbert marriage in the index, but when I looked for the record, it has been indexed wrong. No such marriage on the indicated page, nor in the indicated book! So I could not prove he was Betsy’s son.

John eventually went west and owned a silver and lead mine. I am sending for a death certificate for a John Flewelling who died 1935 in Sandpoint, Idaho and hope this settles the issue of parentage. His wife would have still been alive then and she should have known his parents’ names for his death certificate. One hopes anyway.

Becoming a Citizen

In doing research over the years I have been aware that Naturalization documents can give a good amount of personal information about an immigrant. Though I have tried to access such documents, I had never found any pertinent to the Douglass family. I knew that the reasons for difficulty in finding them were several. The naturalization process occurred over a period of years, the person having first to register a Letter of Intent to become a citizen and then wait a period of time before completing the process. In the interim, they may have moved, the process for naturalization may have changed, the court that did the processing changed, or any number of difficulties could have made the documents not readily available. The letter of intent may have been filed in one court, district or circuit, in one State and the final Naturalization documents filed in a different court in another State.

This is what happened in the case of William Somerset Douglass. Here is a transcript of his Naturalization documents. The italicized words are those that he (or the clerk) filled in the blanks on the documents.

Declaration of Intention

State of South Dakota, Minnehaha County, Circuit Court

I, William Somerset Douglass, age 32 yrs, occupation salesman, do declare upon oath that my person description is: color white, complexion dark, height 6 ft — in, weight 185 pounds, hair brown, eyes blue, other distinctive marks none. I was born in Port Elgin, Canada on the 10 day of March, anno Domini 1879. I now reside at Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, S.D. I emigrated to the United States of America from Sarnia, Canada on the Grand Trunk Railway; my last foreign residence was Port Elgin, Canada. It is my bona fide intention to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, and particularly to George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland of whom I am now a subject. I arrived at the port of Port Huron in the state of Michigan on or about the 3 day of October 1896. I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to permanently reside there. So help me God.

Signed William Somerset Douglass, 29 April 1911.

_____

Petition for Naturalization, US District Court, Eastern District of Washington

(US Department of Labor/Naturalization Service letterhead)

The petition of William Somerset Douglass, respectfully filed showeth:

First: My place of residence is: 403 East D St., North Yakima, Wash.

Second: My occupation is Merchant

Third: I was born on the 10 day of March, anno Domini 1879 at Port Elgin, Canada

Fourth: I emigrated to the United States from Port Elgin, Canada, on or about the 2 day of October, anno Domini 1896, and arrived in the United States at the port of Port Huron, Mich. on the 3 day of October anno Domini 1896, on the vessel Grand Trunk R.R.

Fifth: I declared my intention to become a citizen of the United States on the 29 day of March, anno Domini 1911 at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in the Circuit Court of Minnehaha County.

Sixth: I am ….married. My wife’s name is Margaret. She was born in Emmitsburg, Iowa, and now resides at North Yakima, Wash.

Seventh: I am not a disbeliever in or opposed to organized government or a member of or affiliated with any organization or body of persons teaching disbelief in or opposed to organized government. I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy. I am attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and it is my intention to become a citizen of the United States and to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty and particularly to George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland, to whom at this time I am a subject and it is my intention to reside permanently in the United States.

Eighth: I am able to speak the English language.

Ninth: I have resided continuously in the United States of America for a term of five years at least immediately preceding the date of this petition, to wit, since the 3 day of October, 1896 and in the state of Washington, continuously next preceding the date of this petition, since the 5 day of January, anno Domini 1913, being a residence within this state of at least one year next preceding the date of this petition.

Signed: William Somerset Douglass

Declaration of Intention ……. filed 28 day December, 1917

Note to Clerk of Court: If petitioner arrived in United States on or before June 29, 1906, strike out the words reading “and certificate of arrival No. ….from Department of Labor.

—-

This was followed by Affidavits of Petitioner and 2 Witnesses

Charles H. Douglass, Merchant, and Fred T. Moore, Merchant, both residing North Yakima, Wash. swore that William Somerset Douglass was known by them to be who he said he was, that he had lived in the US continuously since the 31 January 1912 and in the state of Washington since 5 January 1913 and that they had personal knowledge that the petitioner was a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and in every way qualified in his decision, to be admitted a citizen of the United States.

Both signed and the affidavit was recorded by the court clerk. 28 December 1917

——

Some of the information about William Somerset Douglass I had teased out on my visit to Yakima, WA, several years ago. While I knew that his brother Charles had preceded him to Yakima, I did not know when William came to the States. Charles had emigrated from Canada to Chicago where he married in 1903 and then moved to Yakima with his father-in-law and family. I now know that William emigrated in 1896 at Detroit, wended his way west, probably by railroad to Emmitsburg, Iowa, where he married Margaret McCormack in 1906, then westward again to Sioux Falls, SD, where he registered his letter of intent to become a citizen in 1911. The earliest I found William in Yakima was in 1913 as a VP in the mercantile business that his brother Charles and partners had there. I suspect that he bought out the interest of a retiring partner. It was while he was in Yakima that he finished the Naturalization process. His brother and Fred T. Moore, who vouched for him on the naturalization affidavits, were his partners in the Emporium Department Store in Yakima.

So I know a little more about William Somerset Douglass now that offers avenues for exploration. He was likely a merchant or connected to the mercantile business in Sioux Falls too. A telling bit of info regarding the status of women – the Naturalization petition wanted to know nothing about William’s wife except her first name and where she was born, and oh, yes, was she living with him. Most immigrant women received their naturalization through their husband’s if they had any at all.

For my former musings about William and his brother, Charles, see my July 2005 Digest Excerpt in the Archives.

(William’s lineage: William S.-5, William-4, Robert-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

Genealogy on a Road Trip

I had the opportunity to travel west by car with my Aunt Jean in October. As soon as I consulted the map and realized we would be going through Salina, Kansas, I determined to visit my friends in Concordia, Cloud County. I spent a week there about five years ago when I was doing research for my book, Only a Week Away, and had kept up correspondence with several kinfolk that I met when I was there.

It was a great time for me. I arranged with Marilyn Jackson, genealogy researcher who had started me on my search for the descendants of Lydia Douglass Sibbald in Kansas, to speak to the Genealogical Society since they were to meet while I was in town. I revisited the cemetery, toured the local history museum, and visited friends. Marilyn treated my aunt and I to a thoroughly enjoyable lunch at the Huckleberry Tea Room. Concordia will always have a fond place in my heart, not the least because some of my kin have roots there.

Our next stop, Denver, allowed me the opportunity to meet face-to-face Teresa Creech, a long time fellow researcher of the Alexander branch of the family. She showed me one of those old ornately-carved Bibles, in which on the Family Record sheet was recorded, “Leander D. Hulsaver died October 30, 1890.” I had wanted documentation of the date hoping that I could find a clue to other information about his short life. Leander was the youngest of the four Hulsaver children who lived on the Erie Canal barge until their parents died.

At the time that his mother died he would have been only 7 years old and perhaps went to live with his maternal grandparents, Leander and Ann Douglass in Chaumont, Jefferson County, NY. By the time he was 12 he was working for Albert Sargent in the Chaumont area. He died at age 22.

The Bible itself was a clue. It was inscribed to Mr. and Mrs. Eben Fisher from Mr. and Mrs. Frank Adams. The Eben Fishers were Frank Adams’ mother and stepfather. They married in 1878. Frank and Kate Hulsaver married in 1883, and Leander died in 1890. Since his death is inscribed in ink in the same flowing penmanship as other names and dates in the Bible, one can surmise that his death was known to the family at the time. That does not necessarily mean it happened in the Chaumont area, though, as I have found no death or cemetery record in Jefferson County for him. He could have gone to visit his paternal relatives near Canajoharie. Or even worked on the Erie Canal on one of their barges. Because of the itinerant nature of their life style it is difficult to find information about the Erie Canal workers and families.

(In Only a Week Away, in the chapter about the Erie Canal, Leander is the young child referred to as Lee, whom Kate watches for her mother.)

In Phoenix, I took the opportunity to look up the gravesites of the Catharine Douglass Harrison descendants who gradually migrated south from Hamilton, Ontario to Illinois to Arizona. Finding the Double Butte cemetery was not difficult at all compared to trying to find the cemetery office (not on site) for directions to the gravesites. Finally I appealed for help at the Phoenix library and a woman looked up the cemetery website and copied off the plot info for me.

Then it was back again to the cemetery, find the map located on a pole that showed the sections and fairly quickly I found the large monument for Kirkby Townsend and his wife Ida Ethalon Townsend. The year of her death had not been carved on the monument and the middle name was interesting. I have seen it spelled several other ways but since she obviously bought the monument one would hope she spelled it the way she chose. Since their only son was adopted and lived in California, he may not have even thought about updating the monument.

Then I started canvassing the section that had the Roseveare graves. When I found their plot I was happily surprised to find the gravestone for Elizabeth Harrison included, along with stones for Joseph and Olivia Roseveare and George and Burl Roseveare (March 2007 issue). Elizabeth, Olivia’s mother, died in 1914 and Joseph died in 1913, shortly after the families moved to Phoenix. I might have guessed she would be buried in their plot since the Townsend plot may not have been purchased until much later. (Olivia Roseveare and Ida Townsend were sisters.)

So even though we were on a trip to visit friends and relatives, I managed to get in some genealogy research along the way.

On the way home we stopped near Sanger, Texas, specifically so I could visit Peg Peyton in the Care Inn where she lives. Her daughter, Bev, was nice enough to “talk me in” to the location (on my cell phone) as it was after dark when I went there. Peg was one of my most valuable informants when I started researching the Robert branch and it was a distinct pleasure to meet her finally.

*****

I have been studying how to get my family information up onto the Rootsweb website. They have provisions for putting up only the information you want to put up and you can tailor it according to your preferences. Their program automatically deletes all information about persons who are living. You can take a look at rootsweb.com if you are interested to see what my information might look like there. Click on Family Trees (ignore the Footnote search engine) and then go down to “over 480 million names” and type in any (deceased) family member you wish, just to see how the names come up and what info is there for them. Let me know what you think of the site. As I write this I do not have our family on “rootsweb” yet but will soon. The site meets my criteria for sharing information about ancestors and yet protects privacy of individuals.

This is the last Digest for 2008. The pace and scope of my genealogy research has dropped off significantly. I will never completely lose interest – there will always be those “hard nuts” to crack – but I do not expect to have the quantity of information to share with you going forward as I have had in the past. Nonetheless I will still share interesting stories as they come up and you can use the Search in the menu bar on my website to look up articles of interest. Or simply type in a person’s name in Google. The search engines are doing a great job of bringing people to my website when they are searching on name only or name and location.

I am thinking about compiling all of my past Digests into book format for those who want a copy. Let me know if you would be interested in something of that nature.

Obits and Pieces

The returns from my request for obituaries of Wilfred Douglass and his wife, Josephine, in Omaha were disappointing. (Feb. 2008 issue) They gave only the bare minimum of information. In Josephine’s case it did not give her parents’ names and I have been unable to find her in the census prior to her marriage to Wilfred. The only recourse now if I want to know about her parents would be to request and pay for a death certificate. Wilfred’s obituary did tell me where their sons were living at the time he died in 1933: Robert was in Chicago and Jack in Lansing, Michigan.

(Lineage: Wilfred-5, John G.-4, Robert-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

Similarly the obituary for Robert L. Bacon from Tacoma, Washington, was not very enlightening either. It did give the names of his children, but not the names of his parents or of the wife he divorced, so I am still not absolutely sure he is the grandson of Nancy Cramer Bacon. The strongest clue might be that he named one son Ralph, which was Nancy’s son’s name. (Sept. 2006 issue)

(Lineage: Ralph-5, Nancy Bacon-4, Mary Ann Cramer-3, John2-, Alexander Douglass-1)

It is always more elucidating and far more interesting to have a face-to-face interview with a member of the family. In July, on the way back from a family reunion, I stopped to see Renee in Toledo. For over an hour she patiently gave me names, birthdates and bits of the Hackstedde family history (Jan. 2007 issue). She even called her mother and sister on the phone to get information for me.

(Lineage: Harold-6, Caroline Hackstedde-5, Sarah Moore-4, Catharine Harrison-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

In February I was excited to talk to Rev. Earl Ridgeway’s (June 2006 issue) granddaughter, Erma Getman Teelin, on the telephone. At 89, this lady was sharp as a tack. In May I sent her papers with questions about dates and information I was looking for and told her I would call her in two weeks. When I called back there was no answer. After trying for several days, I decided she must have gone to visit one of her children. Weeks went by and I tried sporadically. Then one day I tried and the phone sounded funny. I began to wonder. I checked the Social Security Death Index and discovered Erma had died in July. I am so grateful for the information she gave me over the phone. But best of all was catching a glimpse of her strong spirit and lively mind. I wish I had met her.

(Lineage: Erma-8, Hazel Getman-7, Earl-6, Emma Ridgeway-5, Leander-4, Alexander-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

Sometimes one gets bits of information from unusual sources. Surfing on the internet for information about the Crooks family, (Apr-May 2006) I got a “hit” for Douglass Crooks in a University of Pennsylvania catalogue. It recorded that in 1903-04 Douglass Crooks ’99 was Vice President of the Dental Alumni Society. From this one would assume that he graduated from the U. of PA School of Dental Medicine in 1899. Following up on that, a November 1904 Psi Omega dental fraternity mentioned that C.Douglass Crooks received many remarks of commendation for a paper he presented to their monthly meeting. I already knew that he had a dentistry office in Philadelphia for over 30 years. He married about 1902 but I know of no children and very little else about this man. He signed his WWI draft registration “C. Douglass Crooks.” The C. stands for Carl, but it appears he always used Douglass.

(Lineage: Douglass-6, Felicia Crooks-5, Orlando-4, Alexander-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

With the price of gas, it is becoming more beneficial to spend the equivalent of one third tank of gas and ask someone else to do some sleuthing for you. I sent to Lambton County Genealogical society for information on Earl Harrison who, according to Arnott Harrison’s family history, had lived in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada and had several children. The volunteer at the society was able to get me birth records and obituaries for Earl and his wife. In Earl’s obituary, his sister Merna was listed as Mrs. Rey Landon of Ft. Worth, TX. (Was Rey a typo? I wondered.) I did not find Rey in the Social Security Death Index, but there is a Texas Death Index online and I found him there (Warren Rey Landon, Jr.). It took me a while to find Merna because I was using my estimated birth date and I was off by five years. I eventually found her on the SSDI also, and in the Texas Births online I found the birth of the one daughter that Arnott reported. To see the updated Harrison tree, click here.

It is still more fun and satisfying to visit with people about their families and I always look forward to opportunities to do that.

****

They say things come in threes and if that is so, I hope that we will not lose more of our grand family for a long while as we have lost three in as many months.

Shirley Flansburg Daniels, 20 June 2008 Waverly, Pennsylvania

(Lineage: Shirley-8, Ava Flansburg-7, Grace Patrick-6, Delia McAfee-5, J.Chester-4, James-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

Erma Getman Teelin, 2 Jul 2008, Baraboo, Sauk Co, Michigan

(Lineage: Erma-8, Hazel Getman-7, Earl-6, Emma Ridgeway-5, Leander-4, Alexander-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

Raphael Luther Bellinger, 12 Aug 2008, Watertown, Jefferson Co, New York

(Lineage: Raphael-7, Delia Bellinger-6, J.Hubert-5, J.Chester-4, James-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

Ray Bellinger has been a friend from my childhood when my family used to visit their family on the farm. Later, when I was first married, I remember him coming to our house to help us choose life insurance for our young family. He was soft-spoken, kind, and always had a wonderful smile on his face. My father had utmost respect for him, saying he was a true gentleman and best of all, he was related to us! We were fortunate to know him. Our prayers for comfort go out to his family, as it does to the families of Shirley and Erma also.

Missionaries to Congo, Africa

One of the intriguing items in Arnott Harrison’s Harrison History was his cryptic notation after Emma Harrison’s name “Mrs. Broome P. Smith, Missionary at Congo, Africa deceased no children.”

Now I would not have had a clue where to begin looking for more information if it had not been for my visit to Dundas last month and coming across that small news article in the Dundas Star about Broome P. Smith giving a talk about his work in the Congo.

I wondered if they married in Canada and went to the Congo together, or if she had been a single missionary to Congo and they had married there.

I was able to access the 1891 census in Hamilton, Ontario, and there included in Thomas D. Harrison’s family was Emma, 31, single. At least that answered one question. Smith had been on the mission field for many years and was in Dundas at his brother-in-law’s in 1899, so there was a good chance that they married in Canada. Perhaps Emma wrote to Broome on the mission field; she could have met him before he left for the Congo.

The Christian and Missionary Alliance website on the internet was set up well and easy to use. I sent an email and asked if their archives might have information on a Broome P. Smith who had come home from the Congo mission field in 1899. From their website I had already learned that the first C&MA missionaries had gone out not under the C&MA but under a couple of smaller missionary groups which became Christian and Missionary Alliance about 1885. In a short time I got an email telling me they had researched and found a few notes regarding Broome Smith and his wife, but more importantly they gave me the web addresses for their archived annual reports and magazine going back to 1885. These could be searched by every word.

I went to the library to use their computer because their’s is much faster than mine and I found several significant items. By the time I had finished my sleuthing, I knew that Emma had not gone out as a single missionary but had gone out in 1899 as Mrs. Broome Smith, a new missionary.

Now comes an interesting series of events. There was a fairly long article in the C&MA magazine about Broome Smith arriving in California from the Congo on July 31, 1898 and then spending four months talking about his missionary work to the churches in California. He spoke 150 times in the four months. He left there Dec. 5th, “for the east and England” hoping to return to the Congo by April 1st.

In January 1899, when he spoke in Dundas, he was married. That was a whirlwind courtship if he left California in December and was married in January. Of course, we do not know if Emma and Broome knew each other and had planned a wedding but Dundas was obviously “east” and I figured out why “England” before he returned to the Congo. He was born in England and likely his parents still lived there. So he married Emma, they went to England to see his folks and then to the Congo, all between July 31, 1898 and April 1, 1899.

Then, in The Christian and Missionary Alliance magazine, Dec. 30, 1899:

“Death on the Mission Field

We regret to learn that Mrs. Broome Smith, of our Congo Mission, recently married and sent out to this field, died from fever on the Congo on the twenty-fourth of October. Our prayerful sympathy is with our dear brother in his severe bereavement after so short and happy a union in the service of their common Lord.”

We do not know if he brought Emma’s body back to Canada. I suspect she is buried in Africa. There would not have been money to bring her back. The cryptic Congo ledger record that the archivist found for me said simply “Broome left the field Dec. 12, 1899.”

I found no further record of him in the C&MA archives. He either left missionary work or he went to work for a different mission. All comments about Broome’s dedication and passion for the work leads one to suspect he continued somewhere. There was also this comment in the 1899-1900 Annual Report from Dr. Cramer, superintendent of Congo mission:

“The mission sustained a severe loss during the year in the death of Mrs. Broome P. Smith, of whose character and work the brethren on the field speak in the highest terms.”

(Lineage: Emma-5, Thomas D.-4, Catharine Harrison-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

In the annual reports of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, there were indications that some missionaries were unhappy with their lot at their station, but that did not appear to be the case in the Congo mission where Dr. Reid had nothing but praise for his work and his people and they for him. Some people questioned the C&MA for not providing financial reports of where the money went and they tried to supply reports accordingly. The Congo mission received more than the Sudan mission, their only two missions in Africa, but the Congo mission must have been much larger, at one time having 40 missionaries there, scattered among seven stations on the north bank of the Congo River. Missionaries did not receive money directly from C&MA. Money was sent to the Superintendent of the mission who allocated it pro rata to various members of the mission. It must have been a very hard life.

During the years 1895 – 1916 things in Congo were very bad. King Leopold of Belgium had claimed the area as his personal domain and was stripping the country of its natural resources. While he never visited Belgium himself, he maintained an armed force there who were rewarded for their success in forcing the natives to work extracting rubber. The army was brutal and there have been calls recently that the period during which the population was greatly diminished by murder and dreadful working conditions should be considered genocide. By the time the truth came out to the world, the competition by other rubber companies who could produce rubber cheaper, and the world demand for King Leopold to be accountable for his actions, stopped the devastation as no longer worth the effort.

During this time missionaries were allowed in by suffrage only; in other words keep your mouth shut about what goes on or you will be kicked out of the country. Nothing in the annual reports of the C&MA spoke to the horrible situation in the country except occasionally an allusion to “troubled times” or “we thought our mission was completely lost.” Even in these trying conditions or perhaps because of them, the missionaries were able to win converts. I explored enough reports to learn that the Congo mission did not shut down at the time of Broome Smith’s departure, but it was severely hurt for lack of workers and had to withdraw from some of its outlying areas.

If you would like to explore the Christian and Missionary Alliance archives for yourself, here are the websites I looked at: http://www.cmalliance.org/whoweare/archives/alifepdf.jsp

http://www.cmalliance.org/whoweare/archives/pub_reports.jsp