Notable July Fourth Events in Our Family History

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Today is Independence Day in the United States, the 249th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by our founding fathers. On this day, Americans celebrate the birthday of our nation.

I thought it would be interesting to look through my RootsMagic family tree databases and see what significant events happened on July 4th in our family's history. I ran queries in my own database, my children's paternal lines database, and my grandchildren's paternal lines database.

There were many July 4th births, marriages, and deaths of individuals, mostly distant relatives. There were no July 4th burials, which makes sense. A burial is a sad occasion and Independence Day is for celebrations.

I won't list every July 4th birth, marriage, or death below, but I will list ones for direct ancestors or those which may have had an effect on a direct ancestor.

Births

Oddly enough, only one of the three July 4th ancestor births was on American soil.

My paternal great-great-grandfather, James W. Barber, was supposedly born on this date in 1841, somewhere in England. He is a brick wall ancestor, which means I know nothing about his family of origin: parents, siblings, etc. I also don't know where in England he was born or lived. The first record in which I can positively identify him is the 1871 Canada Census, although I did find an 1862 marriage record for a couple with somewhat wrong names in the correct location (that's a blog post for another day!).

Another July 4th birth belongs to John D. Concidine, my adoptive 3rd-great-grandfather, who was born to Dennis Concidine and Honora "Nora" Gilligan in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland. John's granddaughter Nellie May Concidine and her husband Alfred Henry Holst adopted my paternal grandmother, Jane Marie York, who became Jeanne Marie Holst.

Polly Emeline Dennis, my grandchildren's paternal 3rd-great-grandmother, was born on July 4th in 1840 in Tennessee. It probably was in Overton County, where her father James Thaxton Dennis was found in the censuses from 1820 through 1840, before moving on to Dent Co., Missouri. 

Polly's mother was Lucinda Catherine Hunter, which I find interesting because my grandchildren's surname is Hunter; their father's direct paternal line. But Polly and her mother Lucinda are found in their paternal grandmother's line. This means my grandchildren have Hunters on both sides of their dad's family tree. These lines don't seem to be related: on their dad's paternal side, the Hunters can be traced into early New Jersey, while Lucinda's line is found in South Carolina. But Hunter, after all, is a common occupational surname.

Marriages

My children's paternal great-great-grandparents, George Rice Westaby III and Rena Lerfald, were married on this day in 1915 in Glendive, Dawson Co., Montana. I've been spending a lot of time lately researching the Westaby family and am in the middle of a series about George's youngest brother Lynn.

In my own family, the only ancestor who had a July 4th marriage was Filippus Willems Jonker. He married his first wife, Grietje Eisses, on this date in 1812 in Kloosterburen, Groningen, the Netherlands. His second wife, Catharina Klaassens van der Laan, was my ancestor. They married 4 April 1831 after Grietje's death, and were my 4th-great-grandparents.

Deaths

No July 4th ancestral deaths were located in any of the three family trees. However, on this date my great-great-grandparents Tjamme Wiegers "James" Valk and Berber Tjeerds "Barbara" de Jong tragically lost two children, two years apart, in Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan.

In 1895, their youngest daughter Chaterina died at age 5 months, 9 nine days of "summer complaint." This was an old medical term describing severe diarrhea and dehydration, usually in infants, typically caused by spoiled milk. Remember that pasteurization was not common until the 1920s and people in the 1890s relied on ice boxes or cellars to keep their food cool, but it was not reliable. What's especially sad is that Chaterina was the third and last daughter James and Barbara had named for James's mother in an attempt to carry on her name in the family.

In 1897, little Tjamme died from measles at one year old. The family had just celebrated his first birthday four days earlier. His name was recorded as Thomas on the death record; another anglicization variation. Pneumonia and encephalitis complications are the most common causes of death from measles. It would have been horrible for Tjamme's parents to watch him burn up with a fever they couldn't bring down and watch him struggle to breathe. We are so fortunate to have a measle vaccine available for our children today.

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What July 4th significant events have you found in your family tree?

Sister Trip to Michigan: Part III

Monday, May 6, 2019:  Our third day of our trip and second full day in Michigan.  And what a day it was!

We checked out of our hotel in Grand Rapids and headed to the public library.  As we were leaving the hotel, I walked across the street to photograph this historic site marker, as Grand Rapids was once known as the "Furniture Capital of America."  Several of our ancestors worked in furniture factories in Grand Rapids.

(Click photo to enlarge)

The downtown branch of the Grand Rapids Public Library is a beautiful building. It was built in 1904 as a gift to the city by Martin A. Ryerson.  The library has been in existence since 1871.  In 1967, a wing was added to the back, and in 2001 it was completely renovated.  When I first approached the entrance, I wondered how many of our ancestors had entered this building and enjoyed the pleasure of reading.

Detail of the masonry above the main entrance of the GRPL
(click to enlarge)

My sister photographed me on the steps of the GRPL.
Photo courtesy of Katrinka Phillips.
(click to enlarge)

We headed to the Grand Rapids History & Special Collections department, which includes genealogical resources, on the fourth floor.  My goal was to locate some newspaper articles about our 3rd-great-grandfather, Charles H. Robbins, a Civil War veteran; an obituary of our 2nd-great-grandmother's sister, Nellie (Ton) Houseman; and some school census records featuring our adoptive great-grandmother Nellie M. Concidine, a school teacher, and our great-grandfather William James Valk and his sisters, Jennie and Gertrude.  While I obviously could spend days or weeks in Special Collections with all our Western Michigan ancestral records, these were a list of items I knew were reasonable to research with the little time we had to spend there.  I had found references to many of these items in the online databases of the Western Michigan Genealogical Society ahead of time.

We had located two of the articles and the obituary by the time my genealogy friend, Chris Korstange, arrived.  This was the first opportunity to meet in real life after being online friends for about 10 years.  Chris and I had connected through the old Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness website when he asked for a lookup to resources I had at my disposal.  In turn, he has done lookups for me at GRPL and local cemeteries. Chris is also a genealogy blogger, and with similar Dutch immigrant ancestry in Grand Rapids, it is pretty likely we will someday find an ancestral connection, either by being related to each other, or discovering our ancestors lived near, worked with, or worshiped with each other.  After a welcoming hug and introducing him to my sister, he helped us by looking up and making scans of the Kent County School Censuses while we finished looking for the rest of the articles.

Chris and I at the entrance of the Special Collections room
Photo courtesy of Katrinka Phillips
(click to enlarge)

Chris then drove us through the Heritage Hill Historic District with its grand homes (see what I did there?!) to what had once been the Delos A. Blodgett Home for Children, an orphanage where our paternal grandmother, Jane Marie York/Jeanne Marie Holst and her brother, and our maternal grandfather, William Valk, and his siblings, had once lived for short periods, at different times.

I had done some research in the past year, contacting the D.A. Blodgett - St. Johns non-profit organization to try to obtain records on our York and Valk families.  Although the full records have since been destroyed, I was able to receive scans of the index cards listing our families, with just enough information to confirm some of the theories I had made regarding their stays, as well as new information.  I will be blogging about this at a later time.  My inquiries to ICCF, the organization that currently occupies the Blodgett building, were never answered.  I had hoped to be able to tour the building's interior while we were in Grand Rapids. However, were able to get some good exterior photos.  As we wandered the front courtyard, I thought about the sad circumstances that had brought two of our grandparents and their siblings to this building.  Every family story I have ever heard on both the York and the Valk sides about Blodgett Home had the same theme:  it was not a nice place to be.  Whether it was because of the situations that led to their placement or their treatment while there, or a combination, I could feel the sadness of this place.  And yet, I felt personal gratitude, as well, because despite whatever occurred within these four walls, it was a place that filled a gap in family care that otherwise may have brought on worse trauma than what was already experienced.

The former D.A Blogett Home for Children, built 1908
920 Cherry St., NE
(click to enlarge)

Detail of the three-story pillars and balconies
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My sister and I in front of an ancestral home, of sorts
Photo courtesy of Katrinka Phillips
Taken by Chris Korstange
(click to enlarge)

Next stop, was Oakhill Cemetery, where our 3rd-great-grandmother, Maria Marina (Van Klinken) Ton Bijl, and very likely her husband Pieter Ton, are buried in unmarked graves in the Potter's Field. Chris helped us to locate the unmarked plot where Maria's brother Johannes "John" Van Klinken was buried. By then, it was starting to rain pretty hard.

Somewhere in this corner of Oakhill Cemetery, our 3rd-great-grandmother, Maria Marina (Van Klinken) Ton Bijl is buried.  Her husband Pieter Adriannse Ton is also likely buried here.
(Click to enlarge)

While these tombstones do not belong to our ancestors, I photographed them to show the condition of the few marked graves in Potter's Field (Permit Grounds) of Oakhill Cemetery: broken, dilapidated, uncared for.  These graves aren't even listed on the cemetery's map. You can see that they are inscribed in Dutch.
(click to enlarge)

We were able to identify this spot as the resting place of Maria's brother, Johannes "John" Van Klinken (1840 - 1913) using Oakhill Cemetery's grave mapping website.  We used some sticks to dig down to see if there was a gravestone covered by dirt, but were unsuccessful. It likely was never marked.
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This grave of Peternella de Jongh just south of Johannes Van Klinken's grave helped us to locate his grave, as the Oakhill Cemetery's grave mapping site listed hers as being in the same lot.
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This marker was in Potter's Field, next to the cemetery road.
It made me very sad to look at, as there is no information as to how many Blodgett Home children there were buried here, or who they were.
Photo courtesy of Katrinka Phillips.
(click to enlarge)

Chris returned us to the library parking lot where our rental car had been parked.  There we discovered that we had lost our rental car keys!  At this point, the rain was absolutely pouring down, so after quickly searching Chris' vehicle, the parking lot, the steps of the library, and the courtyard in front of it where we snapped photos, we reentered the library, dripping wet, to see if they had been turned in to the front desk.  They had not.  Our next search was the elevator, Special Collections room, and restrooms.  We quickly determined that they probably had been dropped at the cemetery.  Chris was kind enough to not only take us back out there, but tromp around in the downpour to help us find them.  After about 10 minutes, they were located, and he returned us to our rental car.  Thankfully, he did not need to drive us out to the airport to the rental car office get another set of keys!

After parting ways with Chris, we headed to west of the river to a cafe to dry off and grab a cup of coffee.  After the cloudburst ended, we headed over to the John D. Widdicomb Furniture Factory where our step-great-grandfather, George DeVries, had worked. It's business complex now, but we got some great photos of the four beautiful yellow brick buildings located on both the west and east sides of Seward Avenue, parallel to the railroad tracks.  I could just imagine how noisy and busy it was in its heyday, with the busy railroad bringing in lumber and shipping out completed furniture.

The southwest building, from the south
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The southwest and northwest buildings, from the southeast
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The southwest building, from the east
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The southwest building, from the northeast
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The northwest building, from the southeast
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South end of the southeast (original) building, from the west
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Detail of the old doors of the southeast (original) building, from the west
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Detail of the corner stone, east building"Widdicomb Furniture Co. 1877"
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North end of the southeast (original) building and south end of the northeast building
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North end of the southeast (original) building and south end of the northeast building
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North end of the northeast building, from the northwest
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North end of the northeast building, from the west
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Then we headed west to Coopersville in Ottawa County, where our dad and his siblings grew up. After checking in at our hotel, we met our dad's brother and youngest sister at her place, which just happens to be across the street from the home our grandfather built and where they all grew up.

The house and auto body shop our Grandfather Robbins built
Coopersville, Michigan
Photo courtesy of Katrinka Phillips
(click to enlarge)

Our dad's brother and youngest sister
Photo courtesy of Katrinka Pillips
(click to enlarge)

While visiting with them, sharing photos with each other of our of children and grandchildren and looking at old family photos, I held my own little Scanfest on my Flip-Pal scanner, scanning our Robbins great-grandparents' little memo book from 1938.  I also took this photo of Aunt Jo's artwork.  Josephine Rebecca (Huff) Robbins was married to our Great-grandfather Robbins' brother Lloyd.  She was the Robbins family genealogist for many years before she passed away in 1987.  I had forgotten that she was also interested in art.

After a long, full, busy day, we crashed in our hotel room.  More adventures awaited us the next day!


Sister Trip to Michigan: Part I
Sister Trip to Michigan: Part II

Her Name Was...Anna?

Nellie May Concidine, c. 1905.

Unknown location, probably Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan.

Original privately held by Miriam Robbins,

[ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington, 2018.

(click on photo to enlarge)

Last night, I was lost in thought, looking toward my dining room wall, which I call my "Ancestor Wall," since so many of my ancestors' portraits grace it.  My eyes fell on the portrait of my adoptive great-grandmother, Nellie May (Concidine) Holst (1883 - 1953).  Nellie...hmmm.  Was her first name really Nellie, or was it Eleanor?  Maybe I needed to double-check her birth record to see how her name was originally recorded.  Then I realized that I wasn't sure I had her birth record.

Nellie May (Concidine) and Alfred Henry Holst, c. 1905.
Unknown location, probably Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan.
Original photo privately held by Miriam Robbins,
[ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington, 2018.
(click on photo to enlarge)

A little background:  Nellie was born in Byron Township, Kent County, Michigan.  She was the second child and first daughter of half-Irish, half-Scots John Dennis Concidine (1854 - 1925) and Anna "Annie" Matilda Higby (1861 - 1903), a woman whose roots go back into colonial New England.  After teaching for a few years, Nellie married a German-Swedish immigrant, Alfred Henry Holst (1882 - 1952) in 1905.  They had a set of twins, Earl and May, who died in infancy in 1909.  Then they had my grand-aunt, Lucille, in 1918.  Hoping to enlarge their little family, they fostered and later adopted my paternal grandmother, born Jane Marie York, whom they named Jeanne Marie Holst.

I looked in my family tree software, RootsMagic, and the only sources I had for Nellie's birth were family records, census records, and her death certificate.  I looked in my electronic files and did not see a birth record for her.  So off I went to FamilySearch to look in their Michigan Births, 1867-1902 collection.

It took some creative searching to locate Nellie's birth record.  A search for "Concidine" with the Exact Search box unchecked (because Considine and Constantine are common alternate spellings) yielded results for Nellie's siblings, Ethel, Loid (Lloyd), and Manly (Manley), along with 151 other results, but no Nellie.  After several unsuccessful other searches, I finally settled on leaving the name field blank and searched  the birth location Byron (exact) and the birth years 1883 - 1883 (my family records stated Nellie was born 23 December 1883 in Byron Township).  This yielded a list of all babies born in Byron Township in 1883, a total of 31.  And one of them was an "Anna Corcadine" born 16 December 1883 to John and Anna:

"Michigan Births, 1867-1902," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NQCN-TZQ : 10 March 2018), Anna Corcadine, 16 Dec 1883; citing item 2 p 344 rn 1287, Byron, Kent, Michigan, Department of Vital Records, Lansing; FHL microfilm 2,320,696.
(click on each image above to enlarge detailed area)

Her name was...Anna? What in the world?

You need to understand how birth records in Michigan were created, prior to birth certificates being issued in 1905.  The town supervisor or a city clerk would canvas his area once a year, going door-to-door to record all the births and deaths that had occurred in that township or ward the previous year.  Remind you of anything?  Yes, the census.  Vital records, births and deaths, were recorded census-style in Michigan, from 1867 to 1895 (death records) and 1905 (birth records).  After 1895/1905, death/birth certificates were issued.

So all the issues we have with people going missing or having incorrect information recorded on censuses applies to birth and death records in Michigan from 1867 to 1895/1905.  To add to the rates of error, we're not exactly sure what happened to these original recordings.  The information was copied into the county birth and death libers, many of which have been microfilmed by the Family History Library.  Then the information was further copied and sent off to the secretary of state, and recorded in the state birth and death libers, also microfilmed by the Family History Library and now digitized and available online as the Michigan Births, 1867-1902 collection. I have not been able to find what the town supervisors or city clerks did with those original records they made when going door-to-door.  They do not seem to be in existence.

So the record viewed above is actually the third recording of the information of Nellie's birth, copied from the county record, copied from the door-to-door record, which was recorded in May 1884, five months after Nellie's birth.  We also do not know who gave out this information to the recorder: her mother...her father...a relative living in the home...or a neighbor?

I am now more stumped than ever.  Was Nellie originally named Anna (after her mother), but then the family decided to call her Nellie?  Was Anna a recording error made by the town supervisor, or did it get mis-copied from the original (for instance, did one of the recorders glance at the mother's name and write it as the child's name)?  Also, our family records state Nellie was born on 23 December 1883, but this record says 16 December.  Sometimes, finally being able to access the record generates more questions than provides answers!  In these cases, careful comparison and analysis between multiple records that contain similar information must be made, and a reasonable conclusion must be drawn, understanding that more than one reasonable conclusion can be made.

What I am sure of is that Nellie was born to John and Anna (Higby) Concidine in Byron Township in December 1883. I will look for other sources to which to compare the birth record and come up with the best reasonable conclusion about her name and her birth date.

Mug Book Monday: Frank L. BISSELL (1828 - 1902)

"Mug books" are collections of biographical sketches usually found within county histories of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries, particularly in the United States. On Mondays, I'm highlighting ancestors or relatives who were featured in these mug books.

This biographical sketch is actually about the son-in-law of a couple of my ancestors, my adoptive 4th-great-grandparents, Dennis CONCIDINE, Jr. and his wife, Honora "Nora" GILLIGAN. I include it here, because in several sentences mentioning his wife's family, it mentions this couple, as well as a third ancestor, Dennis' father, Dennis CONCIDINE, Sr. It's another good example of expanding your search beyond your direct ancestors, and looking at siblings, cousins, and in-laws.

The Concidine name has a variant spelling of Constantine in this biography; understandable considering Concidine and Considine (another variant) both mean Constantine.

     "Frank J. Bissell was born at Montvale, Conn., October 4, 1828, a son of Abel and Mary (Vallett) Bissell, of Hebron and Montville, Conn., respectively. Abel Bissell, born in 1785, was a clothier by trade. In early life he run [sic] a carding and woolen factory. In 1848 he came to Bergen being 18 days coming by canal from New York. He reared children as follows: John, Calvin, Jeremiah, Frank, Lucy A, Phebe, and Rachel. He died August 30, 1861, aged 75 years. His wife was born April 1, 1786, and died January 14, 1879, and was a daughter of Jeremiah Vallett, a farmer of Connecticut, whose children were John, William, Jeremiah, Mary, and Nancy. Frank J. Bissell was reared in Connecticut, worked in a carding-mill and a tannery, and after coming to Genesee County became a farmer. He came to Le Roy in April, 1863, locating where he now resides, and where he owns a fine farm. He married, April 18, 1854, Mary Ann Constantine, a native of Java, Wyoming County, and a daughter of Dennis and Honora (Gilligan) Constantine, who were born in Ennis and Durah, County Clare, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1811, with two sons and a daughter, locating first in Rochester, and finally in Java, where he settled on a farm of 100 acres. His children were John, Patrick, Bridget, Margaret, Mary A., Ellen, Catharine, and Elizabeth. Mr. Constantice died in 1861, aged 74 years. He was a son of Dennis Constantine, of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Bissell's children are Mary L., now of Wichita, Kan., Francis E., and Catherine G. They have liberally contributed to the erection of the Roman Catholic Church for which he purchased the bell at a cost of $500."

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I did not have a death date for Frank or a birth or death date for Mary Ann. I did find their graves (here and here) on FindAGrave.com, which gave me that information. A biography of Frank's brother-in-law and Mary Ann's brother, John D. Concidine, was featured on an earlier Mug Book Monday post here.

This biographical sketch was taken from Gazetteer and biographical record of Genesee County, N.Y., 1788-1890, edited by F. W. Beers and published in Syracuse, New York by J. W. Vose & Co., June 1890. Frank's sketch was found on page 515. This county history, along with many other ones, can be found at the Internet Archive.

Wordless Wednesday: John Dennis CONCIDINE (1854 - 1925)

John Dennis Concidine. Bef. 1925. Original photograph privately held by Catherine Robbins, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Coopersville, Michigan. 2012.

Mug Book Monday: John D. CONCIDINE (1823 - 1906)

"Mug books" are collections of biographical sketches usually found within county histories of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries, particularly in the United States. Each Monday, I'm highlighting ancestors or relatives who were featured in these mug books.

      "John Considine was the eldest son of Dennis and Nora (Gilligan) Considine, and was born in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland. He was brought to the United States when four years old by his parents, who lived in Rochester, N. Y., four years, and then went to Wyoming county [New York] and spent the remainder of their lives. In 1849 Mr. C. went to Grand Rapids and engaged in the lumber trade seven years, when he purchased 80 acres of land, sec. 16, Byron tp. He gave 33 acres to his son when he attained his majority. He was married in Bowne, Trent [sic Kent] Co., Dec. 25, 1849 to Elizabeth, daughter of Duncan and Mary (McPherson) McDiarmid, who is of Scotch ancestry, and was born at Wheatland, Monroe Co., N. Y., Oct. 2, 1829. Of nine children four are living, born as follows: Effie, Aug. 23, 1852; John D., Sept 3, 1854; Mary E., Aug. 16, 1863, and James W., April 25, 1869."

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John was my adoptive third-great-grandfather. The family name was generally spelled with a second C: CONCIDINE. This sketch lists six other direct, albeit adoptive, ancestors: his parents Dennis and Honora ("Nora"); his wife Elizabeth; her parents Duncan and Mary; and their son John Dennis, listed here as John D. I have found the senior John listed in other documents as John D, and the younger as John Dennis. It's likely they both were John Dennis, Senior and Junior, but until I find clarifying documents, I have them as John D. (the elder) and John Dennis (the younger) in my database. John Dennis CONCIDINE's daughter was Nellie May. She and her husband Alfred Henry HOLST adopted my paternal grandmother.

Four of the five children (all who seem to have died young) who not listed in this sketch were Amy, b.c. 1854; Mary, b. c. 1856; Peter, b. c. Nov 1859; and a stillborn child born 21 Sep 1867. The last child is unknown.

This biographical sketch was taken from History of Kent County, Michigan; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, published in Chicago by Charles C. Chapman & Co., 1881. John's sketch was found on page 612. This county history, along with many other Michigan ones, can be found at the Michigan County Histories and Atlases Digitization Project website.

Surname Saturday: CONCIDINE

The CONCIDINE surname belongs to my paternal grandmother's adoptive mother. My grandmother was an adoptee, and I have been highlighting both her biological and her adoptive families' surnames in my Surname Saturday posts. I use the letter B to distinguish between adoptive and biological families in my ahnentafel.

CONCIDINE is a surname from Ireland, being the equivalent of the surname CONSTANTINE. While this surname is often spelled CONSIDINE, in our family line it is quite frequently spelled with a C instead of an S.

Stories and History:

Ahnentafel #88B - Dennis CONCIDINE - (b. c. 1800) - little is know about this man except that he was born in Ireland (probably Ennis, County Clare), and that his wife's name was Nora GILLIGAN. They emigrated to Rochester, Monroe Co., New York about 1827, and then removed to Wyoming Co., New York four years later, where they lived out the remainder of their days.

Ahnentafel #44B - John D. CONCIDINE - (1823 - 1906) - Born in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, I first found him in the 1850 US Federal Census in Allendale Twp., Ottawa Co., Michigan. By then he was married to Elizabeth McDIARMID; together they had a family of nine children. John was one of the early settlers and farmers of Byron Twp., Kent Co., Michigan, where he died in 1906. He is mentioned in the memoirs of Belinda Thompson Irwin here, as well as in the History of Kent County, Michigan.

Ahnentafel #22B - John Dennis CONCIDINE - (1854 - 1925) - Born in Byron Center, Byron Twp., Kent Co., Michigan, John first married Anna Matilda "Annie" HIGBY, with whom he had seven children, five of whom survived infancy. After Annie's death in 1903, he married the housekeeper, Minnie Belle FIELD. They had one son. Three of John's sons from his first marriage moved to Illinois, and John and Minnie moved there in his elder years. He died in Afton Twp., DeKalb Co., Illinois, but was buried in the family plot in Byron Township.

Ahnentafel #11B - Nellie May CONCIDINE - (1883 - 1953) - Nellie was John's only daughter to survive infancy. She became a school teacher, teaching in Kent and Muskegon Counties, the latter being where she met German immigrant Alfred Henry HOLST. They married in 1905, and had a set of twins in 1909, who died shortly after birth. Nine years later, they were finally able to conceive another child, a daughter. After moving from Muskegon County to Wisconsin, then back to Michigan, this time in Ottawa County, they decided to take in a foster child after some shirttail cousins adopted a little boy. The boy's older sister that they fostered was my maternal grandmother. They raised her and considered her their adopted daughter, although like most adoptive families at that time, no legal process took effect...until the underage girl wished to be married. In order to give their consent, they had to be the legal parents, and so Nellie and Alfred adopted my grandmother shortly before her 16th birthday and subsequent marriage the next week to my grandfather. Nellie died at the age of 69, just six months after her husband.

Ahnentafel #5 - my maternal grandmother - living

Ahnentafel #2 - my father - living

Ahnentafel #1 - myself

More about the CONCIDINE family:

1. Online database (I update this at least once a month): CONCIDINE ancestors and relatives (no info on living persons available)

2. Some CONCIDINE obituaries

3. Posts about CONCIDINE ancestors and relatives on this blog

4. Some scanned CONCIDINE documents


My CONCIDINE immigration trail:

County Clare, Ireland > Monroe Co., NY > Wyoming Co., NY > Ottawa Co., MI > Kent Co., MI > Muskegon Co., MI > WI > Ottawa Co., MI > AK > Stevens Co., WA > Spokane Co., WA

Wordless Wednesday: Nellie May (CONCIDINE) HOLST (1883 - 1953)

Holst, Nellie May (Concidine). Photographed and hand-colored c. 1905 by unknown photographer, Western Michigan. Privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2009.

Muskegon County, Michigan Family Histories Wanted

DearMYRTLE highlighted an article in today's Muskegon Chronicle which encourages those of us with Muskegon County, Michigan roots to share our family stories for the publication of a county history being created by the Muskegon County Genealogical Society.

With ten ancestral--and dozens more collateral--surnames of my family tree taking residence in Muskegon County from at least 1879 to the present, I could submit a ton of information! However, only one family history of no more than 400 words and one photo are allowed free entry into the book. There's no information on the costs involved if you would like to submit more than one family history. Let's see, I could do the following groupings and submit five family histories (if they allow this): HOLST/GUSTAVSON/CONCIDINE; ROBBINS/KIMBALL; LEWIS/VREELAND; HOEKSTRA; and WILKINSON/SAYERS. Wonder how much that'll cost me?

I'm off to e-mail the genealogy society...!

One Day, Two Family History Centers, and Seven Families

Locate residents, organizations, and businesses in America's population centers within city directories.

Thursday morning I had to drive clear across town to drop my son off to meet with his math teacher. He will be an eighth-grader next year, and is taking an online math course this summer so that he can skip ahead two grades to take a sophomore math class next fall at my daughter's high school. His math teacher is teaching a summer school class at the high school on the South Hill of Spokane, about six miles from our home, and had some time to be available for Q&A and assistance with his graphing calculator. Matt had a little more than an hour to work on his lesson, so I thought I would take the time to visit the Southside Family History Center to see what kinds of materials they had available in their facility. We are lucky to have four FHCs in our county, and each one is unique as to the types of microfilms and microfiche they have on permanent loan, depending upon what records their patrons are researching and have ordered from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

In the 45 minutes while I was there, I wrote up two pages of notes, chatted with the volunteer on duty, and took a look around the facility. They don't appear to have microfilm scanner/printer software set up on a computer in tandem with a microfilm reader, like the FHC that I usually patronize on the Northside, although they did have several manual readers. They did have a good number of computer stations, more than the Northside does, but many of them were older models. They had a nice selection of books, including passenger lists and immigration indexes. I used their card catalog, organized by country, state or province, and county to see what microforms were available for my areas of research, and was very excited to see they have a large selection of Ontario county records for specific areas I'm researching, as well as some of my ancestral Michigan and New York counties. My son has two more sessions with his math teacher next week, and I plan to return for an actual look at the microfilm, along with my laptop and file folders, for in-depth referencing.

Later that evening, I planned to go to the Northside FHC to work on some lookup requests that had come to me through Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, when I received a call from the FHC director, notifying me that the microfilm I had ordered only the previous Thursday, had arrived from Salt Lake City that afternoon! We were both very surprised, and I was so excited! Normally, it takes two or three weeks--sometimes more--before I get the microfilm I've ordered. And I was eager to take a look at this microfilm roll, which included the city directories for Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1875/76 through 1879/80. Thanks to Jasia's series, I had gotten enthused all over again to do research in city directories, and decided I would like to have more of these microfilmed records on permanent loan at my local FHC for ease of referral for whenever I discovered a new branch of one of my many Kent County surnames!

My earliest ancestors in the City of Grand Rapids were the TON and VanKLINKEN families, parents of one of my great-great-grandmothers, Jennie (TON) HOEKSTRA. Immigrants from the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands, they had moved to Grand Rapids by 1873 after first spending about 16 years in Cincinnati. Peter, the father, died the following year, and in 1875, Maria, the mother, married a widower with two children, Dirk BYL. Besides Jennie, Maria had two or three other daughters that survived infancy. In the 1873/74 and 1874/75 city directories for Grand Rapids, I had found the TON family, first on Taylor Street and then on Brainerd Street. Looking at the 1875/76 city directory, I did not find either a TON or a BYL family, even though I looked for alternate spellings. Both the 1876/77 and 1877/78 directories, however, listed a "Derk Byle," laborer, who resided at 96 Brainerd, and the latter listed John VanKLINKEN, Maria's brother, a laborer residing at 351 Taylor.

Actually, the 1875/76 directory was of no help, at least at first glance. None of my surnames I looked up appeared that year. The jackpot came in the 1876/77 and later directories, although I ran out of time to look at anything past 1877/78. The 1876/77 directory included a Kent County rural directory, which had my CONCIDINE, HIGBY, McDIARMID, and TUINSTRA families listed!

I also found the household of Beene STUIT at 321 First Street, Grand Rapids, in 1876/77; he was the husband of Catherina DEKKER, my great-great-grandfather Martin HOEKSTRA's half-sister.

I can hardly wait to go back and discover more!

Ancestors in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census - Part 10

April 1st was Census Day for the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. In honor of that census day, throughout the month of April I posted lists of my known direct ancestors and where they were residing during that census. I am continuing this series into the subsequent months. I'll also list who's missing; for us family historians, missing individuals on census records can be the most frustrating and intriguing challenges of genealogy!

In Part 2 of this series, I presented census information on my paternal grandmother living in the home of her adoptive parents, Alfred Henry HOLST and Nellie May CONCIDINE. Nellie's parents were both deceased by 1930, although she had a step-mother (Minnie Belle FIELD) and younger half-brother (Everett CONCIDINE), possibly living in California (they are currently missing-in-action in this census). In this post, I will discuss Alfred's parents, Johann "John" D. HOLST and Ida C. (or Marie) GUSTAVSON, in relation to the 1930 Federal Census.

On April 9, 1930, John and Ida were enumerated (E.D. 28, Sheet 9B) at their home on Center Street in the village of Coopersville, Polkton Township, Ottawa County, Michigan. This is the village in which my father, his siblings, his mother and his uncle grew up, and where one of my aunts and some of my cousins live today. In 1930, all five of John and Ida's surviving children (they apparently lost two in infancy) were living in the area, with the exception of John, Jr., who lived in Florida.

The household consisted of:

• John D. Holst; head of household; owner of a home worth $2,000; home not on a farm; male, white, age 69, married; age at marriage: 20; did not attend school in the last year; able to read and write; born in Germany; parents born in Germany; language spoken before coming to the United States: German; immigrated to the U.S. in 1883; a naturalized citizen; able to speak English; works as a janitor at a condensery for wages; employed; not a veteran.
• Ida C. Holst; wife; female, white, age 68, married; age at marriage: 19; did not attend school in the last year; able to read and write; born in Sweden; parents born in Sweden; language spoken before coming to the United States: Swedish; immigrated to the U.S. in 1883; a naturalized citizen; able to speak English; occupation: none.

According to a local historian, Chris Heimler, the home that John and Ida lived in was actually 468 Center Street, and it had quite a history in and of itself. The house had been a residence for several prominent families in that community. In looking over my notes to write this post, I realized there were some loose ends that needed tying up, and I hope to discover more about this residence and perhaps even obtain photos of it.

The 1920 U.S. Federal Census states that John had been born in Hannover, and the 1900 census gives his birthdate as April 1860. Ida, born 28 October 1861 in Sweden, must have immigrated to Germany before her marriage there to John on 6 February 1880. Their son, Alfred, was born in Germany before the young family immigrated in 1883, departing Europe from Hamburg, Germany and Le Havre, France. They arrived in New York City on 5 July 1883 on the Lessing (go here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to see a photo of the ship). Also aboard was 17-year-old Henriette HOLST, who was listed as being a citizen of Prussia, while John, Ida and Alfred are citizens of Hannover. Holst is a common German name, however, as its meaning is "woods." I'm keeping an eye out for Henriette to see if she ever shows up in my Holsts' lives again.

The Holst family first settled in Spring Lake Township, Ottawa County, Michigan, where they were enumerated on the 1884 Michigan State Census. In 1900, they were in Ravenna Township in nearby Muskegon County, and in 1910 and 1920, resided in Sullivan Township, also in Muskegon County. According to John's obituary, they moved into Coopersville in 1923; it erroneously states they had always lived in Ottawa County since immigration. John enjoyed hunting even into his elder years, and he and Ida celebrated their 50th anniversary in a community-wide event in 1930. She died in 1939; and John died the following year.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 11, Part 12)

Ancestors in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census - Part 3

April 1st was Census Day for the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. In honor of that census day, throughout the month of April I am posting lists of my known direct ancestors and where they were residing during that census. I'll also list who's missing; for us family historians, missing individuals on census records can be the most frustrating and intriguing challenges of genealogy!

In my last post on this topic, I presented my paternal grandmother, born Jane Marie YORK, living as Jeanne Marie HOLST with her foster (and later, adoptive) parents, Alfred Henry HOLST and Nellie May CONCIDINE. I also showed her biological brother, Harry Orlando YORK, living as James Howard ERWIN with his adoptive parents, Howard W. ERWIN and Effie M. GAUNT.

In this post, I will show the biological parents (divorced in 1927) of these children. Their father, Howard Merkel YORK was living with his father and step-mother, James L. YORK and Mary A. BOGERT on Atwater Street in Lake Orion, Oakland County, Michigan. Howard was listed as an unemployed house roofer and a veteran of World War I. (This image from Ancestry.com is difficult to read; the one at HeritageQuest Online is much clearer, but I couldn't change the format of the better image to be used in this post.)

(The census image has been removed)

The children's mother, Mary Jane BARBER, has been very difficult to locate. I searched for her from 2002, when the 1930 U.S. Federal Census first became publicly available, until late last year (2006). I could not find her listed under either Mary Jane YORK or Mary Jane BARBER. Searches using her first name only, along with the approximate year of birth and state of birth were not helpful. I was searching in Michigan only, as I had been told by her sister-in-law that she had lived there all her life. I found a woman that possibly could have matched living in a state hospital, which made me wonder...

However, it was the realization that I could find all of Mary Jane's siblings on the 1930 census, with the exception of her older brother James Albert BARBER, which made me decide that he had to be the key. Mary Jane was extremely close to her brother; he was a father-figure to her, as their father, Orlando BARBER, died five days after her first birthday. Jim had been one of the witnesses to Mary Jane's marriage to Howard YORK. So I started searching for him in order to find her.

I couldn't find Jim in all of Michigan, so I expanded my search to include all of the United States. By using the search parameters of his first and last name, state of birth, and year of birth (1903), plus or minus 5 years, I discovered a James BARBER living in the first ward of the city of Manitowoc, Manitowoc Co., Wisconsin at 719 Jay Street. He was listed as 30 years old, employed as an engineer for a cement plant, a military veteran, whose father was born in Canada and whose mother was born in Michigan. A 57-year-old Greek immigrant, Peter CARLOS, roomed at the same address. So far, everything matched quite closely.

(The census image has been removed)

I then searched for any woman named Mary Jane, born c. 1910, plus or minus 5 years in Manitowoc County. Lo and behold, a woman named Mary Jane KUPSH, wife of Arthur, turned up. She was born c. 1911 in Michigan, father born in Canada, mother born in Michigan. She and husband Arthur were living at 1814 Clark Street in the fifth ward of the city of Manitowoc.

(The census image has been removed)

So far, this is only circumstantial evidence. I need to obtain a marriage record of Arthur KUPSH and Mary Jane [--?--] to determine if she is "mine." Uncle Jim's widow had never heard of Jim or Mary Jane living in Wisconsin, nor of Mary Jane being married to an Arthur KUPSH. However, Jim's widow did not marry him until 1950, so it is possible that she never knew that part of their lives.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12)

Ancestors in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census - Part 2

April 1st was Census Day for the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. In honor of that census day, throughout the month of April I am posting lists of my known direct ancestors and where they were residing during that census. I'll also list who's missing; for us family historians, missing individuals on census records can be the most frustrating and intriguing challenges of genealogy!

(The census image has been removed)

My then-five-and-a-half-year-old paternal grandmother, Jane Marie YORK/Jeanne Marie HOLST, is enumerated with her adoptive parents, Alfred Henry HOLST and Nellie May CONCIDINE, on Randall Street in Coopersville, Ottawa Co., Michigan, along with older adoptive sister, Lucille. Both girls' names have been mis-spelled. Note also that Jeanne is listed as an "Adopted Daughter," even though she wasn't legally adopted by the Holsts until right around her sixteenth birthday. Legally, she was only their foster child. Jeanne's then-foster parents must have known something about her biological parents, because both her parents are listed as being born in Michigan; while Lucille (their biological daughter) is listed with her parents' birthplaces being Germany and Michigan, matching Alfred and Nellie's places of birth.

(The census image has been removed)

Jeanne's biological brother, Harry Orlando YORK/James "Jim" Howard ERWIN, was enumerated just 17 homes earlier, also on Randall Street, with his adoptive parents, Howard W. ERWIN and Effie M. GAUNT. Notice that there is no "adopted son" notation for Jim. Again, his adoptive parents must have known something about his biological parents, because both his parents' birthplaces are listed as "Michigan," while his adoptive parents had been born in Illinois and Michigan. I don't know how old Uncle Jim was when he was legally adopted, but I think he must have been directly adopted from Blodgett Children's Home (in Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan) instead of being fostered out for many years, like my grandmother was. While researching the adoptive families of my grandmother and her brother, I discovered that the Holsts and the Erwins were shirt-tail relations...in other words, they were related to the same people without being related to each other. I am only supposing here, as no one is alive who could tell me, that Uncle Jim was fostered out/adopted first, and then the Holsts, who had lost infant twins a few years previously and could not have more children, became interested in fostering a child of their own. They probably heard about my grandmother from the Erwin family.

These children's biological parents were Howard Merkel YORK and Mary Jane BARBER. I was going to add their census information to this post, but it's getting a bit long. I'll save Howard and Mary Jane for next time.

(Jane Marie YORK/Jeanne Marie HOLST grew up to marry my paternal grandfather, Robert Lewis ROBBINS. See his 1930 U.S. Federal Census enumeration here.)

(Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12)