Anthony Fredenburg: Civil War Veteran?

Anthony Fredenburg, my 4th-great-grandfather

This Memorial Day weekend, I want to focus on a man that I recently learned was likely my ninth Civil War soldier ancestor.  Each one of my direct ancestors who fought in the Civil War is on my dad's side, as my mother's ancestors were either too young or too old to serve in that conflict.

In February 2014, I visited Salt Lake City, Utah for my very first genealogical research trip there.  It was part research trip, part conference, as I was attending RootsTech, an annual event focusing on information technology as it relates to genealogy.

Sylvester Fredenburg, my 3rd-great-grandfather

I had several ancestors whom I had "targeted" to be the focus of my research while in Salt Lake City, and one of them was my paternal 3rd-great-grandfather, Sylvester Fredenburg.  He did several "tours of duty" during the Civil War, enlisting first in 1861 in Company A, 50th New York Engineers; then in both the spring and fall of 1862 in Company I, 33rd New York Infantry; and finally re-enlisting in the 50th New York Engineers in 1864, this time in Company L. In 1998, I ordered his pension file from the National Archives, which gave me the above enlistment information, as well as his death information: 20 March 1879 in Riley Township, St. Clair County, Michigan. A now-obsolete website on the 33rd New York Volunteers provided me with a burial location in Romeo, Macomb County, Michigan.  I contacted the webmaster to determine the source of this information, but never heard back.  I also have had several volunteers try to track down exactly which Romeo cemetery Sylvester is buried in, without success.  Although he has a memorial page listed on Find A Grave, I have yet to see any record or other documentation that actually lists his grave as being in that particular cemetery.

Before leaving on my trip to Salt Lake City, I searched the Family History Library catalog for books and films that might provide answers to where Sylvester was buried. One of them was Indigent Soldiers Burial Records, Volume I and II, Abstracted from the Original Books in the Lapeer County Clerk's Office, Lapeer, Michigan.

As I paged through the book, my eye caught the name "Fredenburg." But it wasn't Sylvester listed on the page.  It was Anthony, his father!

Anthony FREDENBURG

Private, Co. L?, Heavy Artillery Regiment, New York; also enlisted in -----(?) -----(?) New York Volunteers

Died: 15 June 1891 in the 1st district, Lapeer city

Buried: 17 June 1892 in Mt. Hope cemetery

Expenses: casket - $30.00, undertakers attendance - $2.00, hearse & ice - $5.00, sexton's charges - $3.00

Occupation: laborer; No property real or personal; Had been for sometime previous to his death partially supported from the county poor fund

Record dated at Mayfield, 13 June 1891 [sic - probably 23 June 1891, given the death and burial dates]

Signed: Oscar A. WILLIAMS

While I never did find Sylvester's burial information in this book, I did gain a new Civil War soldier ancestor!  When I returned home, I looked through my notes and records of Anthony.  This had been staring me in the face for years, and I never recognized it.  Long before the 1890 Census of Civil War Veterans or Widows was available online, I had copied a page from a book with a printed index that listed:

Fredenburg, Anthony, Mi, Lapeer [County], Lapeer

Of course, at that time, I had no easy way of determining if this was my ancestor. Now that I had more information, I looked him up on Ancestry:

1890 Veterans Census
(click to enlarge)

Detail from above page
(click to enlarge)

Unfortunately, the regimental information given about Anthony does not coincide with that found in the Indigent Soldiers Burial Records.  I believe this may be an error made by the enumerator; if you look at the entry directly below Anthony's, for Robert White, it is nearly identical to Anthony's.  There is no information given for Post-Office Address, Disability Incurred, and Remarks, for any entry after line 34.  This suggests that entries 35 through 37, including Anthony's, may have been written in later, and could explain why his regimental information is basically a duplicate of Robert White's.

I have done multiple searches in Ancestry's military databases with a variety of spellings of Fredenburg(h) and Vredenburgh (the original name), and cannot find Anthony listed anywhere.  I did find an Andrew Fredenburg serving in Company L, 2nd Regiment, New York Heavy Artillery, but other searches lead me to believe this was a young man, born 1844 in Broome, Schoharie County, New York, who originally enlisted in Eldrige in 1863 in the 9th New York Artillery.  I have also looked through lists of pension records, but it seems that Anthony did not apply for a pension.  His wife, Hannah (Fox) Fredenburg, died nine months before he did, so there is no widow's pension application.  This makes sense, given that Anthony was living off the county poor fund in the months before he died (why weren't his eight or nine surviving children supporting him?  Hmmm....).

 
So, what we have is a bit of a mystery: did Anthony actually serve in the Civil War? I believe he did.  Besides the two documents above, this family photo is telling:

Some of the Fredenburg family, c. 1861
(click to enlarge)

On the left are Anthony and his wife, Hannah.  On the right is my ancestor, Anthony and Hannah's second son, Sylvester, with probably his first wife, Mary Jane [--?--] behind him.  In the middle is Abram, Anthony and Hannah's oldest son, with his wife, Myra (Chidsery) Fredenburg behind him.

This photo is significant, because it appears to show the Civil War soldiers in the family, although Anthony is not in uniform, as Abram and Sylvester are.  If Anthony did enlist, it was likely after 1861, when Abram and Sylvester enlisted in the 50th Engineers.

Meanwhile, I'll keep digging until I can find out for certain when and in what company Anthony enlisted.

My Genealogy Do-Over Finds: BARBER and FREDENBURG Cemetery Records and Plat Map

I've had to slow down on my Genealogy Do-Over. Currently, I'm in a one-week break between working late supervising students during 7th grade basketball games and the beginning of my latest five-week round of genealogy classes for the Community Colleges of Spokane. Also, the following week, the 8th grade basketball games begin. There won't be another pause until Spring Break during the first full week of April.

But what I've done is placed a box of miscellaneous genealogy files and documents on my dining room table, and as I have five or 15 minutes between tasks or when I'm waiting for my water to boil for tea, I'll do a little decluttering or filing.

One of the items in the box I've been going through this week was a binder my paternal grandmother, Jeanne (HOLST) ROBBINS, an adoptee, put together of family tree records I sent her in 1997 when I found her biological family. I weeded out duplicate copies of things and filed the original documents I had given her. Within the binder, I found two documents that I realized I had not given her. In fact, she herself had obtained them when she and my grandfather reunited with her biological cousins and aunt and they went to visit the graves of her biological mother, maternal grandmother, and a maternal aunt. These were new documents for me and they gave me a lot of information about their specific burial locations.

Stiles Cemetery Office (Mayfield Township, Lapeer Co., Michigan), plat map, citing the Barber family, lot 443.
Click to enlarge.

Stiles Cemetery Office (Mayfield Township, Lapeer Co., Michigan), plat map.
Click to enlarge.

The lot records list my great-grandmother, Mary Jane (BARBER) DUNLAP, her mother Mary Jane (FREDENBURG) KELLER, and her sister, Clara May (BARBER) REYNOLDS. One grave space belonging to the family, Grave 5, remained unused by 1997.

In the cemetery plat map, I recognize the writing in the left and right margins as belonging to my paternal grandfather, Bob Robbins, Sr. The writing in the right margin is the inscriptions on Jeanne's mother's and grandmother's headstones, as compared with photos I have of said headstones, mailed to me by my cousin.

Besides being elated at discovering documents I did not already have, I realized something. Years ago, I obtained the death certificate of my grandmother's biological father, Howard Merle YORK, which stated he also was buried in Stiles Cemetery. I attempted to get a photograph of his grave through the Find A Grave photo request service, but was told by someone that his grave must be unmarked and that the cemetery records had all been destroyed years ago in an office fire. I'm still looking through all my hand-written research logs to determine who sent me that information. At this point, it matters little, because I have discovered that this is indeed not the case. This misinformation was part of the reason I did not attempt to locate the exact lot location of the Barber women graves, because I thought it had been lost in a fire. I figured since I was in touch with family members who knew where the graves were located, were tending the graves faithfully, and who had sent me photographs of them, this would be adequate for locating them myself if I ever had the opportunity to visit. My next step will be to contact the Stiles cemetery office to see if I can obtain a lot record for my great-grandfather's grave.

It just goes to show that it's good to 1) revisit your folders once in a while to see what "new" things you may discover; 2) question information you get from others, and do a little following-up yourself; and 3) never give up on trying to locate original or substitute records.

What discoveries have you made since you started your Genealogy Do-Over?

Surname Saturday: FREDENBURG

The FREDENBURG family was a Dutch colonial one. The emigrant ancestor supposedly was William VAN VREDENBURGH, a soldier for the Dutch West India Company. He apparently came to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1658.

The name FREDENBURG has multiple spellings and evolutions. Some of them include: FREDENBURGH, FRIEDENBURG, FRIEDENBURGH, FRADENBURG, FRADENBURGH, and (VAN) VREDENBURCH.

So far, I've only been able to trace my ancestry through my 4th-great-grandfather's generation, with any accuracy and sources. Information shared with me and that which I have seen online (unverified, of course), hints that my Anthony FREDENBURG is likely the great-great-grandson of immigrant Willem. Other information claims to trace back Willem's ancestry another five generations to Hugo VAN VREDENBURCH.

Stories and History:

Ahnentafel #92 - Anthony FREDENBURG (1816 - 1881) - born in Tackannae, Schoharie Co., New York; died 15 June 1881, probably in Greenwood Twp., St. Clair Co., Michigan. He married Hannah FOX (c. 1814 - c. 1890) in 1837 in Middleburg, Schoharie Co., New York. He was supposedly a son of John FREDENBURG (1789 - 1857) and Charity/Geertje MILLER (1792 - 1873).

Ahnentafel #46 - Sylvester FREDENBURG (1844 - 1879) - Civil War veteran; read more about him here.

Ahnentafel #23 - Mary Jane FREDENBURG (1875 - 1962) - born in Chesterfield Twp., Macomb Co., Michgan. Married four times; her first marriage was to my ancestor, Orlando BARBER (1868 - 1910). She died in Lapeer, Lapeer Co., Michigan (obituary).

Ahnentafel #11 - Mary Jane BARBER (1909 - 1975) - read her AnceStory here. She also married at least four times. I don't have one of her husbands listed in her biography yet. Again, I descend from the first husband, Howard Merkel YORK (1898 - 1945).

Ahnentafel #5 - Jane Marie YORK (a.k.a. Jeanne Marie HOLST) (1924 - 2012) - my paternal grandmother, an adoptee. She was born Jane Marie YORK, and her biological mother was Mary Jane BARBER. Her name was changed at adoption. She married Robert Louis ROBBINS (1920 - 2003) in 1940.

Ahnentafel #2 - my father (living)

Ahnentafel # - myself

More About the FREDENBURG Family:

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

2. Some FREDENBURG obituaries on my website

3. Posts about FREDENBURG ancestors and relatives on this blog

4. Some scanned FREDENBURG photos

5. Some scanned FREDENBURG documents

6. My  FREDENBURG Virtual Cemetery on Find A Grave

My FREDENBURG Immigration Trail:

Columbia Co., NY > Schoharie Co., NY > Yates (now Potter) Co., NY > Macomb Co., MI > Lapeer Co., MI > Genesee Co., MI > Ottawa Co., MI > Alaska > Stevens Co., WA > Spokane Co., WA

A Civil War Soldier: Pvt. Sylvester FREDENBURG (1844 - 1879)

Source: Fredenburg(h), Sylvester. Photograph, reproduction. C. 1861. Original photo in the possession of Mary Jane Fredenburg Hittle, Columbiaville, Michigan. 2008.

How Related: My 3rd-great-grandfather

Born: 9 October 1844 (or 1842) in Benton, Yates Co., New York

Parents: Anthony FREDENBURG (1816 - 1881) and Hannah FOX (c. 1816 - 1890s)

Siblings: Sylvester was one of 11 children and one of three brothers that served in the Union Army:

• Charlotte (b. c. 1839)
• Amanda (b. c. 1839)
• Abram (1841 - 1903)
• Benjamin Franklin (c. 1844 - 1864)
  
• Rachel (c. 1847 - 1904)
• Alonzo (c. 1849)
• George Cady (1852 - 1930)
• Lurinda (c. 1854 - 1926)
• William (c. 1856)
• Isabella (c. 1856 - 1926)

Married: Mary Jane [--?--] (c. 1840 - bet. 1870-2) before 1865 in either New York or Michigan and Cornelia McCLELLAN (1856 - 1916) on 30 June 1872 in Ridgeway, Lenawee Co., Michigan

Children: With Mary Jane, he had two daughters: Maryetta (b. c. 185) and Sarah E. FREDENBURG (1868 - 1937). With Cornelia, he had three children: Mary Jane (1872 - 1962), my ancestor, named for his first wife; George Franklin (1873 - 1965); and William Anthony FREDENBURG (1876 - c. 1947).

---

Source: Civil War Pension Index Cards of Sylvester Fredenburg(h). Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900. National Archives and Records Administration. Publication T289. Digital images purchased at Footnote [http://www.footnote.com/].

Enlisted: 14 December 1861 at Penn Yan, Yates Co., New York; private. Enlisted 17 December 1861 in Co. A, 50th New York Engineers (same company as his brother Abram). Enlisted 14 March 1862 at Milo, Yates Co., New York in Co. I, 33rd New York Infantry. Mustered out with company 2 June 1862 at Geneva, Ontario Co., New York. Returned to Co. I, 33rd New York Infantry in November 1862. Re-enlisted 16 January 1864 at Jerusalem, Potter (now Yates) Co., New York. Enlisted 23 January 1864 in Co. L, 50th New York Engineers.

Side served: Union

History of Unit: 50th New York Engineers, 33rd New York Infantry (more info here, too)

Mustered out: 13 June 1865 at Fort Barry, Virginia

---

Biography or Information of Interest: Sylvester's discharge paper states he was five foot, six inches high, dark complected, with brown eyes and brown hair. His pension papers were full of great genealogical information, as his widow, Cornelia, applied first for a widow's pension on his account, and then later on her second husband's--a Navy veteran--account. Since both Sylvester and Washington Foster JUDD (her second husband) had been married and had children before marrying Cornelia, there were all sorts of marriage records and affidavits as to the births of the prior children. Unfortunately, Cornelia--being illiterate--had incorrect birth dates for all hers and Sylvester's children (listing all three as being born after his death!) as well as having listed an incorrect regiment for Sylvester's service. In the record of his service, it was discovered that he "deserted at Geneva, N.Y. April 1, '62. Retaken Sept. 1, '62." At his court martial, he was sentenced to a " loss of all pay up to Sept. 30, '62." His records also show he was hospitalized in August, again in September, and still again in October of 1864. Friends of the family attested that he had never been completely well after his return from the war and that he had a persistent cough. His death record states he died of spinal disease. It appears he probably had tuberculosis.

Died: 20 March 1879 in Riley Twp., St. Clair Co., Michigan of spinal disease contracted during the war

Buried: Believed to be buried at Romeo Cemetery, Romeo, Macomb Co., Michigan

A Civil War Soldier: Pvt. Benjamin Franklin FREDENBURG (c. 1844 - 1864)

How Related: Brother of my 3rd-great-grandfather, Sylvester FREDENBURG

Born: c. 1844, New York

Parents: Anthony FREDENBURG (1816 - 1881) and Hannah FOX (c. 1816 - 1890s)

Siblings: Benjamin was one of 11 children and one of three brothers that served in the Union Army:

• Charlotte (b. c. 1839)
• Amanda (b. c. 1839)
• Abram (1841 - 1903)
  
• Sylvester (c. 1842 - 1879) - my ancestor
• Rachel (c. 1847 - 1904)
• Alonzo (c. 1849)
• George Cady (1852 - 1930)
• Lurinda (c. 1854 - 1926)
• William (c. 1856)
• Isabella (c. 1856 - 1926)

Married: never

Children: none

---

Mustered in: 20 Februay 1862 at East Saginaw, Saginaw Co., Michigan in Co. E, 7th Michigan Cavalry; private.

Side Served: Union

History of Unit: 7th Michigan Cavalry

Discharged: Died as a prisoner of war at Camp Sumter (Andersonville Prison), Americus, Georgia

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Source: Andersonville Prison, Camp Sumter, Ga., as it appeared August 1st 1864 when it contained 35,000 prisoners of war / drawn from memory by Thomas O'Dea, late private Co. E. 16th Regt. Maine Infi. Vols ; on stone by T. J. S. Landis. Lithograph. N.Y. : Henry Seibert & Bro. Art Litho., 12 & 14 Warren St., [1864 or later]. In the possession of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Digital print accessed online [http://hdl.loc.gov/] on 24 April 2008.

Biography or Information of Interest: It appears that Benjamin was taken prisoner on or before 11 June 1864, where he is listed as a prisoner of war at Trevillian Station, Virginia.

Died: 1 November 1864 of dysentery

Buried: Grave 11709, Andersonville National Cemetery, Americus, Macon Co., Georgia

A Civil War Soldier: Cpl. Abram FREDENBURG (1841 - 1903)

Source: Fredenburg Family Photograph. Reproduction of framed photograph. C. 1861. Original photograph believed to be in the possession of Dorothy Needham Moreno, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 2001.

The above photograph shows the Fredenburg family. Sitting in the front row, left to right, are men who are believed to be Anthony (father), Abram, and Sylvester FREDENBURG. Standing in the back, left to right, are women believed to be their spouses: Hannah Fox (mother), Myra [--?--], and Mary Jane [--?--] FREDENBURG.

How Related: Brother of my 3rd-great-grandfather, Sylvester FREDENBURG

Born: 23 February 1842, New York

Parents: Anthony FREDENBURG (1816 - 1881) and Hannah FOX (c. 1816 - 1890s)

Siblings: Abram was one of 11 children and one of three brothers that served in the Union Army:

• Charlotte (b. c. 1839)
• Amanda (b. c. 1839)
• Sylvester (1844 - 1879) - my ancestor
• Rachel (c. 1847 - 1904)
• Benjamin Franklin (c. 1849 - c. 1864)
• Alonzo (c. 1849)
• George Cady (1852 - 1930)
• Lurinda (c. 1854 - 1926)
• William (c. 1856)
• Isabella (c. 1856 - 1926)

Married: Myra [--?--]

Children: Anna "Annie" (b. c. 1871) and Daniel Reeder FREDENBURG (b. c. 1873)

---



Source: Civil War Pension Index Card of Abram Fredenburg. Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900. National Archives and Records Administration. Publication T289. Digital image purchased at Footnote [http://www.footnote.com/].

Enlisted: 14 December 1861 at Penn Yan, New York; private. Enlisted in Co. A., 50th New York Engineers on 17 December 1861.

Side Served: Union

History of Unit: 50th New York Engineers

Mustered Out: 13 June 1865 at Fort Barry, Virginia

---

Biography or Information of Interest: There is some speculation that Abram also served in the 24th New York Cavalry, but I haven't investigated enough to see if the man by that name in that regiment is the same as "my" Abram.

Died: 26 September 1903 in Kent Co., Michigan

Buried: Plainfield Township Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan

Ancestors in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census - Part 9

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 3 of this series, I presented census information on one of my paternal great-grandmothers, Mary Jane BARBER. This post looks at the household in which her widowed mother, Mary Jane FREDENBURG lived in 1930. I refer to my great-great-grandmother as Mary Jane (the Elder) in this post, to differentiate her from her daughter, whenever it is necessary.

Mary Jane (Fredenburg) Barber, c. 1902

I had a great deal of difficulty finding Mary Jane (the Elder) in the 1930 Federal Census at Ancestry.com. I knew that her husband, Orlando BARBER, had died in 1910 in Lapeer, Lapeer County, Michigan. I found her (again, with much difficulty) in the 1920 U.S. Federal Census, married to a man named Fred SMITH and living in Flint, Genesee County, Michigan. A map of Michigan shows that Genesee and Lapeer Counties are adjacent, and this family emigrated back and forth frequently between counties. In both the 1920 and 1930 Censuses, I had to look for Mary Jane's children in order to find her. Alexander "Red" BARBER, Mary Jane's middle son, was living in Fremont Township, Tuscola County, Michigan in 1930, and that is where I found Mary Jane. I had to do some creative searching, as the household was indexed under "Barter."

The household, enumerated in E.D. 20, sheet 5A, consisted of:

• Alexander BARBER, head of the household and owner of the home, which was located on a farm. There was no radio listed, indicating the house probably did not have electricity. He was a male, white, 25-year-old single person, not in school, able to read and write, born in Michigan, as were his parents. Able to speak English, he was employed as a farmer in general farm work (self-employed), but not a veteran.
• Mary [Jane] BARBER, mother, female, white, 54 years old, Widowed ["Divorced" has been crossed out], age 16 at the time of her first marriage, not in school, able to read and write, born in Michigan. Her father is listed as having been born in Pennsylvania, and her mother's birthplace is stated as Scotland. The correct answers should have been New York and Michigan, respectively. She was able to speak English.
• Levi KELLER, Lodger ["Servant" has been crossed out], male, white, 51 years old, Widowed ["Divorced" has been crossed out], age 25 at the time of his first marriage, not in school, able to read and write, born in Michigan. His father was born in the "U.S." ["not known" is crossed out], mother was born in New York. He was able to speak English, and employed as a farm laborer (no doubt on Alex's farm), working for wages. He also was not a veteran.

What is interesting here is that my family oral records state Mary Jane and Levi married in 1922. I haven't gotten their marriage record yet to verify or discredit this statement. I do know they did marry, as I have Levi and Mary Jane's obituaries, and Mary Jane's death record; these three documents show secondary source evidence of a marriage. Another interesting fact is that in 1939, Mary Jane's daughter, Mary Jane BARBER (my great-grandmother), married Levi's son from his first marriage, Archie KELLER (they divorced in 1946).

This was a third marriage for both Levi and Mary Jane (the Elder). Their children who married each other were both from their respective first marriages, and it appears that they were both widowed in their first marriages and divorced from their second spouses. Levi died in 1945, and Mary Jane never married again.

She had had eight children with Orlando BARBER; the first three had died in infancy between 1894 and 1901. The five surviving children were Clara May, James Albert, Alexander, Arthur, and my great-grandmother, Mary Jane. So far, I have only found Alex and Mary Jane in the 1930 Census. Mary Jane (the Elder) did not have any other children with her subsequent husbands, Fred SMITH and Levi KELLER.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12)

My Genealogy Gift List: Victoria's Secret? Never!

The other day, my 16-year-old daughter and I were watching television together when a commercial for Victoria's Secret aired during the break. The gist of the message was "every woman wants Victoria's Secret for the holidays." I rolled my eyes and said to Missy, "Not this woman. Give me death certificates or census records any day!"

As I thought it over, I realized that there were actually a few Secrets I'd like, none of them having to do with women named Victoria, however. For instance, there's Mariah Emily DAILEY and her daughter, Emma Alice LYTON, my children's father's 2nd-great- and great-grandmothers, respectively. Just exactly where were they when the 1880 Federal Census was being taken? They should have been in Iowa, specifically in Thurman, Freman County. Mariah's first husband, George TURK, assumed the name Henry LYTON, and immigrated to the U.S. from Ontario to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. After his death, Mariah married German immigrant John KLINDER in 1875. By 1880, Mariah and John had two children, Nancy Florence and Laura Luella, as well as Emma and Agnes LYTON from her marriage to Henry. Mariah's Secret or Emma's Secret would be great gifts for Christmas!

And in my own ancestry, I have yet to figure out Mary Jane's Secret...Mary Jane FREDENBURG, that is. My 2nd-great-grandmother was 8 years old in 1880, yet she and her six-year-old brother, George Franklin FREDENBURG, are missing from the Greenwood Township, St. Clair County, Michigan home of her widowed mother Cornelia (McCLELLAN) FREDENBURG, younger brother William Anthony FREDENBURG (age 3 1/2), older half-sister Sarah E. FREDENBURG (12) and paternal grandparents Anthony and Hannah (FOX) FREDENBURG. Can't find them anywhere in Michigan, or the U.S., for that matter.

I did get Helen's Secret and Rena's Secret for Christmas last year. My children's father's paternal grandmother, Helen Mary WESTABY, and her mother, Rena (LERFALD) WESTABY, went missing, along with father George Rice WESTABY, III, during the 1920 Federal Census. I thought I had figured it out when I read George's obituary a few years ago. It stated that he had come from Montana to Washington State in 1920. "Aha!" I thought. "That's why I couldn't find them...they were moving, en route across the Northwest." I was right...sort of. I was given some significant missing details by my children's paternal grandfather during our 2005 Christmas visit. He told me that his grandfather George had been employed by the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana, along with George's father and brothers. Seems George and his brothers made a little extra on the side by selling brass they stole from the railroad. George apparently sold to the wrong person, and managed to discover his mistake shortly before his impending arrest, making a midnight move with Rena and little Helen west to the Yakima Valley, where they likely hid out at the home of George's cousin, Charles WESTABY. If they weren't exactly in transit when the census was taken, it is certain that neither Charles nor his wife would have divulged to a government employee (i.e. census enumerator) that they were harboring a fugitive from the law!

And I did uncover another Mary Jane's Secret this year...I think. Mary Jane BARBER, my great-grandmother and daughter of Mary Jane FREDENBURG mentioned above, was married many times. In fact, she apparently was married so many times, even her family members may not have known the exact count. My records show she first married my great-grandfather, Howard Merkel YORK, when she was only 14 years old, in 1924. That unhappy union ended three years later. Mary Jane later married her step-brother, Archie Louis KELLER, when both were in their thirties. After that divorce, Mary Jane married what we had believed to be her third husband, Jay DUNLAP. It was my searching for Mary Jane in the 1930 Federal Census that led to my theory that there was another husband between Howard and Archie. Since I couldn't seem to find Mary Jane, I looked for her older brother Jim. I found a man with his name, the right age, birthplace and parents' birthplaces in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Coincidentally, there's also a Mary Jane KUPSH in Manitowoc, age off by only one year, born in Michigan, parents born in Michigan. Ordering Arthur KUPSH's marriage record to Mary Jane should clarify if this is my great-grandmother. Interestingly, I asked Uncle Jim's widow if she had ever heard that her late husband and sister-in-law had lived in Wisconsin. She said no; however, Jim's widow came late into the family, as a second marriage for both Jim and herself. She may not have known Mary Jane's Secret.

So a few Secrets uncovered...yet many more to be found! So put away those laces, satins and silks...give me dusty documents, faded photographs (but not too faded!), or samplers stitched with my ancestress' maiden name instead:

My genealogy gift list for myself (and for you!) is to uncover a few more family secrets in 2007...a few more surprises, a few more times exclaiming "so THAT'S where they were!" and many more genealogy happy dances to jig!

Merry Christmas!

P.S. When I originally published this post at my old blog site, Lee left the following comment on December 18, 2006:

Love your post! Who has a need for Victoria Secret when there are juicier secrets out there just waiting to be uncovered?

~ Lee