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?

A Busy Day for Weddings in the HOLST and ROBBINS Families

I've been busy cleaning up items in the Downloads folder of my laptop.  In many cases, I downloaded an image of a record from a genealogy or historical newspaper site and then used my photo editing software to make a copy of it, clip or resize it, rename it to fit my digital filing conventions, and then file it in the appropriate genealogy folder.  But sometimes I didn't delete the original image.  Other times, I downloaded an image but forgot to clean it up and move it to a folder.  My Downloads folder was very full at over 1400 items, but it is slowly getting cleaned out and is down to about 550!

Today I once again came across the October 17, 1940 edition of the Coopersville (Michigan) Observer that published my paternal grandparents' wedding announcement on page 8, column 3:

Grandma and Grandpa had a simple wedding in the Methodist pastor's parsonage on a Saturday morning.  They wore their Sunday best outfits, as seen in the photo below.

Their best friends, Geneva Parish and Raymond Adams stood with them during the ceremony, although my Great-Grandmother Nellie Holst signed the marriage certificate rather than Geneva. I know that Geneva would have been about 16 years old, just like my grandmother, so she would not have been of legal age to sign the marriage certificate. I don't know if my Great-Grandfather Alfred Holst or my Great-Grandparents Robbins (Bill Sr. and Marie) attended the ceremony.

After the ceremony, they had a "dinner", probably held at noon, at my Great-Grandparents Holst's home with immediate family.  I'm guessing that would have been both sets of parents of the bridal couple, my grandfather's four younger siblings (Bill Jr, Shirley, Jack, and Joyce) and perhaps my grandmother's older married sister and brother-in-law, Lucille and John VanderHorn.

When I was double checking to make sure that I had clipped, renamed, and copied the announcement into both my grandparents' genealogy documents folders, the surname Klinger in column 2 of the same page caught my eye.

I knew that my Great-grandfather Holst had a sister named Margaret ("Maggie"), who had married Johan H. Klinger.  Taking a closer look, I realized that Margaret and Johan's daughter Ethel Klinger, who was my grandmother's cousin, got married to Steve Hulka on the same day that Grandma did, only in the afternoon in Muskegon, rather than in the morning in Coopersville:

While Grandma and Grandpa had a simple and informal wedding, Ethel and her groom Steve Hulka, had a more traditional church ceremony at a Lutheran church.  Ethel wore a "...white satin gown with train and fingertip veil...."

I was able to identify everyone in the article.  Mrs. Theo. Klatt was Jennie (Holst) Klatt, another sister of Alfred Holst, and Mrs. William Scheile was Jennie's daughter, Ellen.

Next mentioned were my grandparents' wedding party and immediate families!  Miss Geneva Parish, Miss Shirley Robbins, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Robbins (my grandparents), Mrs. Alfred Holst, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Adams (so Ray's wife would likely have been at my grandparents' wedding, too) and Mr. and Mrs. John VanderHorn were all named.

It sounds like nearly the entire two families and wedding party left after dinner at my Great-Grandparents Holst's home and drove up to Muskegon, about 25 miles north, to attend Ethel and Steve's wedding and reception.  I did notice my Great-Grandfather Holst was not mentioned, nor three of my grandfather's siblings: Bill Jr, Jack, and Joyce.  We don't know if Bill had to work that day; he was an 18-year-old young man.  Jack and Joyce were 13 and 7, respectively.  Perhaps they stayed home, or perhaps they weren't mentioned due to lack of print space.

Also, one member of the Klinger family was not mentioned.  Joh(a)n and Maggie had at least three children: Earl, Jennie, and Ethel.  Jennie was mentioned as the maid of honor, but Earl is not mentioned.  

At any rate, it would have been an extremely busy day for both the Holst and Robbins families, and an especially busy day for my grandparents to get married in Coopersville, have a family dinner, drive to Muskegon, attend another wedding and the reception, and then set off for their honeymoon!

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
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My sister photographed me on the steps of the GRPL.
Photo courtesy of Katrinka Phillips.
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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
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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
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Our dad's brother and youngest sister
Photo courtesy of Katrinka Pillips
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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

Fearless Females Prompt 5

March 5 — How did they meet?  You’ve documented marriages, now, go back a bit.  Do you know the story of how your parents met?  Your grandparents?

In my mother's wedding book, there is a place to write about how her parents and my dad's parents met. She titled it "No Love at First Sight!"  It seems neither set of grandparents hit it off at first.

My mother's mother and stepfather, Ruth Lillian (HOEKSTRA) VALK and Adrian DeVRIES:

June 27, 1947 - They were each invited to a picnic on a Sunday afternoon given by mutual friends: 2 married couples. It was a blind date!! He was shy and mostly played with the one couple's small boy and ignored Mom. When he did speak that evening, and after he saw Mom's house and me, he started criticizing the way she did things. She vowed never again with him or fall in love with him. (They were married October 3, 1947). [Miriam's note: They were married for nearly 54 years!]

My mother didn't write about how her biological father and mother met. I do know that my grandfather's sister Barbara was my grandmother's very good friend, so that is likely how they met.

My father's parents, Robert Lewis ROBBINS and Jeanne Marie HOLST:

She was in a drugstore Sunday morning in April before church. He came in after a night on the town and sat down--the minister's son was in between them. Dad asked him to introduce Mom. PK [preacher's kid] did and they had a date that night. They were married in October--Columbus Day, same year--1940.

P.S. She though he was awful cocky and secretly, was amused at him.

[Miriam's note: Somehow my grandfather discovered that the pretty girl he was trying to impress was the daughter of the farmer who grew cantaloupes, his favorite fruit...AND the owner of the farm where he'd been swiping the melons! Eventually, my grandfather won over my grandmother. She was still in high school; after 10th grade, she no longer attended--something fairly usual in those days. They were married the following fall; it was to last 63 years.]

My own parents met while both were camping at Silver Lake State Park in Western Michigan. You can read more about it here.

For more on the Fearless Females Blogging Prompts, visit The Accidental Genealogist.

Fearless Females Prompt 4

March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.

I have marriage records for every couple in my family tree from my own through my 2nd-great-grandparents, with the exception of one couple, my direct maternal line. They are Charles Frisbe STRONG and Mary Lucy WRIGHT. I do know that they were married in the year 1873 in the Village of Fairfield, Town of Candor, Tioga County, New York.

I thought I would focus, though, on my paternal grandparents. Robert Lewis ROBBINS and Jeanne Marie HOLST (born Jane Mary YORK; she was adopted) were married 12 October 1940 in the Methodist parsonage in Coopersville, Ottawa County, Michigan. My grandfather was 20 and my grandmother had just turned 16 the week before. Because she was underage, she had to get her parents' permission to marry. And because she was legally only a foster child, her foster parents had to legally adopt her in order to grant their permission. Since the adoption process would have taken time, I'm sure they started it sometime before she was marred; perhaps when she started dating my grandfather and they realized they would need to be her legal parents to give her permission to marry, should she choose to marry young as so many women did in those days.

My grandparents' best friends, Ray ADAMS and Geneva PARRISH stood with them; however, Geneva was also underage and that is probably why her name does not appear as the second witness on my grandparents' marriage certificate. The minister's wife's name is listed along with Ray's. Fifty years later, my grandparents celebrated their golden anniversary and Ray and Geneva were among the wedding guests.

I believe this photograph was taken outside my great-grandparents ROBBINS' home, but I'm not certain. This photograph was taken outside my great-grandparents HOLST's home in Coopersville. Looking closely at this image, you can see a small dog in the lower left corner and what looks like rhubarb growing against the foundation of the house. My dad recently told me, "Mom and Dad lived on the Holst place in a tiny
trailer at first until dad decided he would get along better with his in-laws if he didn't live too close." My grandparents then purchased some land on River Street and my grandfather began building their house and later the body shop where he had his business.

My grandparents were married for 63 years before my grandfather passed away in 2003. They raised five children and countless foster children. Their home was open to my grandfather's youngest siblings, and they helped raise some of their grandchildren. They also took in my Great-grandmother ROBBINS in her senior years until her health required her to live in a nursing home.

My grandmother is still alive, although she suffers from Alzheimer's. You can read more about my grandfather's life in his AnceStory (ancestor story) on my website here.

For more on the Fearless Females Blogging Prompts, visit The Accidental Genealogist.

Surname Saturday: HOLST

The HOLST family is my adoptive family line. My paternal grandmother was adopted by Alfred Henry HOLST and his wife, Nellie May CONCIDINE. I've been able to trace Alfred's line back one more generation into Hannover, Germany.

Stories and History:

Ahnentafel #20B - Johann Deidrich HOLST (1860 - 1940) - He married Ida Charlotta GUSTAFSDOTTER, an immigrant from Sweden to Germany, in 1880. Three years later, they immigrated to Western Michigan with their infant son Alfred, to live near Johann's older sister and brother-in-law, Anna M. HOLST and Claude BORCHERS. During WWI, Alfred was investigated by the FBI because he had not completed his naturalization process. He petitioned to get it completed, and his file found at Footnote contained priceless genealogical information.

Ahnentafel #10B - Alfred Henry HOLST (1882 - 1952) - Read his AnceStory here. From obituaries and newspaper articles, I have determined that the HOLST family was integrated well into their adopted American community of Coopersville, Ottawa Co., Michigan, and were highly regarded by the members of that community.

Ahnentafel #5 - Jeanne Marie HOLST, born Jane Marie YORK (1924 - 2012) - my paternal grandmother

Ahnentafel #2 - my father (living)

Ahnentafel #1 - myself

More about the HOLST family:

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

2. Some HOLST obituaries

3. Posts about HOLST ancestors and relatives on this blog

4. Some scanned HOLST documents

5. My HOLST Virtual Cemetery on Find a Grave.


My HOLST immigration trail:

Hannover, Germany > Ottawa Co., Michigan > Muskegon Co., Michigan > Ottawa Co., Michigan > WI > Ottawa Co., Michigan > 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.

Sixty-Eight Years Ago Today

Source: "50th Anniversary Sampler of Robert and Jeanne (Holst) Robbins", created 1990 by Miriam (Robbins) Midkiff. Photographed and privately held by Miriam (Robbins) Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2008.

I created this cross-stitch sampler 18 years ago in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the marriage of my paternal grandparents. My parents attended the celebration, which was held at my grandparents' church in Polkton Twp., Ottawa Co., Michigan, just outside the town of Coopersville where my grandparents and their children lived for many years. I had taught myself cross-stitch three years earlier, after admiring the work my husband's sister-in-law did. This particular sampler was difficult to do as some of it required working with gold metallic thread, which broke easily and was flat versus the round cotton threads used in conjunction with it. Clicking on the image above will bring you to my Picasa photo album, where you can zoom in to view the glints the gold threads make.

My grandfather passed away 28 December 2003, after being married 63 years to his "Jeannie with the light brown hair." My grandmother now lives with my uncle and his wife in Michigan due to her advancing age and Alzheimer's. When one of my aunts cleaned out my grandparents' retirement home in Texas a couple of years ago, she came across the sampler and returned it to me. I haven't done cross-stitch in years, but seeing it again has inspired me. Perhaps someday I'll create some sort of heritage or family tree piece.

Friday Findings: Many Marriages, A Hay Press, 1891 Canadians, and the FBI

I thought I would summarize my findings for the past week. There were some amazing discoveries online from a variety of websites and databases.

Many Marriages
Last week's Wordless Wednesday featured the marriage certificate of my husband's maternal grandparents. This week, I found three marriage certificates for his grandmother's twin brother, Lee Joseph "Mick"MARTIN, at the Washington State Digital Archives website. The fact that he had been married three times wasn't news to me, and I had the women's names, but these records gave me marriage dates and locations, full names of the women, and a previous marriage for his third wife. Also, an older MARTIN brother, Steven Charles, was a witness at two of the weddings, as well as "Mrs. Steve MARTIN." Steve himself was married three times (one marriage was to a sister of Mick's second wife), and I had hoped to find his marriage records in the WSDA as well, but no luck (not all the counties have had all available marriage records uploaded to the database yet). I've looked in other online marriage indexes for other Western states for Steve, without success so far. But I was very happy to find this information on Mick!

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A Hay Press

Remember Alice Teddy, the rollerskating bear? The same gentleman, Michael Kirchmeier, who sent me her amazing photograph has been sending me tidbits, now and again, from newspapers from Cottonwood Co., Minnesota about my ROBBINS ancestors and CRAPSEY relatives. A while ago, he had sent me the news articles of how my 3rd-great-grandfather, Charles H. ROBBINS, had his hand crushed in a hay press in February 1880. This week, he sent me an article describing the proprietor's hay press establishment, and Charles is listed as an overseer. Mr. Kirchmeier speculates that my ancestor was given the job as overseer because of his injury in that hay press, which is probably true. The article was written in January 1881, and ran several times in subsequent issues. (It reminds me of the articles that Lidian features on her blog!) It also establishes that my ROBBINS family did not return to Michigan until after February 1881.

I'm also happy to report that Michael Kirchmeier, who started out working as a historian by avocation, has recently become the director of the Jackson County Historical Society in Lakefield, Minnesota. Congratulations!

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1891 Canadians
As you may have heard, Ancestry released the 1891 Canadian Census this week, available to its Canadian or World Deluxe members. I've been attempting for some time to find information that will give me parents' names for my brickwall ancestors, Mary (TERRY or LAMOREAUX) and Richard WILKINSON, who lived in Whitchurch Twp, York County, Ontario in 1871 and 1881. Early last year, I found Mary's death record, but I have been unsuccessful in finding Richard's so far. The Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid has not been helpful, either.

I did find Mary living with her widowed daughter and married grandson and his household in Markham Twp., York County, as well as finding all three of the other known children of Mary and Richard still living in Canada (son John, my ancestor, was in Michigan). These records established certain facts for me, including narrowing Richard's and son-in-law John GILLIAN's death dates to the 1881 - 1891 range, stating Mary's parents were born in Nova Scotia, and providing two more names of children of son William.

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The FBI (and My Great-Great-Grandfather!)
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the FBI, Footnote this week released the FBI Case Files collection from the subscription area to the public area; translation: free access! Descriptions of the records of these files can be found here. I had been reading some other genea-blogs and noticed a reference to the Old German Files, 1915-20. Wait a minute! I had a German immigrant ancestor who lived in Michigan during those years. Could he have had an FBI file?

BINGO! This was not only my best Find of the week, but one of my Best. Finds. Ever. My poor great-great-grandfather, John D. HOLST, had had to fill out an "Application for Exception from Classification of Enemy Alien." This could only have been slightly less humiliating than filling out his registration as an Enemy Alien in 1917. A man who had been a hard-working farmer and involved member of his communities for 35 years was suddenly looked upon with fear and contempt. His request to finalize his naturalization process had been postponed. Fortunately, he had residents of his community who agreed to vouch for his character, including the village doctor. I realize that John's experience was no different--and perhaps less intimidating--than those of thousands of Germans, and later Italians and Japanese--during our country's involvement in the World Wars, and those of certain political affiliations during the Cold War. These continue today in the American communities of Middle Eastern immigrants.

The bonus side of my ancestor's experience was that it created paperwork that has given me information on him and his wife that I had been unable to find thus far: a photograph; his signature (multiple times); his middle name; his complete date of birth; his wife's middle name; her specific birthplace in Sweden; the fact that he had a sister; his sister's married name and address. This is only the tip of the iceberg; there is much more information in these seven pages of documents, but most of it I have discovered elsewhere. My one regret is that in the area where he was to fill out information on his parents, he simply lists "Deceased."

If you have an ancestor--especially an immigrant one--who came from a WWI-era enemy country, you need to check out this database!

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