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.

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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)

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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)