Genealogy Long Distance

Wherever you are in the world, you can continue to do genealogy research as long as you have access to the internet. If you have a valid library card, and can access your public library over the internet, you can find the databases you are used to using there. I frequently use Heritage Quest through my local library for census informa-tion. Of course there are hundreds of other sites available on the internet.

During the month of July while I was in Greece I did some research, sent out some inquiries and responded to emails from people who had discovered my website and wanted to make contact. In August the family where I was staying in Athens lost their internet service which forced me to go to the internet cafe to answer email and do my blog. The blog took time to update and since I was paying for time, I did little research in August. There were, nevertheless, a few interesting contacts over the summer.

I have been trying to expand my contacts with descendants of Betsy Douglass Flewelling’s branch of the family. I have sent several emails to Idaho but have not received a response as yet regarding Elizabeth Blackman. My inquiry regarding one of her brother’s, William E. Blackman’s, wives brought a much more timely response.

The volunteer in Ravalli county, Montana, reported there was no obituary as I had requested, only a death notice. She forwarded the short notice which read: Ruby Jo Blackman, 94, of Corvallis, died Wednesday, July 2, 1997, at the North Valley Health Care Center in Stephensville. Arrangements are under the direction of the Daly-Leach Chapel in Hamilton.

That was all. Not a lot to go on, but I now had the name of the funeral home and could try calling there to see if I could get some information from them, specifically, names and locations of any descendants and where Ruby is buried. Since Ruby died at age 94, was living in a nursing home, and there was no obituary, it could mean there are no family survivors.

William E. Blackman allegedly had three wives. I do not know where Ruby came in the sequence but I suspect that she was his last. In the 1930 census he was married to Lillian, and one of the databases on Rootsweb has him married to Laura in 1939, but I have no documentation to verify this marriage. However, when I tried to trace Ruby back to her childhood, I learned enough about her to suspect that she had married at least once before she married Blackman. Now I just need to find documentation to justify my suspicion.

Related to other contacts over the summer, I am grateful to those who sign my Guest Book, even when they do not leave a message, because it indicates that having my website on the internet provides a service. Every so often someone signs who I have had no contact with previously. That tells me that internet search engines are finding names of interest to them and bringing them to my website. We may or may not correspond; the information I have gathered is nevertheless shared and that is the primary purpose that I collect it. That and the FUN I have looking for the information.

Now that I am home and back into my normal routine, you can look forward to more discoveries in future Digests. If you did not access my blog to read about my activities in Greece, or if you missed some entries, you can find that blog in its entirety at www.ingallsingreece.blogspot.com. When the website opens, you will see a box to the right, listing my blog entries by month. Click on the month you want to read. The entries appear in reverse order on the page, so if you want to read them in sequence, start at the bottom of the page first. My last entry was September 24th. I have decided not to continue the blog, as the primary purpose was to keep you abreast of my activities while I was in Greece for the summer. Hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures. ###

A couple items of interest:

1) Ellen Hackett in an August 15, 2006 posting on Rootsweb, responding to interest in DNA testing, pointed out that if one is testing only for Pictish DNA to prove real Scottish identity, one will be missing the majority of real Scots. First of all, Scotland was named after the Irish tribe the Scotii who traversed the Irish sea in coracles and settled on the West coast lowlands so were really Irish. Secondly, Scotland, (originally Caledonia) was populated by four separate and distinct tribes who were kept separate by the geographics of the country. The Picts were only a lowland tribe whose existence was recorded by the Romans who frequently had dealings with them on the Scottish borders, hence the existence of Hadrians wall. (These are her remarks; I have little knowledge of early Scottish derivation but I found what she had to say very interesting – ELI)

2) From the April 20, 2005 issue of Rootsweb Review: “Shirttail Cousin” is an ambiguous term. It can refer to distant blood relatives, but more commonly it means family members who have no blood relationship but are connected somehow through marriage.

Ernsthausens in Ohio

I continue to research the family of Thomas Moore and Sarah Harrison (Catherine branch). You may remember that I learned that the Moores married in Canada, moved to Ottawa county, Ohio, and thirty years later to Gratiot county, Michigan.

When at first I found death records for Sarah and Thomas Moore in Toledo, I was suspicious but eventually confirmed they had both died in Toledo. So who else in the family was in Toledo then? Otherwise why would they have returned there?

The Hacksteddes of that generation were all in Toledo, but Caroline Moore Hackstedde had died long before and her widowed husband remarried. Perhaps the Moores were living with grandchildren, but I only knew of the Hackstedde grandchildren. I still did not know what had happened to several of Tom and Sarah’s daughters.

There is a website called Random Acts of Kindness on the internet and that is exactly what it is. Volunteers sign up specifically for an area where they live or have records for and will look up individual pieces of information, for free, or for simply cost of postage. Many can scan info and send it to one by email.

I contacted the volunteer for Gratiot county, Michigan and asked for a copy of the obituary for Tom and Sarah’s son, Edward Moore. He lived in that county for fifty years so I was pretty sure there would be an obituary. In time I received a copy of the obituary and it gave me my next clues. His surviving sisters were listed as Mrs. Frank Oberlin, Bannister (MI), Mrs. Ida Earnsthausen, Toledo, Mrs. Lillian Earnsthausen, Toledo, Mrs. Gertie Griffith, Beaumont, TX, and Mrs. Sylvia Brennan, Long Beach, CA. (My first thought was: “So her name was Lillian.” The 1900 census had Lailly and her birth certificate said Libbie).

It was intriguing that both Ida and Lillian had the same surname. A search of the census for Earnsthausen found nothing. So I tried spelling it Ernsthausen. That brought up ten or eleven families, all of whom lived in the State of Ohio. I could find no one of the appropriate age on the index, but there was one Ida Ernsthausen. When I looked at that record, I realized that this Ida Ernsthausen was our Ida Ernsthausen’s mother-in-law, with the same given name! The older Ida, a widow, ran a large boarding house and her son, Robert, with his wife, Ida, lived there. So now I had the name of one of the Moore daughters’ husbands. In time I learned the name of the other: Arthur. In the 1910 census the older matriarch reported that she had born 7 children and only the 2 were living. This lady continued to run her boarding house for many years. When she died the house evidently passed into the hands of her son or sons, as that is where Sarah Harrison Moore was living when she died – 714 Walnut Street, Toledo!

Arthur and Lillian do not appear to have had any children, but I can not find them in the 1920 census. In 1910, Arthur was working on the railroad and may have been transferred to another location. At that time, Lillian, 29, reported she had no children.

Robert and Ida Ernsthausen had two daughters. Robert was working as a plumber in 1910, a grocery store proprietor in 1920 and foreman at a stock and grain farm in 1930. In 1930 both sons and their wives were living with their mother in the boarding house, though she had slightly fewer boarders than in earlier years.

Preliminary research to find Gertie Moore Griffith of Beaumont, TX, has led to no strong clues. It is unusual to list a woman as Gertie in an obituary unless she was known by and consistently used that name. Her birth certificate says Mary Gertrude, but there is a notation on the record that it has been corrected and the corrected version must be housed in a different volume, which I did not find in the library. I find no death record in Texas for her, and Texas has put their death records for that era online, but I did find a death record for Mary Griffith, who died in 1966 in Clinton county, Michigan. The only way to settle this is to get her obituary. She could have moved back to Michigan before she died; it is not uncommon for people to move “home” in their later years.

Augusta Moore married Frank Oberlin and lived out her life in Bannister, Michigan. She has children and grandchildren, many of whom are still living but with whom I have no contact at this time.

Sylvia Moore married Bill Brennan and in 1920, they too were boarding with Mrs. Ernsthausen. Bill was a railroad switchman. At some point they moved to California, and that is where they were living when Sylvia died in 1968, age 74. I find no record that they had any children.

There is, however, listed with Tom and Sarah Moore, in the census of 1910 a grandson, Roy K. Moore, age 1 1/2, no indication as to who his mother is. There were four single daughters in the household at that time. I have not seen his name again.

In the 1910 census Sarah Harrison Moore reported that she had born 8 children and 7 were living. Now that I have determined that all of the younger daughters were living, that means that the child that died was Thomas D. Moore, their only other son besides Edward. I have not found a death record for him yet, but I have narrowed down the time period. He died between 1900 and 1910, in his early twenties. My first suspect for his demise would be consumption.

Lineage of the Moore children-5, Sarah Moore-4, Catharine Harrison-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1

To see an outline of this family go to the family tree for the Catherine branch and scroll down about halfway.

Those Who Have Served Us

The month of May always brings for me the memory of my mother collecting flowers to take to the cemetery on Memorial Day. Today we note Memorial Day more often for it parades and its retail store sales. Going to the cemetery has lost some of its prominence for our families in part because many of us live some distance from the graves of our departed family members.

Somehow it just seems right about this time of the year to remember those who have served us by defending our country. I have been collecting a list of names of those who served in the various wars and while I can not guarantee that it includes all family members, it does give us an opportunity to see how many men and women have given a part of their lives for us. If you know of others I need to add to my list, please let me know.

Revolutionary War Jul 1776-Apr 1783

John Douglass

War of 1812 Jun 1812-Dec 1814

Alexander Douglass

James Douglass

Luther Cady

Civil War 1862-1865

Albert M. Ash – Co. K, 5th NY Light/Heavy Artillery, 9/1862 – 1865

Alfred Clemons – Co. C, 186th NY Inf., 8/23/64-6/7/65

Leander Douglass – Co. C, 110th NY Inf., 8/6/62-10/19/63

Ozander Douglass – Co. H, 10th NY Heavy Artillery, 2/2/64 – 7/6/65

Henry McAfee – Co. H, 186th NY Inf., 12/23/63 – 8/16/1865

James W. Plumb – Co. E, 10th NY Heavy Artillery, 8/27/1864 – 6/26/1865

Douglas Cramer – Co. K, 3rd MN Infantry, 1861-1862, 1863-1865

Samuel F. Cramer – Co. E, 49th WI Infantry, Jan. 1865-Nov. 1865

Calvin Crosby – Co. E, 49th WI Infantry, Jan 1865-Nov. 1865

George Teel – Co. A, 6th Iowa Infantry, 25th WI Infantry

Spanish American War Apr-Dec 1898

Carl Douglass

Charles Wilcox Douglas

Ernest Flewelling – Co. B, 34th MI Volunteers

John S. King

World War I April 1914-Nov 1918 (A.E.F.)

Frank Dunham – (Leander Douglass’ grandson)

Carl Douglass – US Army (Fred Douglass’ nephew)

Harold Lane – US Navy

Peter A.B. Widener – US Army (Gertrude Douglas’ husband)

Harlon G. Walrath – US Army

Thomson Douglas – US Army Air Corps (Curtis Douglas’ son)

Cecil Douglass – US Army (Battery E, Field Artillery)

Edwin S. Douglass – US Army (Gerry Douglass’ father)

Dr. E. Martin Ding – US Army (Medical Corps)

Harvey Decker – (Catherine Flewelling Scrivener’s gr’son)

Alfred Taylor – (Minerva French Taylor’s son)

George C. Teel – US Navy

World War II Dec 1941 – Aug 1945

Edward Campbell – Royal Canadian Army, Major 1941-45

Julie Carey Douglass – WAAF (Alaska)

James Cruickshank – US Army

Leslie Daniels * – US Army

Douglas S. Detlie – US Army (Corps of Engineers)

Clyde Dick – US Navy

Margaret Dick Peyton *- WAVES

William Dick – US Navy

Dr. P. Martin Dings – US Army (Medical Corps)

Donald C. Douglas – US Army

Jack Douglas – US Army (Philippines)

Jim Flansburg – US Navy

Arthur Lagendyk – US Navy

Royal Lane – US Navy (engineer, auxilliary ships) (1913-1949)

Bruce A. Lee – US Navy (Leila Clemons Lee’s grandson)

Louis M. Lee – US Marine Corps (gunner, battleship SS South Dakota)

Kathleen Dell Mauck – WAVES (Cabot Ward Low’s wife)

Clark McAfee – US Navy

Harry O. Newcomer – US Army

Edith Gilmore Weeks * – WAVES

Rollo Pietro – US Navy

Nigel Pilcher – Royal Canadian Army, Major (Queens Own Rifles 1939-)

Robert Stitt – US Navy

Clyde Stone – US Navy

Harlon C. Walrath – US Navy

Charles Woolworth – US Navy Air Corps

Gilbert Woolworth * – US Navy Air Corps

* denotes WWII veteran still living (in May 2007)

Korean War Jun 1950-Jul 1953

Leonard Garnsey US Navy (Ed Clark’s nephew)

Viet Nam Aug 1964-Jan 1973

Bryan Douglas – US Navy (1948-1982)

Robert Eveleigh – US Air Force

Richard Stevens – US Army

Richard Hardy – US Air Force (1930-1968)

Persian Gulf War Jan-Feb 1991

Robert Schroy – US Army

Iraq Mar 2003-

Eric Stevens – US Army

*****

The Toronto World, September 13, 1918

Included in a column entitled More Toronto Men Among Casualties

“Lieut. Benjamin E. Tassie, reported to have died of wounds, left Canada with the rank of captain, but reverted in order to gain active service at the front. His widow resides at 103 Madison Ave.”

Benjamin Tassie was married to Elizabeth “May” Mayberry on June 3, 1911 in Brant County, Ontario. He was the son of Alexander and Wilhelmina Tassie of Toronto.

Lt. Benjamin Bertchael Eager Tassie died Sept. 3, 1918, age 31, 1st Bn., Canadian Infantry, (Western Ontario Regiment). He is buried in Bac-Du-Sud British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.

Location: Bailleulval is a village in the Department of the Pas-de-Calais about 13 kilometres south-west of Arras, and the Bac-Du-Sud British Cemetery is one kilometre west of the village on the north side of the main road from Arras to Doullens (N25)

(Lineage: May-6, Charles A.-5, Matilda Mayberry-4, Lydia-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

My Trip To Toledo

For several years the only names I carried on my database for descendants of Catharine Douglass Harrison, youngest of the nine Douglass siblings, were the names that Wilfred Douglass had listed in his “Canadian Genealogy” in 1926. He wrote: “The Harrisons…had five children, Thomas Douglass Harrison, Elizabeth Mary Ann, Sarah, Henry and Gilbert.”

Over the years I was able to determine that Elizabeth and Mary Ann were actually two individuals, and that their son, Henry, had died in childhood.

I searched in vain for the children after their father Henry Harrison died in 1869. Probate of his will indicated that there were four children living, Thomas Douglass, and his three sisters, Elizabeth, Mary Ann and Sarah. Information came to light slowly and in bits that did not leave clues for further investigation.

When I came across a listing on the internet for Thomas Douglass Harrison’s children – just a listing with birthdates, no location, that was the first chink in the wall. I kept pecking away at that chink and eventually information began to flow.

Recently I spent two days in the Toledo, Ohio area where I followed up on the information I reported in my October issue of the Douglass Digest. Sarah Harrison married Thomas Moore in Canada and they moved to Ottawa County, Ohio. They lived there for about thirty years and then moved to Gratiot County, Michigan. I stopped in Ottawa County at the Port Clinton library to verify birthdates for the children and found all but the youngest recorded. I checked for any family deaths in the county and found none. Then on to the library in Toledo, which had a good supply of microfilm and many Toledo directories.

I knew that the Hacksteddes, (Caroline Moore, the oldest daughter, married Henry Hackstedde) had nearly all lived in Toledo. I concentrated on searching for marriages and looking for obituaries in the local papers.

Remember my commenting that it was lucky that Noel Hackstedde was just barely old enough to have to register for the WWI draft because that gave me his father’s name? Well, I wondered at that time about him listing his father as Next of Kin on his draft registration. Usually the men listed their mothers or their wives. When Henry Hackstedde appeared in the 1930 census, listed as a widower, living with his second son, Harold, my suspicion that his wife had died before Noel registered deepened, but it was many hours later before I could confirm that.

Her death (February 1916, age 39) is probably the reason that, after exhaustive search of the 1920 census, I have been unable to find Henry or his daughters in that census. The family was broken up and living with others. I eventually found Noel, 20, boarding in Toledo, and Harold, 17, living with his paternal grandparents, William and Emma Hackstedde.

I had death records for Harold Hackstedde and his wife, Dorothy, before I went to Toledo, so I looked up their obituaries and found the names of their children. The obituary of their son, James, however, was a gold mine of information. He and his first wife had seven children. I had hoped to find a living descendant in Ohio, but it appears that nearly all of them had migrated to the west coast. I did however learn the married names of his sisters and that is always a very big find.

This line of the family tree has definitely not petered out. For a while I thought Noel might have died in the War as the draft registration was the last record I could find for him, but then I found him listed with his father in the Toledo Directory in 1948. I have found no indication that he ever married.

My trip to Toledo was successful, not that it answered all my questions, but it supplied me with much information for further investigation.

Check out the family tree for Catharine Douglass Harrison’s family and see how many members are now listed as her descendants and that does not include the current generations.

Siblings Across The Border

Catharine, youngest of the nine Douglass siblings born in Montgomery County, NY, was 14 when her father moved to Halton County, Ontario. Tracking Catherine and Henry Harrison’s children has been a difficult job as you have read in previous issues of the Digest (Jan 2000, Jul 2004, Jan 2005, Jul 2005)

Usually if one gets a few good documented clues, then information begins to open up. It has been a long time coming for the Harrisons. I knew that Catharine Douglass Harrison died in 1858 at age 47 when her youngest daughter, Sarah, was only 7. If either of her older daughters, Elizabeth or Mary, was married by that time, I have not been able to find a marriage certificate. With such a young daughter, I expected Henry to need a housekeeper or wife and last year I found a marriage record; he married Ann Hilton, a 30 year old spinster, in 1861. The older children may have been married and out of the home by this time; Sarah would have been 10.

When Henry Harrison died in 1869, Thomas Douglas Harrison was administrator for his father’s estate and recorded that he was the eldest and he and his three sisters were the only heirs. The heirs were not listed by name so I do not know if the sisters were married. Sarah would have been 18 at that time.

I could not find Sarah in the 1871 census. Nor could I find Ann Hilton Harrison.

In 1881 census, Ann Hilton Harrison is living with her aged mother, Rebecca Hilton in Nelson, Halton county. None of the Harrison children are with her.

The first break came when I found Thomas D. Harrison’s wife’s death certificate in Phoenix, Arizona (AZ), along with the death certificates of her daughter Ida and Ida’s husband, Kirkby. But Ida had no children and I could not find them living in Canada before they moved to AZ, so the trail kind of petered out. I kept looking for the Henry W. Harrison who gave information for Ida’s death certificate. He had to be her brother.

The next break came when I found a marriage record for Sarah Harrison, (fa Henry, mo Catharine Harrison), to Thomas Moore. Ordinarily the marriage record should have said Catharine Douglass, but what made me sure I had the right Sarah Harrison (after checking out 5 marriages that weren’t her) was her birthplace, Nelson, Halton county!

I went on to research the Moore family in the usual manner and learned that Sarah and Tom Moore, who married in November 1873, moved that same year to Ottawa County, Ohio (just east of Toledo) where in 1900 census they list 8 children: Caroline, Thomas, Lailly, Edward, Mary, Ida, Augusta, Sylvia. But by 1910 census, they were gone. Gone where?

Needing another name to search for, I went back to the 1900 census. At that time the oldest daughter, Caroline, was listed as married, living with her parents but without a husband in the household, and mother to a three month old son by the name of Noel Hackstedde. That sounded like a good name to search – should not be too many Hacksteddes around. Well, the only thing that saved me from frustration this time was the World War I draft registrations. Noel Hackstedde was just barely old enough to have to register and his registration card gave me his father’s name, Henry, and also where his Uncle Edward was living, because Noel was working for Ed Moore as farm labor – in Michigan! That was one of those shouts-of-exhilaration moments. I not only found Ed Moore in Michigan, but right next door was his father’s family. (So that’s where they went!)

I continued my search for Thomas D. Harrison’s children. There were way too many Thomas and John Harrisons to check out every single marriage record, but I tried something I had not tried before. I searched the birth records for the period when these men would be most likely to have children, putting their names into the search engine as father. In short order I found John Harrison’s children and his wife’s name. The clinching factor here was that John’s middle name was Durlin after his grandfather, John Durlin Smith. Durlin is far less common than Douglas.

John Harrison and Grace Armour married in Hamilton, Ontario in 1898 and in the 1901 census, they had a one year old son, Archibald. Now you might think Archibald would be a good name to search. Wrong. There must have been twenty Archie Harrisons, but I had a pretty firm date of birth, and I found them across the border in Lee county, Illinois on a dairy farm in 1910. That was a surprise because these were city folks I thought. But a man is entitled to try something new. By 1911, however, the Canadian census showed the family back in Dundas, Ontario. They had moved to Illinois in 1903 and back to Ontario in 1911.

The next surprise was finding John’s sister, Blanch (Harrison) and John MacKinnon, and their family in the SAME county, Lee county, Illinois. They had been there since they married (1895) and were naturalized citizens. John MacKinnon was manager of a creamery and perhaps influenced his brother-in-law, John Harrison, to try farming. John Harrison went back to being a produce merchant in Dundas, Ontario, probably with a much greater appreciation for where his goods came from! John MacKinnon continued to manage the creamery in Amboy, Illinois.

Lee county, Ilinois, served up ANOTHER surprise when in the 1900 census I found Kirkby and Ida Townsend, the same Townsends who died in Arizona, also living there. Illinois must have been a stopping place on the way to Arizona. Kirkby was in the creamery business, so he probably encouraged John MacKinnon to join him. It looks like Kirkby and Ida moved to Illinois first, Blanch and John MacKinnon followed shortly after and then John and Grace tried their hand at farming for a while.

Oh, and another pleasant discovery was finding Olivia Harrison, 32, sister to Ida and Blanch and John, living with the Townsends. It was a blessing because the list of children’s names I was working from had her listed as Levia. Obviously the list had been transmitted orally. With the correct name I was able to find her married to Joseph Roseveare in Arizona in 1910.

So it has taken a good many hours of research but at last I am finding these Harrison children. Of Catharine Douglass Harrison’s grandchildren, (those I know about to date) 7 were born in Canada and 7 were born in Ohio. Of her great grandchildren, 7 were born in Canada and 16 were born in the US.

There is more research to do, but now I am getting into a time period where there are more records and the possibility of finding a living descendant of Catharine Douglass Harrison is looking brighter. There just might be someone living not far from me in Ohio.

Check out the genealogy page for Catharine and Henry Harrison’s descendants. I have highlighted the names of the people I have just been writing about. Pay particular attention to the locations where they were born, where their children were born and where they died, and you will see how much they moved around.

***

Addendum to Last Month

I learned a little more about the Oswald family that Helen Douglass married into in Montreal. James K. and Wm. R. Oswald, born in Scotland, made their first appearance in the Montreal Directory in 1870, ages 20 and 23, respectively, listed as Oswald Brothers, Bleury St.

In 1872, Wm. R. Oswald was one of the petitioners for incorporation of the Montreal Stock Exchange. At its inception it had 40 seats and traded only 800 stocks a day. By 1959 the Montreal stock exchange traded over 10,000 stocks a day and Mr. Weir of Oswald & Drinkwater had replaced Malcolm Oswald as a member of the Stock Exchange. Malcolm Oswald is believed to have died about 1944. His son, Douglass Oswald, married but by 1947 he was no longer living in Montreal and at this time nothing more is known of his whereabouts.

(Lineage: Douglass-6, Helen Oswald-5, Dr. Robert-4, Robert-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

—

From a Newspaper Clipping – 1926

Douglas Clan Reunion at LaFargeville

Frank E. Bellinger Elected President at 14th Annual Meeting Held August 12

LaFargeville, Aug. 17 –

The 14th Reunion of the James Douglas clan was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Bellinger at Lafargeville on Thursday, August 12. Fifty two members were present and four visitors. A delicious chicken pie dinner was served. At the business meeting the following officers for the ensuing year were elected: president, Frank E. Bellinger; vice president, Bert E. Gilmore; secretary and treasurer, Mrs. Frank E. Bellinger.

A rising vote of thanks was given Mr. and Mrs. Bellinger for their hospitality and meeting place for picnic next year was left to committee to decide.

The persons who came the farthest to attend were Mr. and Mrs. Clare Lane and Mrs. Charles Lane of East Rochester. The honor of having largest family present went to Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lee of Pillar Point. The oldest person present was Charles C. Emerson of East Rochester, 82 years old, and youngest one present was Shirley Flansburg, not quite two, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Flansburg of Watertown. The couple married the longest were Mr. and Mrs. J.F.(H.) Douglas of Sacket Harbor and youngest married couple present was Mr. and Mrs. Clare Lane of East Rochester.

Mrs. Delia McAfee of Dexter, one of older members of the clan, was greatly missed being unable to attend this year. During the past year death has taken Mrs. Susan Douglas Emerson of East Rochester and Dorothy Lucas, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Lucas of Watertown.

(Editor’s note: Earl Lucas married Elva Luther. Elva had no children and died before their 8th anniversary. The daughter mentioned above who died was from Earl’s second marriage. He and his family were always included in the Douglass reunion.

Elva’s lineage: Elva-6, Emma Luther-5, J.Chester-4, James-3, John-2, Alexander-1)

Letter to a Researcher

Dear Anne,

Thank you for the copy of James Palmer’s will. It turned out to be a mixed blessing. When I ordered it, I did not really think he was the father of the family I am researching and at first glance thought, well, we ruled that out. But as I looked at it more closely, there were some similarities in spite of the differences.

His will mentions 4 sons and 4 daughters. My family had 4 sons and 2 daughters. The names are not all the same but some are. Then I realized my James Palmer was enough older than Angeline to have been married before and some of the children in the will could be from a first marriage, (though the will does not mention that). The information that really gives me pause is his wife’s name, Ann.

Is the Ann Palmer I am chasing in Vancouver this man’s wife? And is that same person Angeline Sibbald Palmer? The documentation I have is hanging by a thread: the possibility that the “John Sibley” listed as father on Ann Palmer’s death certificate in Vancouver, BC (mother’s name not listed) is really meant to be “John Sibbald”.

The only thing that gives me hope and keeps me picking away at it (like a scab on your knee you can’t leave alone) is a death certificate in Vancouver for Charles Sibbald Palmer, the same Charles Palmer whose death was noted in the Forest Free Press in Lambton County, Ontario. I had never seen Sibbald used as his middle name until I saw the death certificate. Unfortunately this man had the audacity to drop dead of an aneurysm of the aorta while at work as a teamster and the truncated death certificate has no family information at all! It simply says he was born in Ontario. It does not even give his residence at time of death. I have no inkling that he ever married, so perhaps there was no one to give any information.

Then there is his brother, George Palmer. I was exceedingly pleased to find a marriage record for George in Lambton County with both his parents listed: James Palmer and Angeline Sibbald. George married Corrie Shrier in June 1889. Hers is an unusual name, Corrie not Carrie. That should make it easy to trace, right? Wrong. The only George I could find after 1889 was George Clarence Palmer (first time I’ve seen Clarence) or George C. Palmer, sometimes, and records abound for him. If he is the George in my Palmer family, he married again in Manitoba in 1890, thirteen months after he married Corrie. I looked for a death record for Corrie and found none. I found a death record for his second wife though, in Winnipeg. He married again in 1895.

George Clarence Palmer had three children born in Winnipeg and then he moved to Vancouver, where he lived until he died in 1936. I eagerly looked for his death certificate in the Vancouver library and was left hanging again. The certificate has his parents listed as “unknown”. I have nothing but circumstantial evidence that George Clarence Palmer might be the son of James and Angeline Palmer.

So, Anne, let’s try this. Would you check the cemetery records again for Lambton County? I know that Corrie Shrier’s parents are buried in Arkona cemetery. Is there any possibility that she is buried in their plot and the record is misfiled? Can we check out that cemetery lot that J. Palmer purchased but which has no recorded burials in it. Is there a possibility that the lot was purchased at the time that Corrie might have died?

I am enclosing a check to cover copying and postage and thank you so much for following up on James Palmer’s will for me. I was fascinated with the history of Oil Springs; I never realized Lambton county, Ontario, had oil wells.

Best regards, Ethel

***

James and Angeline Palmer lived in the Town of Warwick in Lambton County. This is about 15 miles northeast of Oil Springs. The James Palmer whose will I obtained lived in Oil Springs, his occupation: oil operator. It seems that the farmers in that area suddenly found oil coming from their fields. There was even a couple of respectable geysers. For a number of years the community grew rapidly as oil was shipped out but then the wells dried up, the boom was over, and the land reverted to farming. Was James Palmer, oil operator, the James that married Angeline? Or was he an entrepreneur who moved in to take advantage of a growing industry? I just don’t know – yet.

(Lineage for Angeline: Angeline Palmer-4, Lydia Sibbald-3, John-2, Alexander Douglass-1)

***

Additional Notes

When I wrote last month I was not sure about Martha Flewelling but since then I have accessed her marriage record and, indeed, the Martha who married Archibald McGougan in 1891 in Ingersoll, Ontario, was the daughter of Abel and Betsy Douglass Flewelling. She gave her age as 42 when she married Archie who was 35. In the 1891 census a few months later she was 2 years younger – 40!

In reality she was 52 when she married. It was Archie’s first marriage and since, even at 42, the possibility of Martha giving him sons was pretty slim, this was probably a marriage of convenience. Archie was the oldest of four siblings and if his mother had passed away, he needed a housekeeper. Martha had probably spent many years working for other families in the area, as she was doing when the census of 1871 was taken. By 1891 her parents were dead, all of her brothers had moved to the States and only three sisters remained in the area. Of course there were quite a few nieces and nephews in Oxford County still. A woman had to look to her future security and the oldest son on a farm would surely inherit the land.

Sounds like she made a pretty good deal to me. ###

Check additions to the Biosketches page for:

Alexander Douglass, son of Robert Douglass and Jane McGill

Alexander Frederick Douglass, son of William Douglass and Polly Gaukel

J. Hubert Douglass, son of J. Chester Douglass and Lucilda Cady.