My Top 10 Brick Walls - Dad's Side

Image courtesy of GenealogyInTime Magazine www.genealogyintime.com

Several people have been posting their Top 10 Brick Wall Ancestors, so I decided to do so as well. The trouble was, when I started looking through my family tree, I realized I had a lot more than ten (don't we all?). So this post is about my top ten brick wall ancestors on my dad's side. Which, of course, means there'll be a post on the ones on my mom's side.

I've written about some of these folks before, but not all of them. Those that have previous blog posts have been linked. Do YOU have the answers to my brick walls?

My Top 10 Brick Walls - Dad's Side

1. Are the parents of Joseph Josiah ROBBINS (1820 - 1905)--of Oceana Co., Michigan, McKean Co., Pennsylvania, Tioga Co., Pennsylvania, and Otsego Co., New York--George Washington ROBBINS and Abigail HICKS?

2. Nelson H. PECK (b. c. 1819; d. 15 Apr 1849, probably in Potter Co., Pennsylvania) - when and where was he born, where did he die, what was his cause of death, and who were his parents? There are a lot of PECKs in Potter County, Pennsylvania around the time he lived there...but how do they connect?

3. Who were William KIMBALL's parents? He was b. c. 1806 in Vermont, moved to Cuyahoga Co., Ohio; and later removed to Kalamazoo and Newaygo Counties in Michigan.

4. Who were Cynthia PHILLIPS' parents? She was b. 10 May 1802 in Sharon, Litchfield Co., Connecticut; m. Ezra DICKINSON 12 November 1820 in Trumbull Co., Ohio; and d. 21 March 1852 in Hicksville, Defiance Co., Ohio after giving birth to 12 children.

5. Who are Richard WILKINSON's parents? He was b. c. 1815 in Yorkshire England; and m. Mary LAMOREAUX/TERRY before 1842, probably in York Co., Ontario. When and where did he die? He was last noted on the 1881 Canadian Census in Whitchurch, York Co., Ontario; and in 1891, his wife is a widow. He does not appear in the death records.

6. Why do we have two surnames for Mary LAMOREAUX or TERRY? Was she adopted? Who were her parents? Was she born (c. 1818) in Ontario or New Brunswick (I have both locations as birthplaces, from various documents).

7. When and where did John Henry SAYERS and his wife, Mary CAHOON, die? They are last found on the 1871 Canadian census in Cavan Twp., Durham Co., Ontario. They don't appear in the Ontario death records, nor the Michigan ones (a number of their children emigrated to Western Michigan around 1880-1881).

8. Were Stephen YORK and Amy FRANKLIN of the Town of Clarence, Erie Co., New York the parents of Jeremiah Franklin YORK (1791 - 1876)? I'm 99% sure that they were. I just need to find that one document with the evidence.

9. James W. BARBER (1841 - 1912) of England, Bruce Co., Ontario, and Lapeer and Genesee Counties, Michigan: Who were his parents?

10. Were William CLEVELAND and Lydia SHAW of China Twp., St. Clair Co., Michigan the parents of Clarissa CLEVELAND (c. 1832 - 1877)?

Chasing Clarissa Across the Internet

I always enjoy the time between Christmas and New Years Day. It's a time I always have off from work (I'm a middle school staff member), the pressure and stress of preparing for the Big Day has come and gone, the house is still clean (!), and I feel I can relax without guilt and wallow in genealogy and the Internet simultaneously!

Christmas Night I started out on a hunch to try to find the parents of my brickwall ancestor, Clarissa Mary CLEVELAND (c. 1832 - 1877). I knew from the Civil War Veteran's pension file of her husband, Levi Edward McLALLIN (sometimes spelled McCLELLAN[D]) that they had been married 6 August 1848 in Cottrellville Township, St. Clair County, Michigan. Levi and Clarissa can be found in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census in China Township, St. Clair County along with a woman named Rachel who is probably Levi's mother, and a man named Reuben, likely Levi's brother. I've been poking and prodding at the McLALLIN family tree for sometime now, trying to find out what became of Reuben and a man named William with the same surname that served in the same unit as Levi during the Civil War, and I'm not coming up with much success. Part of the problem is the complication of the surname spelling and variations, even using Soundex searches (Mc vs. Mac or no prefix at all; Cl vs. L or no leading C or L at all [McCALLUM or MELLON]; -n vs.-nd vs. -m). However, I realized that CLEVELAND has a lot less variations, and it was likely Clarissa had parents, siblings, or other relatives living in St. Clair County at that time.

My first search for any CLEVELAND household in St. Clair County in 1850 brought up the China Township household of Wm R. CLEVELAND (b. c. 1795, MA), his presumed wife Lydia (b. c. 1797, NY), and their presumed daughter, Catherine (b. c. 1838, NY). Those of you familiar with the censuses understand that relationships of those in the household to the head of that household are not stated until the 1880 census. Also in this household are John (b. c. 1822) and Ann (b. c.  1823) KELLY and their children Robert (b. c. 1844), David (b. c. 1846), and Sarah (b. c. 1849). All the KELLY family members were born in Canada.

Searching in St. Clair County for CLEVELANDs in 1860 brings up William R. and Lydia CLEVELAND once again in China Township (minus Catherine, who may have been married or deceased by this time). It also finds in the same location the household of Ambrose CLEVELAND, b. c. 1828 in New York, his presumed wife Jane (b. c. 1833, NY), and their presumed children Sylvia (b. c. 1849), William (b. c. 1853), and Margret (b. c. 1857), all born in Michigan. At this point, I'm thinking Ambrose is William and Lydia's son and possibly my Clarissa's brother.

Next, I found William in 1870 in the household of Jacob (b. c. 1834, NY) and Cordelia (b. c. 1839, NY) ALLEN in Casco Township, St. Clair County. Interestingly enough, there is an Ada McCLELLAND (b. c. 1862, MI) also in the household! This is my key...my little bit of evidence that suggests that Clarissa is William and Lydia's daughter!  Why would Clarissa (and Levi)'s (possible) daughter be living with William, Jacob, and Cordelia? Perhaps she was helping out Cordelia with housework, as there are no other children listed. Perhaps Levi and Clarissa were having difficulty feeding all the mouths in their own household. For whatever reason, this census record gives evidence that there is a relationship between this CLEVELAND household and a McCLELLAND household that likely could be--or linked to--my Levi McLALLIN/McCLELLAND and Clarissa CLEVELAND. Also, it appears that Cordelia is another daughter of William and Lydia CLEVELAND.

William does not appear in the 1880 census, so my next stop was FamilySearch's Record Search, in the Michigan Death Records. I looked for both him and Lydia, knowing she probably died between 1860 and 1870 and that Michigan started keeping track of death records in 1867.  I did not find Lydia, but I did find William's death record. He died 17 March 1877 in Chesterfield Township, Macomb County, Michigan. Chesterfield is a location where the two eldest children of Clarissa's daughter, my ancestor Cornelia McLALLIN, were born. His parents are listed as [--?--] CLEVELAND and Sylvia [--?--]. Ambrose CLEVELAND's oldest daughter is named Sylvia. Also, in attempting to find Lydia's death record, I found the death record for Mrs. Cordelia ALLEN (b. c. 1838). She also died in Chesterfield on 2 February 1878, the daughter of William R. and Lydia CLEVELAND.

Further searches at FamilySearch to locate the whereabouts of Ann and John KELLY, Catherine CLEVELAND, and Jacob ALLEN after his wife's death, were futile. I then went to Seeking Michigan and looked up Ambrose CLEVELAND's death certificate, verifying that he was the son of William CLEVELAND and Lydia SHAW. Aha! a maiden name for Lydia at last! Ambrose was born 1 March 1828 in New York and died 10 March 1908 in Riley Center, St. Clair County. Riley Township was the location in which Sylvester FREDENBURG, Clarissa's son-in-law died in 1879.

So far, I've verified that William R. CLEVELAND and Lydia SHAW had at several children, Ambrose (b. 1828), Catherine (b. c. 1838), and Cordelia (b. c.1839). It's possible that Catherine and Cordelia are one and the same person. Ann KELLY is another possible daughter, and Ada McCLELLAND may be a granddaughter. This CLEVELAND family lived in locations that mirror those of my McLALLIN family and their descendants.

So where can I go with this? I've already searched through online versions of the history of the CLEVELAND family and so far can't place William definitely in any of the family groups listed within those volumes. I did find another researcher on a message board who is researching "William Riley CLEVELAND and Lydia SHAW, " who has information on two more daughters; Lucretia, b. 1818, and Sylvia, b. 1824. Both were born near Troy, New York. Lucretia married Stephen PARTLOW, possibly in Rensselaer County, New York, and Sylvia married John PARTLOW. The latter couple went to Wisconsin. I will be contacting this researcher and perhaps we can put our skills and resources together to find out more about this family group.

What offline resources can I check out? A probate record of William R. CLEVELAND could tie in my Clarissa as a daughter of his, although it's possible it might not. He died in March 1877 and she died in September of that same year. I should find the marriage records of Ambrose and his wife Jane, and Cordelia and her husband Jacob, to see if Clarissa appears as a witness on them. I should also reexamine my McLALLIN records to see if any of the individuals or surnames mentioned above appear in any of their documents. I'll be checking the Family History Library Catalog for microfilms of the records I need and order them to my local Family History Center.

While I don't have solid evidence that William and Lydia are my Clarissa's parents, my theory is still a strong one and I'll continue to pursue these leads until I am certain they either are or are not!

Friday Findings: McLALLIN Pension Record (Again)

Hands down, my biggest find this week was receiving the 72-page Civil War Veteran's Pension Application for my 4th-great-grandfather, Levi E. McLALLIN. In an earlier post, I spelled his surname "McCLELLAN," but his signature on many of the documents has established for me that this was the way he personally spelled it!

What a treasure trove! First, I was amazed at the speed at which I received it, having ordered it December 26th online from the National Archives and having it arrive in my mailbox on January 19th! I have had experience with four other direct ancestors' pension files, so I knew what to expect for the most part, but also understood that some information I was seeking might not be forthcoming. There was such a nice amount of details given in this file that I was not too disappointed not to find anyone with the surname of CLEVELAND as a witness, hoping to find a quick connection for Levi's first wife--my ancestor--Clarissa Mary CLEVELAND.

Here are the highlights of new information I discovered for this man who is one of my brick walls after visually scanning through the record twice (my first phase of analysis):

1. His full name was Levi Edward McLALLIN; this, from only one document, created after his death by the family physician, Dr. A. THUERIER, who along with another family physician, Dr. Myron BATES, have become some of my genealogical angels due to the obscure yet vital details they left behind in this file!

2. He was born in Montgomery County, New York (unfortunately, no complete birthdate was given, so it still stands at "c. 1823").

3. He married my ancestor, Clarissa Mary CLEVELAND, on 6 August 1848 in Cottrellville Twp., St. Clair Co., Michigan. From a sworn statement by the county clerk in 1885, who testified that the Justice of the Peace whose name appears on Levi and Clarissa's marriage certificate was indeed a serving in that county at the time, I discovered that the marriage record was never entered in the St. Clair County libers. A photocopy of the original marriage certificate is in this pension file!

4. While the majority of Levi and Clarissa's children, including my ancestor Cornelia McCLELLAN (this is how her name is normally spelled in documents), are not mentioned in the file, it does list the youngest child of Levi and Clarissa--Ira--quite frequently, since after Levi's death, financial support was needed to raise this minor child. Ira's full birthdate and place are given: 29 June 1870 in New Haven Twp., Macomb Co., Michigan. This information was given by Dr. BATES, who delivered Ira.

5. Clarissa died 17 September 1877 of consumption, and although the location is not given, there is inference it was in New Haven Township. Again, this information supplied by the wonderful Dr. BATES, who treated her for her consumption for about two years prior to her death.

6. I already knew that Levi had married a widow, Mary C. (FORD) COREY, but I discovered her birthplace: Orange County, New York. Old information: she was born c. 1831 and they married 16 December 1877 in New Haven Township.

7. Throughout the documents there were many different addresses (city and rural) given for Levi which helped me understand why he's been so hard to track. He and his family just moved around a lot. I'm still within the second phase of my analysis of sorting the documents in chronological order to determine the timeline of his residences.

8. While certainly not a highlight for poor Levi, I discovered why he qualified for a pension: he was 75% disabled due to a gunshot wound in his right chest sustained at Spotsylvania, Virginia on 12 May 1864. The ball never exited the body and was believed to be lodged in his lower lung or in his liver. This pension file is large because he requested numerous times for an increase in his pension. He was unable to work at his regular occupations of farmer and carpenter due to his disability, but occasionally worked as a teamster.

9. He was 5' 11" and his weight varied from 160 to 175 pounds, depending upon the documents and timeframe. He had a light complexion, light eyes and dark hair.

9. He died 6 March 1882 in Hamtramck, Wayne Co., Michigan (his death is not listed in the state death records found at FamilySearch Record Search).

10. He was buried 8 March 1882 in Chesterfield and Lennox Union Burying Ground in Macomb Co., Michigan. I believe this is probably now known as Hart Cemetery, also known as Chesterfield Union Cemetery.

11. His widow, Mary C. (FORD) COREY McLALLIN, died 11 February 1894. I've since been able to find her record at FamilySearch Record Search, but while the index information gives me her death location (Mt. Clemens, Macomb County), it does not list her parents' names (they were probably not given). The image given for the record is the first page only.

There are many names of witnesses that I need to research, so this will keep me busy for some time!

Other research reports for this past week include a couple of lookup requests (one for Kent County, Michigan; the other for Newaygo County), finding Sylvester FREDENBURG's grave location at Find A Grave's listing for Powell Cemetery in Romeo, Macomb Co., Michigan (Sylvester was the above Levi's son-in-law); receiving e-mails from a woman related to one of my great-grandaunts by marriage inquiring into the ABBEY family; and a descendant of the CHRISTIAN branch of MIDKIFF family trying to confirm names of children in that family group. I also heard from a HOLST descendant whose grandfather was the brother of my adoptive great-grandfather, Alfred Henry HOLST. Last, but not least, my dad sent me some more photos of his mother as a teen with her adoptive family members, including her dad, the aforementioned Alfred HOLST.

Found! - Cornelia McCLELLAN in the 1870 U.S. Federal Census

Perseverance pays off. Sometimes, boredom does, too. Some of you know that I've been home all week with a nasty case of laryngitis; since I teach, I'm pretty much useless at work. I'm not feeling too badly; just a little fatigued, and mostly bored. So I've spent a lot of time on the computer the last few days.

At loooooooooong last, I've found my 3rd-great-grandmother on a census prior to 1880. Cornelia McCLELLAN appears with her parents and two younger brothers in the 1870 U.S. Federal Census in New Haven Village, Armada Township, Macomb County, Michigan. It took some tricky searches to find them, as her father is enumerated as "Levy MACLALLEN." Cornelia herself was indexed as "Amelia" and her mother as "Charissa." Thank goodness for Ancestry's "correct an error" feature for census records! I sent in the correct and alternate spellings for all three.

I still can't find these people in 1860, although I have done many rigorous searches late last night and early this morning. A search in the 1880 census for the other family members (I already had Cornelia's enumeration for that one), gave me a possibility for Levi in Detroit, with a possible second wife (Mary C.), new son (Ira, age 10), and step-son (George, age 14). This Levi matches in approximate birth year, birth place, and occupation (carpenter) my Levi of 1870. Clarissa and Edmund (probably both deceased) are nowhere to be found. There are several possibilities for William in the state.

The 1900 census does not enumerate Levi, or at least, I haven't found him. I did find an Ira whose birth year and birthplace match, residing in Washington Twp., Macomb County. His occupation is a (stove/steve/? joiner). Joiners and carpenters are pretty much the same occupation, and if this Ira is Levi's son, above, it's possible he learned the trade from his father.

Any of you who've done this for a while understand what I'm talking about when I say there are certain families that you can trace all the way back to the ship, with plenty of supporting documents; and then there are those that make you want to bang your head on the wall (like this family)! However frustrating the latter are, they are the ones I learn from the most. I learn to use alternate spellings, think creatively, analyze, organize my information, and simply to persevere. And these are the ones that make genealogy so interesting and rewarding!

Online Research Form

As I blogged in my New Year's Resolutions, I have wanted to keep better track of my online research and search results. When using online databases, it's so easy to lose track of exactly what you searched for, especially when refining your searches to adjust for name spellings, locations, ages, etc.

I created an Online Research Form to help me document my research a little more carefully and efficiently (hopefully, no more repeating searches with the same parameters). A sample of what I have done is shown below, and you can also view a full-size version of it here (use the magnifying class icon above the image to zoom in).



The purpose of this particular search is to find my 3rd-great-grandmother, Cornelia McCLELLAND on the 1860 U.S. Federal Census. This woman has been extremely troublesome to find in many records. I believe the main reason for this is that she was illiterate - she signed her name with an "X" on all the paperwork in the Widow's Applications for the pensions of her two Civil War veteran husbands. She may simply have had very little schooling, and by not being able to write down dates, had nothing to rely on except her memory. Every record in which she (or a relative) states her birthdate or her children's birthdates seems to never coincide with any of the others. The most consistent records indicate she was born in late 1856 or in 1857, in St. Clair, St. Clair Co., Michigan. I finally discovered her parents' names on one of her marriage records (she was married three times): Levi McCLELLAN and Clarissa CLEVELAND.

Some of the many spelling possibilities I've come up with for this family's surname are: McCLELLAN, McCLELLAND, McCLELAN, McCLELAND, McLELLAN, McLELLAND, McLELAN, and McLELAND. Now change the "Mc" to "Mac" and you have eight more spellings! Another possibility is "M'." I could also remove the "M'/Mc/Mac" altogether. I could change the letter "a" to any other vowel, including "y," and still get the same pronunciation. The "e" could also be changed to another vowel.

In addition, CLEVELAND could be spelled with or without the final "D," with a variety of vowels in the last syllable, and a variety of spellings (CLEAVE- CLEEV-, CLEFE-, etc.) in the first syllable.

Levi can be a mis-transcription of Lewis; Clarissa could be Clara, Clare, or Clair, not to mention Rissa, or LaRissa. Cornelia could be Cordelia, Corrie, Connie, Nell(ie), Delia, or mis-transcribed as a male, Cornelius.

Soundex searches can be extremely valuable, but wouldn't work in differentiating between McCLELLAN and CLELLAN. I'd have to search both. You can see for all these variations, I definitely need to keep track of what I am searching for! By listing every search I make for this family, I can make sure I've covered all the bases. I can also double-check previous searches when I get a brainstorm for a new spelling or nickname...or an idea of a different location they may have resided in.

If you would like a copy of this Online Research Form, drop me an e-mail at kidmiff@gmail.com. I will send it to you in a Word Document. It is set up in landscape view, and you may need to adjust your printer margins for it to print properly. I hope to eventually make this available online using Google Documents or Adobe, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet!