Saturday Challenge- Where Were They in 1900?

A typical scene*

From an old GeneaMusings by Randy Seaver.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1)  Where were your ancestors in the year 1900?  Make a list with their ages and location (with the street  address if you know it).

This assignment shouldn’t be too hard I thought, I’ll only do my direct ancestors, not aunts, uncles, or cousins. Right. In the year, 1900, I had four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, nine 2-great-grandparents, and one 3-great grandmother alive! Well, here goes:

Grandparents

William Ward lived in Scipio with his parents at age 13. This undoubtedly would have been the Mapleton area.

Frances Ingalls Ward at age 11 would have been on the Fort Drum military base. No that’s not right. Fort Drum didn’t even exist yet. She lived near North Wilna on her father’s farm. Today the area has been absorbed into Fort Drum.

Marion Wooster was age 4. He had been born in Iowa, but in 1900 was living back east where the family had come from on the outskirts of the hamlet of Lysander in northern Onondaga County.

Alice Valentine Jennings Wooster would have been 7 and living on her father’s farmland in Ireland.

Great-Grandparents

Charles Ingalls at age 36 owned a farm in the town of Wilna Jefferson Co, New York, just north of the settlement of North Wilna. The previous year he had lost his first wife (my great-grandmother) in childbirth and had not yet remarried.

William Jennings at age 51 and his wife, Sarah (Damery) Jennings age 38 were living on their farmland in Keelinga, Leap, County Cork Ireland. This is a small community in southwest Cork not far from the sea. One of their granddaughters and her husband own it today.

John Ward was 46 and his wife, Maria (Titus) Ward was 42 that year. They lived in the town of Scipio on a farm that we believe was near the four corners of Mapleton.

Verner Wooster age 37 and his wife, Edith (Duff) Wooster age 36 would have been on one of their farms. This one was in Lysander, New York, but they still had a farm in Iowa that they would travel back and forth to over the years.

2-Great-Grandparents

John Brown age 65 and Anna (Wright) Brown age 64 were living in Antwerp not far from their son-in-law Charles Ingalls, recent widower of their daughter Achsah. Antwerp is the town next to Wilna and the homes were about 5 miles or so apart.

James Duff was age 64 and Nellie (Johnson) Duff was 53 this year. Their farm was in Hampton Township of Dakota County, Minnesota. This is south of Minneapolis.

William Ward was age 72 and his wife, Mary Ann (Blackwell) Ward was 74 in 1900. They lived in Scipio, probably on the property that Mary Ann owned at Manchester Road and Cork Street.

Mary Fay Ingalls was 60. A widow, she lived with her son Charles in Wilna, undoubtedly helping him with his children.

 

Elizabeth (Tift) Wooster, a widow at age 73, she is living in her son, Verner’s home in Lysander as mentioned above at the time of the census. She appeared to consider Verner’s home as her base while visiting her children for extended times. Seven of her ten children were surviving in 1900.

Lodema (Tobias) Titus, at age 69 lived in Ledyard, with her oldest son, Daniel. He is listed as the head of household on the census. However, this was the home she had occupied for many years not far from the Great Gully that separates Ledyard from Springport in Cayuga County.

3-Great-Grandmother

Mary (Aubin) Johnson was age 85. One of the two original white women to settle in Washington County, Minnesota, she was now living in her daughter Emma’s home in Castle Rock, Minnesota. Emma and her husband, William Duff, lived not far from their siblings Nellie and James Duff mentioned above.

Despite the number of people to account for, this was not hard to figure out. Prior research has made me aware of the general vicinity of the places that my ancestors had lived. The census for 1900 reminded me of where they were living; particularly for those that had, had different homes over the years or that were staying with children.

*The picture is from Lancaster Pennsylvania taken this year while on vacation. But as they all lived on farms in 1900, this would have been typical of what they might have seen out their windows.

Saturday Challenge: Unbroken Chain of Gravestones

From last week's Saturday Fun Challenge by Randy Seaver:

1)    Determine what is your longest unbroken line of ancestral gravestones - how many generations can you go back in time?  Do you have photographs of them?

The longest I have would be five generations on two of my father’s lines.

Gordon (1919-1998) & Alice (1924-2016) Ward in Evergreen (Scipioville Cemetery) in Scipioville, New York.

His parents’ graves, William (1887-1962) and Frances (Ingalls) (1889-1962) Ward are across the driveway from him in Scipioville.

His mother’s parents Charles (1864-1939) Ingalls and Achsah (Brown) (1864-1899) Ingalls.  Charles is buried in Fleming Rural Cemetery in Fleming, New York and his wife; Achsah is buried in Hillside Cemetery in Antwerp, New York.

Beside Achsah, are her parents: John Robert (1835-1917) and Anna (Wright) (1836-1923) Brown.

Over in the Quaker Cemetery in Philadelphia, New York is John Robert’s parents: Quartis (1795-1878) and Julia (Gibbs) (abt. 1798-1855) Brown. [These I do not yet have pictures of].

While in Redwood Cemetery over in Alexandria, New York are those of Julia’s parents: Samuel (1802-1885) and Margaret (Ford) (1808-1894) Wright. [These I do not yet have pictures of].

These graves span five generations, but only two counties. Despite the families moving to better places, immigrating sometimes great distances, these lines are all buried relatively near each other.

Originally thinking about this, though, I immediately thought about not a link of gravestones across time and place, but rather an unbroken line of four generations in one cemetery.  Those first two burials are both in Evergreen or Scipioville Cemetery.

If we follow the other line from my grandparents, you will find William’s parents: John (1854-1932) and Maria (Titus) (1858-1927) Ward along the same driveway and across the cemetery are those graves of his parents: William (1830-1902) and Mary Ann (Blackwell) (1828-1902) Ward.

This gives not quite as long a line of gravestones, but they are all in the same cemetery with many aunts, uncles and cousins scattered about in between.

New York State Library

New York State Library

Address: 222 Madison Ave, Albany, NY 12230; 7^th Floor and 11^th Floor

Phone: (518) 474-5355

Website: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/

Parking: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/locpar_ce.htm#c

This will take you to a map and information on parking near the library. I have had good luck with the Cathedral parking lot whenever I have visited the library.

Hours:

Monday - Saturday 9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

A view from the library

Situated in the state’s capital, the New York State Library is simply put, the library for the entire state. It is situated in downtown Albany, a couple blocks from the state capital and at the southern end of the Empire State Plaza Convention Center. The building also contains the New York State Archives and the New York State Museum.

Monday through Saturday, the doors to the building open at 9:30 in the morning. Upon entering, you are in a large room with information and guard counters as well as kiosks with information about Albany including bus schedules. At first it can be confusing as archways lead off in all directions. If you have time, feel free to explore through these arches—they are parts the New York State Museum which is free admission. In the northeast corner is the museum gift shop, which among other items, sells many books about the history and culture of the state.

Shortly after opening Saturday morning

Walking towards the back, you will see a desk for the security guards of the building. On either side of their area are banks of elevators. Turn towards the right and you will see these are marked with the various public floors. The majority of the library is on the 7^th floor. This is where you will find books of general interest, law books and the genealogy area. Genealogy covers almost half the floor. There are many microform readers, copiers and scanners available to you. A set of computers connects to the Internet. All of these must be reserved, but it is very easy to do at the information desk. Another computer gives you access to the card catalog if you haven’t looked at it through the website prior to arriving or need to check for one more item. An old-fashioned paper based card catalog contains surnames with published genealogies related to that name; locality cards and listings from the Daughters of American Revolution (DAR) books contain similar information. Open stacks contain countless genealogies and books regarding counties within New York, books on New Jersey, New England and probably other places as well. A complete set of the NYS DAR books are available as well as boxes of loose papers on various subjects. All of these are fully browsable and accessible.

Some microfilm and microfiche are available in cabinets. Most of these and some items from the catalog must be requested as they are stored on other floors. There are several “pulls” throughout the day, but request early so that you have plenty of time. I’ve requested microfilms to be pulled late in the afternoon for the following day. If you’re coming from out of town, you can also contact them ahead of time and they’ll have them ready and waiting for you upon arrival.

Looking towards the microfilm area

The 11^th floor is the archives and items from the library that need special handling. I will write about that floor in a post soon.

Photocopies cost 25 cents each, or you can do digital copies either to a thumb drive (a staff member will scan your drive first to make sure there are no viruses), or you can email them to yourself. Digital copies are free as well as the ability to take pictures with your own digital device as long as no flash is used. Some books are marked “too fragile to photocopy”. There are now special overhead scanners that can be used on these as well as the ability to photograph.

Just a few of the NY counties...

There are so many different items available that it is hard to mention one special item that can be singled out for this library. One thing that comes to mind is that the Capital District Genealogy Society actually staffs the library on some days with volunteers from their society that can help you with your searches! These volunteers are not only experienced genealogists, but they are already familiar with the library and can help you negotiate to where you need to go to find that elusive item. Librarians and staff members are also available and very willing to help, but they are very low staffed and so are busy trying to accomplish many things at once, so often it is better if one of the volunteers is available to help out.

Another thing that is special is the ability to use microfilms of newspapers across the state. While I was there on Saturday, I used some rolls of the Watertown Times to find a couple articles on one of my families. However, if I wasn’t going to be there I could go to my local library anywhere in New York State and request that they Interlibrary Loan them for me from the NYS Library. It is a free service, and I’ve even had a film come to the Syracuse University Law Library (a private institution) a few years ago to look through. Outside of NYS there is a $20 fee for the loan.  

Many years ago, while working on a high school assignment, my father gave me a box of newspaper clippings and photos that his mother had saved over the years. Among those was a yellowed and tattered article from a newspaper telling of her mother’s death. This project started me on my genealogy search. Saturday morning while going through those microfilms, I found the exact issue of the paper that the article about my great-grandmother’s death had come out of and was able to get a digital copy to go along with the tattered one my grandmother had saved.

Wordless Wednesday-- Hillside Cemetery Antwerp, New York

Age Span of Great-Great Grandparents-- Saturday Challenge

It’s time to catch-up on last weekend’s Saturday Challenge from Randy Seaver:

1)  We each have 16 great-great grandparents.  How did their birth and death years vary?  How long were their lifespans?  

2)  For this week, please list your 16 great-great grandparents, their birth year, their death year, and their lifespan in years.  You can do it in plain text, in a table or spreadsheet, or in a graph of some sort.

Lodema, the oldest of my gg-grandparents

GG Grandfather -

Ward               William                       1 Feb 1830           31 Aug 1902        72 years

Titus                Samuel H                    13 Oct 1825         10 Mar 1874        48 years

Brown             John Robert                 18 Nov 1835        24 Oct 1917         81 years

Ingalls             Joseph D                     19 Dec 1834        21 Aug 1894        59 years

Duff                James                          26 Mar 1836        26 Feb 1926        89 years

Wooster          Barclay                        29 Aug 1819        3 Mar 1895          75 years

Damery           James “John”            1812                     1896                    84 years

Jennings          Richard J                                                                              unknown

GG Grandmother -

Blackwell         Mary Ann                    14 May 1828       11 Aug 1902        74 years

Tobias             Lodema                       16 Oct 1831         28 Mar 1926        94 years

Wright             Anna S                        12 Dec 1836        13 Feb 1923        86 years

Fay                  Mary Ann                    11 Nov 1840        24 Jul 1906          65 years

Johnson           Mary Ellen “Nellie”   25 Dec 1847        12 Feb 1921        73 years

Tift                  Elizabeth Hannah        11 May 1826       24 Mar 1906        79 years

Wolfe              Elizabeth                      1823                     abt 1862               39 years

Fuller               Mary                                                                                    unknown

There is a couple in Ireland, as you can see, who I have no idea of their birth and death years. There is much research to do in that area, but few records that can be found from a distance. This is one of the reasons that every time it is announced about new Irish records available online, I hold my breath and hope that they are Protestant and more specifically Church of Ireland (Anglican) records.

The oldest and the youngest were both female at 94 and approximately 39 years. Elizabeth Wolfe probably died either in childbirth or shortly after the birth of her daughter, Sarah Damery, my g-grandmother.

The average age for males of that generation was 72.5 and females 72.85. It is remarkable how close together the averages came out.

Saturday Challenge of Names

On Sunday evening, I am getting to the SaturdayChallenge.

1) My friend and colleague Linda Stufflebean posted JUST FOR FUN – 4 X 6 = 24 FAMILY TREE QUESTIONS on her blog this week, and I thought we could answer half of the questions this week and half next week.

2)  Here are the first three questions:

*  What four places did my ancestors live that are geographically the farthest from where I live today?
*  What are the four most unusual given names in my family tree?

*  What are the four most common given names in my family tree?

Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine

a) The locations- these would be origins of some of the major lines, since as far as I know, all came from their places of origins to somewhere in what is now the United States. None of the direct lines ventured to other continents in between.

-Wooster from Chedingham, Buckinghamshire, England

-Brown from Ulster in the North of Ireland, said to be Scotch Irish in older genealogies.

-Duff from Island McGee in county Antrim, Ireland.

-Du Colon is rumored to be from near Colon, France. Nobody yet knows for sure where Dr Claudius Du Colon (1716-1801) was born or the route he took to the US.

b) There are not a lot of unusual names in the family tree, so I cheated and used 2 collateral and 2 direct lines. Some of these names combined with their surnames are just too good to miss!

-Preserved Fish (several on 4^th and 3^rd cousin lines) one is the son of Thomas Fish and Grizzel Strange. Now, that’s a combination!

-Titus Titus (4C5R) son of John Titus and  Elizabeth Hungerford. What were they thinking? It is a family name within both lines, but…

-Mindwell Chatfield (5^th Great grandmother) wife of Moses Wooster. Daughter of Ebenezer Chatfield and Abigail Prindle.  A virtue name from the Puritans.

-Quartis Brown (3^rd Great grandfather) husband of Julia Gibbs. Son of Robert Brown & Elizabeth Campbell. I’ve never seen Quartis otherwise.

A card from Quartis Brown's pension application

c) The most common names. I’m not sure how to determine this with my database, so I estimated it from the names I come across most often. Including siblings of my direct ancestors, George and Elizabeth would be on the list as well. I think they are pretty standard names for Protestant English and Irish lines.

-William

-John

-Mary/Maria

-Ann

Where They Were Born

Fellow genealogist J. Paul Hawthorne started a trend on Facebook earlier today. Playing along with this, these are the birthplaces of my ancestors up to great-great-grandparents. I also have lived my entire life in New York State. So, despite this state being such a black-hole for finding information, you can see why most of my research is done here.

There's also another black-hole not so evident within this chart. With all the Catholic parish registers and such appearing for Ireland, you might think that line is getting very easy to research. Well, considering not a single one of the people born in Ireland likely ever crossed through a door into a Catholic church let alone created a record within them, I'm still waiting for the Church of Ireland (Anglican) records to become more easily accessed. When/if they finally come online- don't expect to hear from me for awhile!

Middle Names

From Randy Seaver's Saturday Challenge: 

 

1)     It became tradition in English speaking countries to bestow middle names on children during the 19th century and later.  Go back four generations in your ancestral families and list the middle names of the children in these families.  Do you know why those middle names were bestowed?

This challenge is difficult for me. Many of these families tended not to give middle names. If they did, it was very often just an initial and not a complete name from what can be found in records. Legal and baptismal records don’t give the middle names as well as in other places showing with either none or the initial only. I have listed each family in birth order with an * beside my direct ancestor. All comments about them are in italics.

Ward

Ann?

John?

Not sure about these children- only one listing unsourced, but fits with a census listing of mother’s # children born/living

George W

*John S Always claimed to be just “S”- son Alden D. listed his as “Dee” in his marriage record.

Keziah E

Mary A The “A” might stand for Ann as her mother was Mary Ann.

Zachrius Dexter No known person of Dexter- might be a neighbor?

Elizabeth A “Libbie”

Susan W

Wesley W

Rose Belle No known instance of Belle in family otherwise.

Titus

Sarah R

Daniel D

Anna A

*Maria C

Edwin C His and/or Maria’s might be for Chase, their maternal grandmother’s maiden name.

Edgar P

Lydia A

Never saw anything but initials in any listing

Ingalls

*Charles Joseph Joseph is after his father and others in his ancestry as well

Elvira A “Vite” Vite was a shortened corruption of her first name. No idea if A was an initial or beginning of a name.

Brown

Charlie W

Frank H

* Achsah L

Emily M

Abbie

William S

Henry H

John E

Never saw anything but initials in any listing

Wooster

Oren T

Edith

Byron

Ellen Juliann None known

Harriet A “Hattie”

Ina Adelle Only find first name on tombstone, so Adelle was actually first.

Ida May None known.

Thomas James None known. Name passed down on descent in Verner’s line.

Lewis

*Verner Robert Middle was a great grandfather’s first name. Name passed down on descent.

Duff

*Edith Mary Mother Mary Ellen, grandmother Mary Jane, ggrandmother Jane. Paternal grandmother Mary.

Mabel Louise None known.

Helen Theodora None known.

Fred Millard None known.

I have thought that perhaps these were names of neighbors.

Jennings

Susan

John

Mary Catherine  Many Catherine’s and Katherine’s in cousins.

George

Jane

*William

Sarah

Damery

*Mary

John

Annie

Elizabeth “Eliza”

George

*Sarah