Henry Jacobs: A War of 1812 Veteran Ancestor?

View of the Camp of Col Laight's Regiment of Militia
from the New York Public Library's Digital Collection

Back in January 2017, I made an accidental discovery about a man whom I believe is my ancestor. 

I was doing some research in old, out-of-copyright county histories for Tioga County, New York at the Internet Archive, searching for any and all of my many family lines who lived there in the second half of the nineteenth century, including my Strong, Curtis, Jacobs, Lane, Mead, Wright, Clark, Rockwell, and Partridge lines.

In the 1907 history, Owego: Some account of the early settlement of the Village in Tioga County, N.Y.... by LeRoy Wilson Kingman, I found a chapter of the military history of the village from the American Revolution through 1850. At the end of the chapter, it said that in March 1867, the Owego Gazette published a list of the survivors of the War of 1812 then living in Tioga County, with their ages. Henry Jacobs, age 83, was listed among them.1

My 4th-great-grandfather, Henry Jacobs, fits this bill. He was born about 1786 in Westchester County, New York,2 so he would have been more or less the right age in March of 1867. He resided in the Town of Spencer, Tioga County, New York when the 1810 Federal Census was taken,³ and was in the Town of Candor in 1820,⁴ so it was likely he was in New York during the war. 

I have looked at the pension records available for War of 1812 Veterans and their widows at Fold3. The only one for a man named Henry Jacobs was a soldier who died 29 June 1861 in Morristown, Pennsylvania.5 My Henry Jacobs lived until 11 November 18766 and died presumably in the Town of Candor, where he was last enumerated in the 1875 New York State Census with his daughter and son-in-law, Esther and James Cortwright.7 Pensions for veterans of this war were not offered until 1871,8 and if his daughter's family was able to support and care for him, there would have been no reason to apply for a pension.

A little digging into this to see if I can find some solid evidence that my Henry is the same man mentioned in the county history is warranted. If true, this would be my fifth identified ancestor who was a veteran of the War of 1812.

Sources:

    1. LeRoy Wilson Kingman, Owego: Some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego (Owego, New York: Owego Gazette Office, 1907), pp. 391-2; imaged, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/owegosomeaccount00king/ : accessed 7 January 2017).

    2. 1855 census, Tioga County, New York, population schedule, Town of Candor ED 2, p. 5, line 29, Henry Jacobs; imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7181/ : accessed 5 August 2016); citing Tioga County Clerk's Office, Owego.

    3. 1810 U.S. census, Tioga County, New York, population schedule, Town of Spencer, p. 85 (stamped), line 20, Henry Jacobs; imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7613/ : accessed 18 June 2016.

    4. 1820 U.S. census, Tioga County, New York, population schedule, Town of Candor, p. 38, line 22, Henry Jacobs; imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7734/ : accessed 18 June 2016.

    5. "U.S., War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, 1812-1815," database with images, Fold3.com (https://www.fold3.com/image/314331865/jacobs-henry-page-20-us-war-of-1812-pension-files-1812-1815 : accessed 3 September 2024) imaged untitled document: Henry Jacobs, Capt. John Huston's Co., Pa. Mil.; citing Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Applications Based on Service in the War of 1812; Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs (Washington, D.C.: National Archives).

    6. Daughters of the American Revolution, Beulah Patterson Brown Chapter, Tioga County, New York, cemetery records of the towns of Berkshire, Candor, Newark Valley, Owego, and Richford (New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1928), p. 114; imaged, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7S-S9S7-W : accessed 11 September 2024).

    7. 1875 census, Tioga County, New York, population schedule, Town of Candor ED 2, p. 18, line 44, Henry Jacobs; imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7250/ : accessed 7 April 2014); citing Tioga County Clerk's Office, Owego.

    8. Stuart L. Butler, "Genealogical Records of the War of 1812," Prologue Magazine (Winter 1991, Vol. 23, No. 4); online article, Archives.gov (https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1991/winter/war-of-1812.html : accessed 11 September 2024).

The Death Certificate of Rose "June" (Barber) Morarity Eaton Wrone

Death Certificate of June Wrone¹

While I have hardly been blogging at all the past few years, I have not stopped doing genealogical research at genealogy websites, ordering documents from courthouses, archives, and libraries, or expanding my genealogy education. My focus lately has been to identify the parents of my most recent "brick wall" ancestor, my paternal great-great-grandfather James W. Barber (1841 - 1912). I have blogged about him before here, here, here, and here.

One of the targets of my research plan has been to obtain death records for all ten children of James and his wife Elizabeth Ann "Betsey" Cole to see if a specific birthplace other than "England" is listed for their father's birthplace. I was challenged, however, to find any mention after 1955 of their youngest daughter whose name has been spelled Rose, Rosie, Rosa Bell, Isabel, Rosman, Rosamond, and Rosemond and who was often nicknamed June, which is what I will call her. 

In attempting to locate a death record for June, I once again came across a challenge that has often frustrated me: there is an unfortunate nearly two-decade gap, 1952 - 1971, between available online death records indexes for the state of Michigan, June's presumed final residence. Ancestry has a death records index, "Michigan, U.S., Death Index, 1971-1996." FamilySearch's "Michigan Deaths and Burials, 1800 - 1995" is incomplete, according to the Michigan Deaths and Burials page at the FamilySearch wiki. At Michiganology's "Death Certificates 1897 - 1952" collection, death records created between 1921 and 1948 include an image of the death certificate, while records from 1949-1952 are only available in an index. I suspected June had died during this record gap, as I had been unable to find her in my many searches in the the above collections.

Fortunately, I have found obituaries for six of June's nine siblings, and four of them mentioned her specifically, giving me information that I did not have previously about her and narrowing the search time frame. The first was the 1945 obituary of sister Clarissa "Clara" Jane (Barber) Goodwin Sines which named Rose as "Mrs. Rose Rhome of Detroit".² The surname Rhome was new to me (although I found out later it was an incorrect spelling of Wrone). I had located two marriage records for June, neither to a man with a surname of Rhome or Wrone. The first record was for a marriage on 23 September 1896 to William Morarity in Lapeer, Lapeer County, Michigan.³ The second record was for a marriage to William A. Eaton on 15 May 1906 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.⁴

The next sibling obituary was for sister Lavina Elizabeth (Barber) Wilson Streeter in 1949.⁵ This one named June as "Mrs. Rose Wrone of Detroit". Sister Caroline "Carrie" (Barber) Smith Hutchinson Poole's 1951 obituary provided another clue, naming June as "Mrs. Michael Wrone of Detroit."⁶ And finally, younger brother Alexander Barber's 1955 obituary names her as "Mrs. Michael Wromes, Detroit."⁷

So began my search for a marriage of Rose/Rosa Bell/Rosemond or June Eaton nee Barber to Michael Wrone between 1955 and 1971. These searches involved many variations of their first and last names. I was able to find their marriage record in Lucas County, Ohio on 1 March 1930,⁸ less than two months after she divorced William Eaton on 9 January 1930 in Wayne County, Michigan.⁹ (I have yet to locate a divorce record for her marriage to William Morarity or a death record for him.) June signed her marriage application as "Mrs Rosemond J Eaton," which leads me to believe that June was her middle name and not just a nickname.

Michael Wrone's parents were listed on their marriage record as Peter Wrone and Teckla Bennett. However, his obituary mentions his brother Joseph Wronikowski, which led me to other documents confirming that this was the original spelling of his last name.

Michael's 1971 obituary in the Detroit Free Press at Newspapers.com¹⁰ described him as "Beloved husband of the late June", so I knew that she had to have died sometime between her brother Alex's death on 28 February 1955 and Michael's death on 26 May 1971. The obituary mentioned a funeral home, R. G. & G. R. Harris Funeral Home of Detroit, and I was able to find current contact information for them. I sent them an email to ask if they had any information on a burial, cremation, etc. for June, but never received a reply.

Meanwhile, I located a memorial page for Michael at Find a Grave.¹¹ He was buried at Oakview Cemetery in Royal Oak, Oakland County, Michigan. My next task was to contact the cemetery to see if they had any death and/or burial information for June. I received an email from them stating that although they did not have an exact date of death for her, she had been interred on 1 May 1958 in Section Q, lot 778, plot 2. Michael was buried in plot 1.

Obtaining an interment date was beneficial in that it considerably narrowed down a potential time frame for her death. With this information, I sent off to the Wayne County Clerk's office for June's death certificate. It arrived on 3 February 2024.

Finally, I had a death date and location for June: 28 April 1958 in Detroit. Unfortunately, the death certificate had no fields for birthplaces of the decedent's parents; only for their names.¹² 

Despite the many searches I had done in online newspaper websites, I had not been able to find an obituary or death notice for June until after I obtain her death certificate. Narrowing down the time frame, I was able to go page by page through the Detroit Free Press in the days after her death and finally located her death notice, published 30 April 1958.¹³ The Optical Character Recognition had simply not been able to find it in all of my many searches over the years.

I felt a sense of accomplishment and closure having finally determined when and where Rose June (Barber) Morarity Eaton Wrone--with many variations of her first name and with a surname originally spelled Wronikowski--was buried. With all these names and variants, no wonder it had been a challenge to find her!

---

Future posts will discuss the other death records of James and Elizabeth (Cole) Barber's children and what information was given on them for James's birthplace.

Sources:

1. Wayne County, Michigan, death certificate 5860, June Wrone; County Clerk’s Office, Detroit.

2. “Mrs. Clara Jane Sines,” Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan), 7 May 1945, p. 11, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : viewed 6 January 2023).

3. "Michigan Marriages, 1868-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DYJ9-TXS?cc=1452395&wc=9663-T3D%3A1041533201 : viewed 15 January 2019), image 304 of 670, entry for Wm. Morarity and Rosa B. Barber, 23 September 1896, Lapeer, Lapeer County, record #1423; citing Secretary of State, Department of Vital Records, Lansing.

4. “Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993, ” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61378/ : viewed 6 January 2023), image 83 of 250, application and return for William A. Eaton and June Moriarty, 15 May 1906, Cuyahoga County 1906-1907, p. 165, application #46658; citing original data from Marriage Records, Ohio Marriages, various Ohio County Courthouses.

5. “Deaths: Mrs. Lavina E. Streeter,” Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan), 10 January 1949, p. 14, col. 5; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 22 March 2022).

6. "Mrs. John B. Poole," The Time Herald (Port Huron, Michigan), 25 May 1951, p. 26, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 6 March 2022).

7. "Barber, Alex," Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan), 1 March 1955, p. 22, col. 8; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 23 March 2022).

8. "Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61378/ : viewed 23 March 2022), image 1404 of 1420, application and certificate for Michael W. Wrone and Rosamund J. Eaton, 1 March 1930, Lucas County 1929-1930, p. 530, application #84338; citing original data from Marriage Records, Ohio Marriages, various Ohio County Courthouses.

9. "Michigan, U.S., Divorce Records, 1897-1952," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9092/ : viewed 6 January 2023), image 1652 of 4401, divorce record for Rosman Eaton and William Eaton, 9 January 1930, 1924-1947 Wayne County certificates 29,290-33,636, state file #82 30937; citing original data from  Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing.

10. "Wrone," Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan), 28 May 1971, pg. 34, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 23 March 2022). 

11. FindAGrave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/262037463/michael-w-wrone : accessed 11 January 2024), memorial page for Michael W. Wrone, Oakview Cemetery, Royal Oak, Oakland County, Michigan. Includes a tombstone photo.

12. Wayne County, Michigan, death certificate 5860, June Wrone.

13. "Wrone," Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan), 30 April 1958, pg. 29, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 12 June 2024).