Surname Saturday: M(a)cARTHUR

MacArthur and McArthur are two common spellings of this Scots patronym. The surname simply means "son of Arthur". Who that man, Arthur--the originator of my particular family line--was, has been lost in time at this point. Using church records indexed at FamilySearch, I've been able to trace my line back five generations from my paternal great-great-grandmother.


Stories and History:

Ahnentafel #336 - Donald (or Daniel) MacARTHUR (b. 1716) - I've seen both Donald and Daniel listed as first names for this man. It's likely one is a mis-transcription of the other, a common mistake in genealogy. He married Katherine McNAUGHTON on 15 Jan 1754 in Kenmore, Perthshire, Scotland. They had nine children, all born and/or christened in Kenmore. Donald/Daniel was buried in Argyllshire, Scotland.

Ahnentafel #168 - Duncan MacARTHUR (1753 - 1842) - my immigrant ancestor was born in Kenmore. He married Janet HAGGERT, also born in Kenmore. It's not clear if they married in Scotland or in Canada. All seven children were born in Canada. Duncan died Aug 1842 in Martintown, Glengarry Co., Ontario.

Ahenentafel #84 - Donald MacARTHUR (d. bef. 1842) - I know less about this ancestor than I do his own father, due to the fact that he died young, before his father did and before civil registration of deaths in Canada. He married Catherine "Nancy" Anne MUNRO, who was also born in Canada. They had at least three children.

Ahnentafel #42 - Daniel J. MacARTHUR (1827 - 1919) - Another immigrant ancestor (to the U.S. this time), he served for the Union during the Civil War. I did a sketch about him here when blogging a series about Civil War Soldier and Sailor ancestors. I also blogged about him and his wife, Martha JOHNSON, here.

Ahnentafel #21 - Mary "Mae" E. McARTHUR (1875 - 1959) - read her AnceStory here

Ahnentafel #10 - Howard Merkel YORK (1898 - 1945) - read his AnceStory here

Ahnentafel #5 - Jane Marie YORK, a.k.a. Jeanne Marie HOLST - (1924 - 2012)

Ahnentafel #2 - my father (living)

Ahnentafel #1 - myself

More About the M(a)cARTHUR Family:

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

2. Some McARTHUR obituaries

3. Posts about McARTHUR ancestors and relatives on this blog

4. Some scanned McARTHUR photos

5. Some scanned McARTHUR documents

6. My  McARTHUR Virtual Cemetery on Find A Grave

My M(a)cARTHUR Immigration Trail:

Perthshire, Scotland > Glengarry Co., ONT > Montcalm Co., MI > Clinton Co., MI > Gratiot Co., MI > Clinton Co., MI > Genesee Co., MI > Kent Co., MI > Ottawa Co., MI > AK > Stevens Co., WA > Spokane Co., WA

Saturday Night Fun with #21

Every Saturday night, Randy Seaver posts a fun activity at his blog, Genea-Musings. Last night, he asked us, "Who's number 21 on your ahnentafel list?"

Number 21 on my ahnentafel is one of my paternal great-great-grandmothers, Mary E. "Mae" (McARTHUR) YORK RANDELL RICHMOND, (1875 - 1959). I've written quite a bit about Mae over the years. You can read my original AnceStory about her on my website here. Photographs of Mae appear here and here. After writing in October 2007 about the mystery of Mae's marriage to her first husband, my ancestor James L. YORK, I was able to write another post in March 2008 exclaiming my delight in finding their marriage date and place. And in May 2007, Mae appeared as a part of my series on finding my ancestors in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. Way back in February 2006, I found her entry in the Gratiot County, Michigan Birth Records. I also wrote about how I was able to find her death and burial dates by contacting the sexton for the cemetery where she was buried.

My husband's number 21 is Rebecca Catherine (SNOOK) WESTABY. While I don't have an AnceStory about her, her obituaries appear on my website here. As part of a research log, I blogged about how I requested them through Random Acts of Genealogical Kindess in December 2006. In May 2007, we were able to locate and visit Rebecca's grave. I submitted a story about Rebecca's buttonhook for the 2nd Cabinet of Curiosities in December 2007. In February 2008, I posted a photo of Rebecca in an old general store for one of my early Wordless Wednesdays, followed by an explanation the next day. Another photo of Rebecca and her daughter Izma can be seen here.

Thanks, Randy, for this fun activity. It's nice to remember that I've researched and written so much about this generation!

Friday Findings: GenLine, CRAPSEY Burials, Cousins, and SNOOK Graves

Due to the Blogger debacle this week, I was not able to post my Friday Findings in a timely manner. Here's a rundown of my research results for the week of July 26 - August 1, 2008:

More on Many Marriages
While entering the marriage records of my husband's granduncle, Lee Joseph "Mick" MARTIN, I realized that the witnesses for his third marriage, to Martha Isabell (JONES) DVORAK, were his daughter from his first marriage and her husband. Hmm... It made me wonder if his first wife had died by then (I'm not sure how their marriage ended; by divorce or by her death?). I couldn't find any death information for her, but I did find Isabell, as she was called, on the SSDI.

Swedish Parish Records
Also following up on last week's findings, I went to my local Family History Center to use their free subscription to GenLine, the Swedish parish records database, to find and verify my great-great-grandmother's birth (Ida Charlotte (GUSTAVSON) HOLST). I had never used it before, so it took some time. Fortunately, it has a nice tutorial, available both in English and Swedish. It is necessary to know the name of the parish to do a search. The records appear in digital image format, not unlike looking at a roll of microfilm. They are not indexed by name in any way, so it takes some searching. All I had for Ida's birthplace was Hamnada, Sweden. I had no idea where this location was, and used both Wikipedia and the FamilySearch Library Catalog to find it, without any success. I had a feeling I was spelling it incorrectly. I then did a Google search and found a mention in someone's online family tree of a "Hamnada-Småland, Krnberg". I went back to Wikipedia to look at the political structure of Sweden. Småland is one of 25 provinces (landskapen) of Sweden and has no political structure as of 1634. It is a cultural, geographical and historical subdivision. Kronoberg is a county (län), a political subdivision, that lies in what is a part of Småland. I still could not find Hamnada or a a similiar name in any of the lists of municipalities (similar to American townships), villages, or cities of Sweden.

I went back to GenLine, and looking up Kronoberg County records, I noticed that Hamneda was one of the parishes. Bingo! They had birth and christening records up through 1861 (I don't recall the beginning year), so I went to take a look. In 1861 alone, there were NINE Ida Charlottas (no Charlottes) born in Hamneda parish! Only one had a surname close to GUSTAVSON, and that was a Ida Charlotta GUSTAFSON born, it appears on 29 December 1861 and baptized 31 December 1861. I say "appears", because I am not certain of what the dates stand for. There are three numbers and a month before each record. The first number is the record number, as they are all in sequence from 1 until the last record. Then comes the month abbreviation, which is very similar to our English month abbreviations. Then two numbers follow. The first number is always lower than the second number, and none of the numbers go beyond 31, so my assumption is that the first one is the birth date and the second one is the christening date. The words "Births and Baptisms" appear at the the top of each of these pages (in Swedish, of course), adding credence to my theory. I used FamilySearch's online Swedish Genealogical Word List to figure out the words.

My Ida Charlotte GUSTAVSON was born 28 October 1861, but I need to find my source of information for that. Her 1900 U. S. Federal Census enumeration does have October 1861 as a birth date. I ran out of time to double check 1860 records, and there are none available at GenLine for 1862. I will need to search other nearby parish records, too, I think. I also did not have time to figure out how to save or print the image with the birth date of the Ida Charlotta GUSTAFSON I found. This was an interesting first foray into Swedish records, and I felt I learned quite a bit.

CRAPSEY Burials
I've been trying to find a death date for my 4th-great-grandmother, Lura Ann (JACKSON) PECK CRAPSEY. I know she was deceased by 1900, when my step-ancestor, the Rev. John CRAPSEY, Jr. was listed as a widower in the Federal Census for that year. She was alive as late as 1891, when her husband filed an application for a pension based on his deceased son's military service. They were living St. Paul, Ramsey Co., Minnesota. Attempts to have a volunteer at RAOGK look up her death records did not work out. I then came across John's obituary stating he was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery. There is a Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuaries in Ramsey County, and I contacted them to see if I could find burial information (and thus a death date) for the Crapseys. I received an immediate response that there was no record of either one in their records. I need to follow up with wording from John's obituary to make sure that the Forest Lawn Cemetery he was buried in is the same as what Park and Mortuaries company now manages, when their records begin, and if they have record of John and Lura's children being buried there (it's possible, if their children are buried there, that John and Lura are buried without markers).

Cousins
A distant LEWIS cousin of mine, Bob Stefanich, contacted me to tell me about another cousin of ours (related more closely to me than Bob is) and that the LEWIS family reunion is occurring today in Fruitport, Muskegon Co., Michigan (wish I could be there)! I've contacted Jim with the hope that I can get more information on the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of my 2nd-great-grandparents, George Emmett LEWIS and Mary WILKINSON.

Also, a McARTHUR cousin contacted me. She lives in Michigan and is able to visit the ancestral cemeteries. She promised to take some tombstone photos of some of our mutual ancestors...so exciting!

SNOOK Graves
Speaking of ancestral graves, I heard from a Find A Grave photo volunteer--Catherine Bryon--who photographed the graves of my husband's 3rd-great-grandfather, Reuben Wohlford SNOOK, and his second wife, Elizabeth NEARHOOD, at the Forsyth Cemetery in Rosebud Co., Montana. Click on the links to view the photographs. Thanks, Catherine!

A Civil War Soldier: Sgt. Daniel J. MacARTHUR (1827 - 1919)

How Related: My 3rd-great-grandfather

Born: 7 June 1827 in Glengarry Co., Ontario, Canada

Parents: Donald MacARTHUR (d. bef. 1842) and Catherine Anne "Nancy" MUNRO (dates unknown)

Siblings: Arthur "Duncan" (b. 1818), and sister Jesse D. MacARTHUR (1822 - c. 1903)

Source: MacArthur, Daniel J. and Martha Johnson. Photograph. C. 1863. Original photograph believed to be in the possession of Nancy Masten Peugh, Manton, Michigan. 1999.

Married: 27 February 1863 to Martha JOHNSON (1844 - 1897), probably in Montcalm Co., Michigan

Children: Henry A. (1865 - 1944), Daniel Thomas (1867 - 1945), Catherine A. "Kate" (1869 - 1956), George Clinton "Clint" (1871 - 1936), my ancestor Mary E. "Mae" (1875 - 1959), William Edward "Will" (1880 -1873), and Arlie Mae (1884 - 1971)

---

Enlisted: 17 December 1861 at Evergreen, Michigan in Co. I, 1st Sharpshooter's (Bergan's) Regiment, U.S. Volunteers; private. Charge of desertion. Enlisted again in same company on 4 March 1862.

Side served: Union

Discharged: see biographical information, below

---



Source: Four generations of M(a)cArthurs. Photograph. C. 1917. Original photograph believed to be in the possession of Nancy Masten Peugh, Manton, Michigan. 1999.

Biography or Information of Interest: In the photograph above, Daniel is seated with his great-granddaughter, believed to be Katherine L. YORK. Her father, Daniel's grandson, Ernest Lee YORK is standing on the left. Ernest's mother, Daniel's daughter, Mary E. "Mae" (McARTHUR) YORK RANDELL is standing in the back. Mae is also my 2nd-great-grandmother. See my Wordless Wednesday follow-up post about Daniel here for more information about his life and military experience.

Died: 10 March 1919 in Oxford Twp., Oakland Co., Michigan

Buried: Hill (Danley) Cemetery, Fulton Twp., Gratiot Co., Michigan

Daniel J. MacARTHUR and Martha JOHNSON

Source: MacArthur, Daniel J. and Martha Johnson. Photograph. C. 1863. Original photograph believed to be in the possession of Nancy Masten Peugh, Manton, Michigan. 1999.

This is one of my paternal 3rd-great-grandparent couples, Daniel J. MacARTHUR and his wife, Martha JOHNSON. Daniel was born 7 June 1827 in Glengarry Co., Ontario, Canada to first-generation Canadians of Scottish descent. Martha was born 20 October 1844 in Ingham Co., Michigan. Her mother's family, the MASSEYs, brings the only ancestry located south of the Mason-Dixon line to my family tree, from Kent Co., Maryland. This photograph may have been Daniel and Martha's wedding portrait. They were married 27 February 1863, probably in Montcalm Co., Michigan. However, it appears that Martha may be with child, and it is know that their eldest son, Henry A. McARTHUR, was born 11 December 1865 in Clinton Co., Michigan. Since Daniel was serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, it may be that they did not get an opportunity to have a photograph taken until the war was over.

Besides Henry, who died in 1944, Daniel and Martha had six other children: Daniel Thomas (1867 - 1945); Catherine A. "Kate" (1869 - 1956); George Clinton "Clint" (1871 - 1936); my ancestor Mary E. "Mae" (1875 - 1959); William Edward "Will" (1880 - 1973); and Arlie Mae McARTHUR (1884 - 1971).

Daniel served in Company I of the 1st Regiment of Berdan's Sharpshooters out of Michigan. Near the close of the war, he was furloughed due to illness and sent home to recuperate. During that time the war ended, and for whatever reason either he did not report back to his unit or no record was made or kept of his return. At any rate, when he later applied for a veteran's pension, he was denied, although he appealed unsuccessfully several times.

Daniel and his wife and family lived all over the lower peninsula of Michigan, from the northwest to the southeast and every county in between, it seems. I'm still putting together a timeline to show his many residences in chronological order for my research purposes. For most of his life, his occupation was listed as a farmer, except for the time when he was listed as a shoemaker on his daughter Kate's birth record. Martha died in 1897, and Daniel outlived her by 22 years. Although he married late in life (age 35), he lived long enough to see some of his great-grandchildren. He and Martha are buried in the Phillips/Danley/Hill Cemetery, Fulton Twp., Gratiot Co., Michigan.

Wordless Wednesday: Daniel J. MacARTHUR and Martha JOHNSON

Source: MacArthur, Daniel J. and Martha Johnson. Photograph. C. 1863. Original photograph believed to be in the possession of Nancy Masten Peugh, Manton, Michigan. 1999.

Genealogy Happy Dance!

I've been looking for an exact place and location of marriage for my great-great-grandparents, James L. YORK and Mary E. "Mae" McARTHUR for years! I knew they were legally married, because I had a copy of the court clerk's file index for their divorce. But I searched through many microfilms and websites without much luck. I even blogged about it last October. And of course, I found it while I was actually looking for something else: vital records for cousins of James to fill out the family trees of some of the collateral relatives. I did not know that James lived in Clinton County, nor that Mary ever lived in Van Buren County. Great stuff, here!

This website is the creation of the Genealogists of Clinton County (Michigan) Historical Society, and I found it through Joe Beine's Online Death Indexes site. Now to contact the historical society to obtain the news article. I may be making a list; I'm finding lots of collateral relatives' records in these great databases!

The Mystery of the Marriage of James L. YORK and Mary "Mae" E. McARTHUR

Discover more about your own family living in the Emerging America historical period of 1880 - 1920.

One of my long-term goals in genealogy is to research in depth the lives of each of my ancestors through my great-great-grandparents' generation. With that in mind, I've created a checklist of all the records I hope to find for each of them, the information from which I try to weave into comprehensive and comprehensible biographies for my AnceStories website.

I've been able to obtain marriage records for every ancestral marriage through my great-great-grandparents' generation, with the exception of two couples, James L. YORK and Mary "Mae" E. McARTHUR (on my dad's side), and Charles Frisbe STRONG and Mary Lucy WRIGHT (on my mother's side). I do have a year and place of marriage for Charles and Mary (1873; Fairfield, Town of Candor, Tioga County, New York), which was discovered by a cousin of mine; I just haven't obtained a document verifying this. But for James and Mae, I have nothing: no date or place of marriage.

James L. YORK, c. 1880s


Mary "Mae" E. (McARTHUR) YORK RANDELL, c. 1920s - 1930s

Here's what I do know: James L. YORK was born 7 October 1867 in Goodrich, Atlas Township, Genesee County, Michigan to John H. YORK and Anna CROTHERS, the youngest surviving child of their seven children. Mary E. McARTHUR was born 28 January 1875 in Washington Township, Gratiot County, Michigan. Her parents were Daniel J. MacARTHUR (a Civil War veteran) and Martha JOHNSON. She was the fifth child, also of a family of seven children.

How this couple managed to meet each other is still a mystery to me. Gratiot County is two counties west of Genesee and Lapeer Counties, where most of the Crothers and York families had settled. Anna had two siblings, Nancy Amanda (CROTHERS) PHELPS and Moses CROTHERS (not verified he is a sibling) who lived in Clinton County, which is bordered by Gratiot County on the south; however, the Clinton County townships that these two lived in were not near Washington Township. I do know that James' first cousin, Jennie Mae EBLER (daughter of Wilhelm D. EBLER and Elizabeth June CROTHERS) married Mae's brother, Daniel Thomas McARTHUR, but they appear to have married after James and Mae did, sometime around 1907 or so.

Ernest, Howard, & Hazel YORK, c. 1900

James and Mae had three children: Ernest Lee (1894 - 1976); Hazel (1895 - 1967); and Howard Merkel YORK (1898 - 1945). Howard was my great-grandfather. Since Ernest was born on 12 April 1894, I can make an educated assumption that James and Mae were married by 1893. Ernest and Howard both gave their birthplace as Goodrich on their marriage records; and indeed, the family is enumerated there in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census. However, none of the children's births are found in Genesee County birth records as confirmation. Goodrich is a village in Atlas Township, which sits in the southeast corner of Genesee County, which is bordered by Hadley Township in Lapeer County on the east, and Brandon Township in Oakland County on the south. The children's births aren't recorded in those counties, either. And Howard's obituary states he was born in Ortonville, Brandon Township, Oakland County; although I'm sure the information was given to the newspaper by either his second wife or a family friend, neither of whom probably knew for certain where he'd been born. James and Mae's marriage was not recorded in Genesee, Lapeer or Oakland County marriage records, either. The lack of vital records available for this family has been frustrating and puzzling, and hasn't lent itself to uncovering when and where the couple was married!

About a year ago, I discovered that the Family History Library had a microfilm of Genesee County Marriage Records that I had never viewed (FHL microfim 14,815) which included delayed recordings from 1892 - 1929. I sent off for it at once, but for some reason, the film was not allowed to be sent to a Family History Center. I then paid a $4.00 fee to have a FHL volunteer search the index on site for the surnames York or M(a)cArthur to see if the record was contained in that film. The answer came back that the marriage was not listed.

So, do I know if James and Mae were ever actually married? Yes, I do. Years ago, I sent off a request to see if I could find a divorce record for this couple from the Genesee County clerk in Flint. I had obtained a divorce record from this same source for their son Howard and my great-grandmother Mary Jane BARBER, and had found well-detailed information on the divorce which included a marriage date and place. I hoped to find similar information for James and Mae. But instead of receiving a copy of the original divorce certificate or a transcript of the court proceedings (both of which I've obtained from other ancestral divorce records) I received the following document:

I've had this document for several years, and wasn't too sure what it was, other than understanding that it gave a date for the divorce and thus was secondary evidence of a marriage. I asked law professor and fellow genea-blogger Craig Manson if he would mind taking a look at this and explaining it to me. Here are his comments:

This appears to have been an uncontested divorce based on the the terms in the document. First, the document itself appears to be the court clerk's file index or case index for this case. Court clerks keep track of each document presented to the court. The notation "4299" on the top left is likely the case number. The notation "Fees paid in full" along the left side indicates that all the court fees were paid. The name to the right of James York is that of his attorney, Daniel Heims. Heims was a prominent Flint attorney in the late 1800's/early 1900's, who among other things, helped organize the Genesee County Bar Association. (An aside: Heims, who handled divorces, seems never to have married!)

(Daniel Heims)

Here's the sequence of events in 1904:

March 21---Heims files the divorce action on behalf of James York. That same day, a subpoena is issued to demand the presence of Mary York at a hearing set in April.

April 7--The subpoena is returned to the clerk of the court with proof that it was served on Mary York (or that after a diligent search she could not be found within the jurisdiction of the court).

April 12--This was probably the date set for hearing. The "Affidavit of Nonappearance" is either Heims' or James York's declaration that despite having been lawfully served, Mary York failed to appear at the date and time set for hearing. The "Affidavit of Regularity" follows the nonappearance affidavit in that it recites that the defendant was served with the subpoena; states the manner of service; and declares that the plaintiff (James) believes the defendant (Mary) to be in default. It requests the court to proceed with the matter in the absence of the defendant.

May 18--The court issues an "Order Pro Confesso." This is an order that states since the defendant has failed to appear, the facts alleged by the plaintiff will be taken by the court "as if the defendant had confessed" them. The court also issues an Order of Reference; that is, an order appointing a referee to determine the parties' rights in property (and sometimes other duties).

June 2--CCC Report filed. This is no doubt the report of the referee, although I do not know what "CCC" stood for in 1904 Michigan practice.

June 3--The divorce decree is issued. "Ch. De. Bk." may stand for "Chancery Decree Book." In 1904 in most states, divorces were heard in the chancery courts, not the law courts. (The location and people in the chancery courts were often the same as those of the law courts--the distinction goes back many centuries to England and is too long a story to explain here!)

July 9--The decree is final.

Here then is evidence that James and Mae were married. I still will need to do some digging to obtain the actual full court records of this divorce, which should then provide me with the date and place of marriage. Mae remarried very soon after this divorce--on 27 August 1904--to the love of her life, Evan J. "Dick" RANDELL, whose family's farm was just down the road and across the Genesee-Lapeer county line from the York family farm. Because of how quickly Mae remarried, I have often wondered if she and Dick fell in love before the divorce. When I mentioned that to Craig, he responded with:

What you tell me about Mary's quick remarriage is consistent with a thought that I had--they [husband James and his lawyer] had worked this all out ahead of time and intended to get it done quickly. That's why Mary did not show up [for the hearing].

That might explain James's hiring a prominent attorney to handle the divorce. He may also have been wishing to protect himself from accusations from Mae's attorney about his own behavior. Decades later, when one of Mae's granddaughters was divorced, she made a comment to the granddaughter, saying her granddaughter's ex-husband's actions reminded her (Mae) of her "first husband." This comment was unusual, because Mae rarely spoke of her first marriage. In fact, one grandniece that I spoke with who knew Mae well had never heard of Mae being wed before her marriage to Dick Randell! Only after digging through family papers and finding some labeled photographs of Mae with her sons Howard and Ernest York, was the grandniece convinced that there indeed had been an earlier marriage. According to these family members, James (who later married his housekeeper) retained custody of Ernest and Howard, while Hazel remained with her mother, who had two more sons with Dick Randell. This divorce changed the course of this family and the lives of their children adversely. Hazel seems to have been the most well-adjusted and lived happily with her husband and daughter in the thumb area of Michigan. Ernest and Howard had several marriages each; Howard was in and out of prison a couple of times. I can't help but wonder if the boys' childhoods spent without their mother were the foundation of their difficult lives.
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I've since thought of another place where I could look for a marriage record. Brides were often married in their father's homes in those days, and Mae's parents were living in Washington Township, Gratiot County, Michigan. So if the complete divorce record cannot be found or doesn't yield a marriage date and place, that is another option. Genealogy is full of mysteries. Figuring them out can be, by turns, frustrating, exciting, disappointing, and thrilling!

This post was originally started with the intention of submitting it to the 33rd Carnival of Genealogy, whose topic was "Weddings!" Due to illness, I ran out of time to fully research and write it before the deadline.

Browse news and town records, photos, and military records.

Happy Canada Day!

To my Canadian relatives, friends and readers, I wish a Happy Canada Day!

Flag Image from 3DFlags

My ancestral connections to Canada are as follows:

• My father was born in Edmonton, Alberta while his father and uncle were stationed there with the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II (back in the day when being born in a U.S. military hospital on foreign soil did not automatically qualify you for American citizenship). Dad became a U.S. citizen when he was 16. When I was a kid, I used to tease him that he could never become the President of the United States. I don't think that was ever a disappointment for him...! Dad also had many Canadian ancestors.
  
• On his father's side, Richard John WILKINSON, b. c. 1815 in Yorkshire, England, immigrated to Canada and lived in what is now Whitchurch, York Co., Ontario. His wife, Mary TERRY, a.k.a. Mary LAMOREAUX, may have been French-Canadian...or she may have been born in New Brunswick...or she may have been born to a Loyalist family from New Jersey. It's one of those vague family stories that I would love to focus on and get documented and clarified!
• Richard and Mary's son John WILKINSON married Mahala SAYERS, who was the daughter of Scots-Irish immigrants, John Henry SAYERS and Mary CAHOON. John SAYER's family came to Athol Township, Prince Edward Co. (not to be confused with Prince Edward Island), Ontario from Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland in the mid-1830s, in several trips. Mary CAHOON's father was Preston CAHOON, and our line dead-ends there. John and Mahala (SAYERS) WILKINSON immigrated around 1880 - 1881 to Musekgon County, Michigan along with many of her siblings, thereby missing both the 1880 U.S. Federal Census and the 1881 Canadian Census (they were sneaky like that!). Mahala was alive when her great-grandson Robert Lewis ROBBINS (my paternal grandfather) was born, and he had a few memories of her to share with me.
• On dad's mother's side, her paternal YORK and SWEERS ancestors took advantage of offers of homesteading land that were provided by the Canadian goverment during the early 19th century. We know that the SWEERS family emigrated to Chippewa Creek, Welland County, Ontario from Worcester, Washington County, Vermont in May 1809, and that the YORKs from Bath, Stueben County, New York were there around the same time. This became a problem for these American citizens when the War of 1812 broke out. Ancestor Daniel SWEARS, III, escaped across the Niagara River to join up with a New York regiment. Ancestor Jeremiah F. YORK (Daniel's future son-in-law) and his brother Stephen VanRensselaer YORK were pressed into the 3rd Regiment of the Lincoln Militia of the British army, but also managed to escape to Canadaigua, Cattaraugus County, New York to join Captain Justus P. Spencer's militia there. The SWEERS and YORK families eventually settled in the Town of Clarence, Erie County, New York, and later Atlas Township, Genesee County, Michigan.
• Grandma's paternal great-grandfather, Daniel J. MacARTHUR was born in Glengarry County, Ontario in 1827, a grandson of immigrants from Kenmore, Perthsire, Scotland. He emigrated to Montcalm County, Michigan in the mid-1840s. During the Civil War, he enlisted in Company I of Berdan's Regiment, U.S. Sharpshooters (Michigan), rising to the rank of sergeant. Taking ill within weeks of the close of the war, he returned home on leave, and apparently never reported back for duty, disqualifying him for a veteran's pension years later, although he made several applications.
  
• Grandma's maternal grandfather, Orlando BARBER, was born in Ontario in 1868, and the household is found in Amabel, Bruce County in the 1871 Canadian Census. The family emigrated to Lapeer County, Michigan around 1876. Orlando's father, James, was born "in England" in 1839. His death record gives no clues as to his parentage. Orlando's mother, Elizabeth A. "Betsey" COLE, was born in South Dorchester, Elgin County, Ontario to parents James COLE and Lavina WILLIS who were a first-generation Canadian (James' parents were from Vermont) and a direct immigrant from New York, respectively. It is likely they came to Canada for the same reasons the YORKs and SWEERs did.

My husband has two lines that also hail from Canada:

• His great-great-grandmother, Rachel HUBBY, was born somewhere in Ontario in 1832 to John HUBBY from Scotland and Hannah JONES from New York.
• Henry LYTON was born as George TURK in Ottawa around 1841. He, like 10,000 other Canadian men, immigrated to the U.S. during the Civil War expressly to join the Union forces. He served from Iowa.

So as you can see, Canada may not be my home, or my native land, but it is one of my ancestral homelands!

Ancestors in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census - Part 8

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 month of May. 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 posted information about one of my paternal great-grandfathers, Howard Merkel YORK, who was living with his father and step-mother when they were enumerated in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. In this post, I will be focusing on Howard's mother and step-father, Mary E. "Mae" McARTHUR and Evan J. "Dick" RANDELL, and their sons, Howard's half-brothers.

On April 11th, 1930, this household was enumerated at 1004 South Seventh Street in Ward 3 of St. Clair, St. Clair Co., Michigan (E.D. 48, Sheet 9A). The household consisted of:

• Evan J. RANDELL, head, owner of a home worth $3000 [$34,175.11 in today's money], radio in the home, does not live on a farm, male, white, age 62, married, age at first marriage: 36 [incorrect; this was his age when he married Mary, his second wife; he was 23 when he married his first wife, Annie O. ANTEN], not in school, able to read and write, born in Michigan, father born in New York, mother born in Michigan [other census records indicate she was born in New York], English-speaking, occupied as a "janiter" at a salt works who earned wages (vs. a salary), employed, not a veteran
• Mary E. RANDELL, wife, female, white, age 55, married, age at first marriage: 29 [incorrect; this was her age when she married Evan, her second husband; she was 18 when she married James L. YORK], not in school, able to read and write, born in Michigan, father born in Canada and an English-speaker, mother born in New York [incorrect - she was born in Ingham Co., Michigan], English-speaking, occupation: none
• Clare M. RANDELL, son, male, white, age 23, single, not in school, able to read and write, born in Michigan, both parents born in Michigan, English-speaking, watchman for a passenger bus [company] who earned wages, unemployed (line number 36 on Unemployment Schedule), not a veteran
• Wayne E. RANDELL, son, male, white, age 21, single, not in school, age to read and write, born in Michigan, both parents born in Michigan, English-speaking, shaper for a salt works who earned wages, employed, not a veteran

I hadn't noticed the Unemployment Schedule reference before, so I pulled out my copy of Your Guide to the Federal Census: for genealogists, researchers, and family historians by Kathleen W. Hinckley (2002, Betterway Books - now Family Tree Books). Unfortunately, I could not find any information listed. I Googled it, and came across a page with some FAQs on the National Archives site, which said those schedules no longer exist.

I do have some information about Evan/Dick's first marriage. What I hadn't thought to look for are possible children of that marriage, and whether or not he divorced his first wife or she died before he married Mary/Mae. I do know from interviewing relatives who knew her well that Dick was the love of Mae's life, and that she married him two months after her divorce from James, who was the plaintiff in their case. In their divorce, James received custody of their two boys, Ernest and Howard, and Mae had custody of Hazel, their daughter. The York family lived in a corner of Atlas Twp., Genesee Co., Michigan, which was just a few miles from the Randell home in Hadley Twp., Lapeer Co., Michigan. I have often wondered if Mae and Dick met and fell in love while she was still married to James. I have not had much success in obtaining the Yorks' actual divorce record, and although it's on my "to-do" list, I am going to have to prioritize that!

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12)

Ontario, Canada Vital Records at Ancestry

I have the feed to Joe Beine's blog on my Google home page (along with feeds from many of my favorite blogs), and I noticed yesterday that he had a new post entitled "Online Canada Death Records Indexes." I discovered that not only were the death records indexes for Ontario available at Ancestry.com, but so were Ontario birth and marriage records indexes. Where have I been?

I have no idea when these databases were added to Ancestry, so that's what I love about Joe's blog. It highlights new online databases, links of which are posted at his website. For someone like me who can be very easily overwhelmed by visual clutter, this blog is a godsend. Whenever I try to find out what's new at Ancestry, it's too hard for me to process all the information available on their "What's New" page. Besides, Ancestry isn't the only kid on the block. Joe's easy-on-the-eyes blog and website have links simply categorized from all over the web.

I was very excited to find birth, marriage, and death records for many of my SAYERS, WILKINSON, and SWEERS (SWEARS) kin in Ontario. I wasn't as successful with my BARBER, COLE, and McARTHUR (MacARTHUR) searches, probably because I didn't have enough information to do a specific search, and/or the records I needed were too early for registration. At long last, I believe I found a death record for my 4th-great-grandmother, Mary (TERRY) WILKINSON (or was her maiden name LAMOREAUX?...I have documents that support both as her maiden name). Here's a snippet of her death record from Markham Village, York County, Ontario:

For a full-size view, click here.

If you've got Canadian ancestors in Ontario from 1858 to 1932, I recommend you visit Ancestry. And no matter from where your ancestors hailed, I definitely recommend you visit Joe!

February News

Wow, I can't believe it's been a whole month since I last blogged! I can tell you, though, it has not been a whole month since I did any genealogy! I manage to do something, genealogically speaking, each and every day. I just don't always get the time to sit down at my computer and blog about it. I have timed myself, and it takes about one hour to create a post, from start to finish. Some of it is my slow computer, some has to do with the time it takes to think about what I'm writing, the actual writing itself, the editing and revising process (including adding hyperlinks), and finally, the posting followed by a quick review.

Here are some of the events, activities, and research I've done this past month, to give an idea of how genealogy fits into my everyday life:

• nearly every day this month, I have posted a burial to Find A Grave, either from my local newspaper's obituary section, or from one or more of my three genealogy databases
• on Saturday, February 4th, I attended the monthly Eastern Washington Genealogical Society meeting. Not only do I attend as a regular member, but I am involved in the Ways and Means Committee (fundraising), selling raffle tickets and merchandise at each meeting. This month's meeting featured Tim Harper, the EWGS's webmaster speaking about the society's website and mailing list. He then asked three members (one of which was myself) to talk about their family tree websites, giving some details about what kind of program they used, and what type of information is presented on their website. You can view my website here.
• after the meeting, I shared with another member that I design personal family history websites, and she asked me to build one for her. I referred her to the website I designed for Oleo Publishing as an example of my work.
• on Monday, the 6th, I taught the last segment of my Winter Quarter Online Genealogy class for the Institute for Extended Learning. I really enjoyed this group of students, and look forward to seeing them at other local genealogy events in the future!
• on Thursday, the 9th, I went to my local Family History Center and attempted to find a birth record for my great-great-grandmother, Mary J. Wilkinson. I had rented the transcribed Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada Birth Records on microfilm. She was not listed in the records, but I did find one for her brother, John. I may try finding her in church records next.
  
• on Friday, February 17th, I went to my local Family History Center, and looked at some more microfilms I recently rented. I found the birth record of my great-great-grandmother, Mary "Mae" E. McArthur, who was born in Washington Township, Gratiot County, Michigan. I also found a birth record for her younger sister, Arlie. I could not find her sister Catherine's birth record. However, Catherine's birth was recorded in neighboring Clinton County Birth Records book, with the location of her birth given as "Gratiot County." I am also missing brother Will's birth record. I will take another look at a later time, since I am still waiting for the microfilm of the birth records index to come in. It should make finding the records I'm seeking easier.
• Saturday, the 18th, I visited the downtown branch of the Spokane Public Library. First I went to the genealogy room and looked up some Washington death records in the Washington State Death Index. I was looking for death certificate numbers. One of these days, I am going to the Family History Center in the south part of the county to view their old Washington death certificates on microfilm. They are listed in certificate number order, though, so it is necessary to have those numbers before I drive all that way. After finding my information, I took a free computer class offered to EWGS members. This month's class was presented by Donna Potter Phillips, and was an interesting tutorial about Ancestry.com. Even though I knew most of the information Donna presented, I did learn a couple of new things about the website. That's why it's so important to go to every genealogy class you can get to (especially if it's free)! There is always something to learn!
  
• nearly every time I visit my local Family History Center, I look up records for others around the country (and around the world) who may not have access to them. I am listed as a volunteer with Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, Find A Grave, and Books We Own.
  
• over Presidents' Day weekend, I went to a local cemetery and took photos for someone who requested them through Find A Grave. While there, I found the urn of a former neighbor, and also took photos of my sister-in-law's family members buried there.
• on Saturday, the 25th, I contacted a person who is interested in my Spring Quarter Online Genealogy class. It is always exciting to look ahead to the next one! I so enjoy getting others interested in researching their family trees!
• Also on Saturday, I met with two ladies from the EWGS Ways and Means Committee. We talked about upcoming fundraisers, especially for the October workshop.
  
• Sunday, the 26th, my desktop e-mail program (Juno) crashed. I am frustrated with myself for not keeping a better backup, because this has happened before...twice, as a matter of fact. I had 140 messages in my Inbox, most of which were genealogy messages. I also had over 100 e-mail addresses in my address book. Most of those addresses I do have stored elsewhere. I did attempt back up of Juno, but have not been successful in getting the program to open. I may need to reinstall the software, and try again. If you have e-mailed me recently and have not received a response, please try again. Currently, I am accessing new e-mail online, without any problems whatsoever.
• over the weekend, I went to the public library and brought home some issues of Smart Computing. This is such a great computer magazine...written without all the techno lingo for ordinary people. There is all kinds of technology help, software and website reviews (including those for genealogy), tips, tricks, and general information. Everyone in the household loved the magazines, including my 15- and 12-year-old kids. We liked it so much, we decided to get a two-year subscription. We're not impulse shoppers, and try to be pretty frugal when it comes to subscriptions. After all, if the library has it available, why should we pay for our own? We realized that having this magazine around the home 24/7/365 would be a great resource, especially if we're having computer problems and can't get online to solve them. One of the many perks of this subscription is that we can access the archives of four other major computer magazines online. Genealogy and computers go hand-in-hand so well these days, you can't research your family tree without some knowledge of PCs and the Internet!

There you have it: a month in the life of a family historian! This of course, does not include the many activities and responsibilities I have as a wife, mother, homemaker, employee, and school volunteer! Although I'm busy, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's what puts the joie in my vivre!

Ernest YORK - death info at last

Three years ago (10 Jan 2003, to be exact), I made a research goal to find out what happened to my great-grandfather's brother, Ernest York. The latest record I had for him was in the 1930 Federal Census, when he was living with his wife and two daughters in Flint, Genesee County, Michigan. I had heard from a relative that later he and his wife divorced. Attempts to forward mail to his daughters through the Social Security Administration about 10 years ago were futile. I simply didn't know where to turn next, and I didn't want to wait until the 1940 Federal Census came out to find where he next went to.

Talking to descendants of his sister Hazel York Mcilveen and half-brother Wayne Randell also proved fruitless. His brother (and my great-grandfather) Howard York's obituary had no mention of siblings. Their father (and my great-great-grandfather) James York's obituary did not mention children, either.

I finally decided to try to find an obituary for their mother (my great-great-grandmother) Mary "Mae" E. McArthur. I had to go the round about way to find it. I only had a death year (1959) for her and a possible death place (Wheeler, Gratiot County, Michigan), but knew she was buried in the Ortonville Cemetery in Oakland County, Michigan. Using Google, I was able to find a phone number for the cemetery, and got both burial (19 Oct 1959) and death (16 Oct 1959) dates for her, but no death place.

I then went to Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness to find a volunteer to help me get an obituary. I was pretty sure Mae had died in Gratiot County, so I picked a volunteer from there. This weekend, the very kind lady e-mailed me Mae's funeral record and an obituary. Besides all the great information on Mae and other family members, the obit mentioned Ernest living in Alaska. Now that triggered something, because I remembered about five years ago looking up all the Ernest Yorks on the Social Security Death Index. I remembered finding an Ernest York who was born in 1894 that lived in Alaska. That stuck with me, because I was born and grew up in Alaska, and at the time I saw the listing for Ernest York in the SSDI, I thought it would be interesting that we might have lived in the same state at the same time. I had no idea if this was my Ernest, because I didn't have a birth date for him (other than "c. 1895"). Yesterday, I ran another search in the SSDI, and found my Ernest (died Sep 1976). His last known location was Anchorage, Alaska, and his birth date was 12 Apr 1894...a date I remembered finding about 3 months ago on his World War I Draft Registration at Ancestry.com.

So back to RAOGK to find a volunteer for the Anchorage, Alaska, who has promised to send me a copy of the obit, if she finds one. Stay tuned...