The Challenge of Being Challenged

Whenever you post a family tree online, whether it be in a one-world tree like on FamilySearch or WikiTree or in a self-manged tree like those found on MyHeritage, Findmypast, or Ancestry, you run the risk of someone saying that you are wrong. Hopefully, that person will provide a list of facts to back up their statement. Sometimes you are right with the information that you have, other times, the other person points out something that you had completely missed and caused you to follow the wrong family line.

Here is an interesting case in my own tree on Ancestry where a claim has been made and one piece of evidence provided that refutes what I had recorded. How you deal with such challenges is up to you but here is what I did in my case.

We need to set the stage first...

In the branch of the Fraser family on my tree on Ancestry I have Jane Fraser, born on 8 Sep 1839¹ in Upper Canada (what later became Ontario, Canada). 

L. A. Milne, Fraser : A Short History of The Fraser Clan and our own Branch of Frasers in Canada and The United States  (N.p.: L.A. Milne, 1943), p 59, photograph of Jane Fraser.

According to the Fraser book I have that was compiled by Louise Agnes (nee Fraser) Milne in the 1940s Jane was supposedly first married to "Manchester" (no known forename) and then to a "Wm Gould". I was able to locate Jane in the 1851/52, 1861, and 1871 censuses living with family in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Canada West/Ontario. In 1881 she is residing in the household of her older brother Thomas in Huron Township, Bruce County, Ontario. Where I next pick her up is in California, USA in the 1900 census. That find was based on a few premises:

• Comment in the Fraser book about after her mother, Sarah, passing away Jane went to California and married.
• Another comment in the Fraser book that stated "Old letters written to her people back home are full of expressions of affection for her husband and stepson."

So finding a Jane Gould in the 1900 Federal census of the United States of America in California living in Los Nietos, Los Angles County, California, USA with husband William Gould and an 18 year old James F Gould, recorded as a son to the head of the household, William, made sense. But then she disappeared.

That is what I had up until now when I started writing this post.

However, I'm in the midst of my review of my Fraser branches descended from Alexander Fraser and Sarah Howell and I decided to chase down Jane, their youngest daughter, before I continued with some of the other larger branches of Alexander's and Sarah's family since Jane didn't have any children listed in the Fraser book. That is when I came across this comment from five years ago attached to William Gould, Jane's husband, that I somehow missed:

"William Gould had only on wife Jane Fraser and James Fredercik [sic] Gould was there [sic] son  See the 1900 and 1910 census, married 24 years"

That comment came about since I had William Gould first marrying an Ellen Mourin before he married Jane.

With the number of records that have be placed online over the past decade I figured I'd have a good look at this family group and see if I could:

1. Confirm that Jane did marry a Manchester, and
2. Straighten out to my satisfaction that James Frederick Gould is a stepson of Jane.

The first thing I did was review the records that I had already found for Jane Fraser and make sure I had all the information entered into my master database in Legacy Family Tree. Just doing this sort of review can sometimes shed additional light on facts and events you missed the first time around.

As you can see in this clipping from the 1900 Federal census of the USA for the household of William Gould, it does state that Jane has 1 child born and 1 child still living.

1900 U.S. census, Los Angeles County, California, population schedule, Los Nietos Township, enumeration district (ED) 110, sheet 29A, dwelling 676, family 704, Household of William Gould; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Aug 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623.

What isn't showing but is in other columns is that for the number of years in the USA and her immigration status it is recorded as "unknown". Even the year of her arrival in the USA is blank even though her stated place of birth is Canada Eng. The immigration details for James F Gould, the listed son, are blank and he was born in New Zealand. Something seems to be amiss here. With both Jane and James not born in the USA there should have been additional details recorded.

However, the 1910 Federal census of the USA tells a different story.

1910 U.S. census, Los Angeles County, California, population schedule, Los Nietos Township (part of Rivera Precinct), enumeration district (ED) 282, sheet 1A, dwelling 11, family 11, Household of Wm Gould; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Aug 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T624, roll 85.

Here it is stated that this is both their second marriage and they've only been married for 10 years. Also no children are recorded for Jane and, although not shown in this snippet from the page, it states that that Jane arrived in the United States in 1882.

Right away we have conflicting information from the census enumerations. Oh, joy! However, there is some hope now that the Fraser book was right and Jane did marry a Manchester before she married William Gould.

How about that supposed son of William and Jane, James F. Gould? What can we learn about him beside that he was born about 1881 in New Zealand.

For that I went to the New Zealand Government site for Births, Deaths & Marriages Online to search for historical records. I entered in the basic information I had concerning James:

• Family Name: Gould
  
• Given Name: James
  
• Search From Date: 01/01/1879
  
• Search To Date: 31/12/1883
  

I gave it a +/- 2 year range for the date of birth just in case and only three names that were registered in that time period were returned. One of them was for a James Frederick Gould, child of William and Ellen registered in 1881.

Wait a second, Ellen and not Jane? It is looking like the 1910 census might be right after all.

Since James isn't in the 1910 census with William and Jane he might have died, married, or moved away. A search for a Frederick James Gould that was born about 1881 in New Zealand find a Fred J Gould born about 1883 in New Zealand living with wife Jessie E in Los Nietos Township, Los Angeles County, California. Also, they've only been married for two years.

The California, County Marriages, 1850-1952 collection on FamilySearch is a wonderful resource for images of California marriage registrations. Keep in mind that not all marriages will be found here and the ones that are, not all may have images. But it is a good place to start to see if I can find a marriage for James F Gould and a Jessie.

We struck gold this time. A marriage license was found and the certificate of marriage include the Personal and Statistical Particulars.

It is a little faint to read but it states that James believed that his mother was Nellie Mourin.

Way back when, when I was doing my initial research, I had come across a mention of a marriage in the Perth Courier between Wm. Gould and Nellie Mourin. It was an interested notice since it stated that they married at Piccadilly, London.

"Gould-Mourin," The Perth Courier, 29 Sep 1876; digital images, PaperofRecord.com (https://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/default.asp : accessed 9 Oct 2010).

On Ancestry in the newly available "Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935" collection there is even a copy of the marriage record from Parish of St. James (Piccadilly) Westminster for a William Gould and Ellen Mourin that took place on 12 Aug 1876.

What about Jane's marriage to William Gould? Well a search of FamilySearch in the "California, County Marriages, 1850-1952" collection didn't uncover a marriage to a Jane Fraser between 1881 and 1900 but there is one to a Jane Manchester. Recall that in the Fraser book they said that Jane first married a Manchester. There a marriage is recorded taking place on 26 Jul 1898 between a William Gould, residing in Rivera, a native of Canada and Mrs Jane Manchester, residing in San Gabriel, a native of Canada.

"California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," index and images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 11 Aug 2020), entry for William Gould and Jane Manchester, married 26 Jul 1898; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,073,995.

 

Curiously the witnesses are a W. G. McMullin, a resident of Los Angeles, and A. F. Mills, a resident of Pasadena. In my tree I do have a William George McMullin/McMullen, a sheriff in Los Angeles, and an Alexander Fraser Mills, residing in Pasadena around that time. Looks like she may have asked her nephews to act as witnesses.

What about a marriage to a Manchester? 

Again, FamilySearch comes through for us with their California, County Marriages, 1850-1952 collection. Here we find the marriage for James S Manchester, a native of Maine and a resident of Los Angeles, to Jane Fraser, a native of Canada and resident of Los Angeles, on 8 Sep 1885 with a George McMullen as one of the witnesses.

"California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," index and images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 11 Aug 2020), entry for James S Manchester and Jane Fraser, married 8 Sep 1885; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 1,033,135.

The question that then arises for me is did James Manchester die before Jane married William Gould? That was answered through a paragraph in The Los Angeles Times found via a search on Newspapers.com.

"Pasadena - Brevities," The Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep 1891, p. 7, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers (www.newspapers.com : accessed 11 Aug 2020).

There is the A. F. Mills that was a witness for his marriage to Jane Fraser and I also have J. S. (John Stevenson) Mills in my tree and they are nephews by marriage to James Manchester.

What about Jane? Why did she disappear from the census records after 1910. A bit of search and I found her death registration in the "California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994" collection on FamilySearch. She had passed away on 31 May 1916 in Rivera, Los Angeles County, California. The only glitch in the record is that they list her father as John Fraser instead of Alexander Fraser. But surprisingly the unnamed informant got her mother correct, Sarah Howell.

Using that same collection on FamilySearch I found that William Gould had predeceased her on 11 Oct 1913, also in Rivera. Their grave markers can be found in the Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California.

Jane Fraser had, for many a years, been one of my little annoyances. Until I decided to revisit her and see what new information could be found she had been one of my lost sheep. She is now welcomed back into the flock.

I have sent a reply back to the person that commented on William Gould's profile and included a link to this blog post for their reading confusion/enjoyment.

So take another look at those people in your tree that you had issues with finding more details about their life story. With new collections and records be added monthly on many of your favourite genealogy sites you might just find the answers you could find the first time around.

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1. "Fraser : a short history of the Fraser clan and our own branch of Frasers in Canada and the United States"

My Father is my Sister-in-law's Husband...Say What?

Lately I've been doing the drudge work of genealogy and family history research, recording information that I had previously found on Ancestry about the branches on a family line that I haven't looked at for about a decade. Of course, with all the new collections being digitized and put online hosted by various sites I have been coming across records that answer questions I didn't even know I had. I even have  those "Say what?" moments. This is one such case.

Some background first...

The branch of the family I've been working on is that of the descendants of Alexander Fraser and Sarah Howell. Alexander and Sarah came to settle in the Perth Military Settlement (in what later became Lanark County, Ontario, Canada) after Alexander's service in the British Army during the Napoleonic War and War of 1812 era. I had already researched my direct line, those descended from their eldest daughter Ann but I'd been "avoiding" looking at the descendants of other 11 surviving children ever since I started my "genealogy do-over" in 2011. I knew there was going to be a lot of typing and researching to do since I follow each line until I can go no further.

I'm fortunate that I have a book written by Louise Agnes (nee Fraser) Milne titled "Fraser : a short history of the Fraser clan and our own branch of Frasers in Canada and the United States". That book includes a "Fraser Genealogical Table" at the back listing the various children of Alexander and Sarah along with their descendants and even possibly their spouses. She probably did her research like many others at the time, by sending letters out to various family members to gather names of even more family members. One challenge (amongst others) is that only names are given and no sources are provided. But it is a starting place and can offer clues.

Now, on with the journey. Oh, and hang on to your hats, it is a bumpy ride!

I'd been working adding the children of Sarah Fraser, the 4th child of Alexander and Sarah, and the wife of John Mills into my Legacy Family Tree master database when I came across a challenge with the daughter of Lydia Mills (daughter of John Mills and Sarah Fraser) and her husband John A. Coates. This branch drew a lot of "hmmm" and "WTF?" when I was working on it.

The first "hmmm" was in the 1881 census of Canada where I found Annie Coats in the household of John and Sarah Mills. I knew from earlier research that John and Sarah's daughter, Lydia Ann Mills, had married a John Albert Coates. It also helped that the Fraser book also included an Annie Mae Coates as a child of John A. Coates and Lydia Mills. So I was fairly certain that the Annie Coats in the census was that child. but that census doesn't state family relationships.

1881 census of Canada, Ontario, district 122, sub-district F-1, p. 45, dwelling 143, family 186, household of John Mills; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Jul 2020); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-13239.

What I quickly discovered, thanks to those who contribute to Find A Grave, is that Lydia died 28 May 1876 and was buried in the Marmora Common Cemetery. Based on some of the dates I've seen, I'm guessing it might have been due to complications from child birth.

I next came across her in the 1891 census of Canada, still in the household of John and Sarah Mills. Except this time she is recorded as a daughter. Hmmm.

1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 74, sub-district J, p. 40-41, family 187, household of John Mills; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Jul 2020); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-6343.

Could this Annie May Mills be the daughter of John and Sarah? Contrary to what some of the trees on Ancestry may have one believe, it is very unlikely just due to what was recorded in the 1881 census and what is in the Fraser book.

Just an aside...What I knew about John Albert Coates at that time was that he was 23 years old (born abut 1852) when he married Lydia Ann Mills in Marmora, Ontario, Canada on 23 Jun 1875. He was born in Rochester, New York, USA, the son of John and Ann Coates and he was a carriage maker. I have found a few John A. Coates in the 1881 and 1891 census enumerations of Canada. By checking out the various birth registrations for the children of the John A. Coates along with census enumerations and marriage registrations I was able to eliminate each one as a possible candidate.

Yet Annie seemed to have disappeared from Canada after 1891. So it was off to the next possible clue in the Fraser book, that she married a Carl W. Oldenburg and had four children: Louise Sophia, Frederick Albert, Ida Mae, and Neva Beatrice. It was off to do a general search looking for this family on Ancestry. To my surprise I found them, although missing Louise Sophia, in the 1920 Federal census of the United States residing in Michigan.

1920 U.S. census, Oakland County, Michigan, population schedule, Township of Milford, enumeration district (ED) 173, sheet 5A, dwelling 104, family 105, household of Carl Oldenburg; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Jul 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T625, roll 789.

With a bit more research it turned out that Louise had married Norme R. Bowers on 30 Aug 1919. But I did find her with the family in the 1910 Federal census of the USA.

Could a marriage record be found for Anna/Annie May Coates and Carl W. Oldenburg? That took a bit more research but I came across one for Carl W. Oldenburg, born in Germany, son of Ernest Oldenburg and Louisa Severt, and May Coats, born in Canada, daughter of Bert Coate and unknown mother.

"Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Jul 2020), entry for May Coats and Carl W Oldenburg, married 26 May 1900; citing Michigan Department of Community Health, Division of Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952; Film: 68; Film Description: 1900 Delta-1900 Mackinac.

Bert Coate? Could this be John Albert Coates? Might he be in the same neck of the woods?

In the 1900 census of Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan I came across an Albert Coates, husband to Lena with a daughter, Hazel, in the household.

1900 U.S. census, Kent County, Michigan, population schedule, Grand Rapids, enumeration district (ED) 69, sheet 17B, dwelling 353, family 383, household of Albert Coates; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Jul 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623.

Hey, he's born in New York. That's a good sign since, if you recall, in his marriage registration to Lydia Ann Mills he stated he was born in Rochester, New York. But, just like we saw in Ontario, John A. Coates or even Albert Coates, isn't unique as a name. Can we find a marriage registration for John Albert Coates or variations thereof ?

After quite a bit of work and following the records I did!

"Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Jul 2020), entry for Bert Coater and Lena Oldenburg, married 25 Jul 1898; citing Michigan Department of Community Health, Division of Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952; Film: 62; Film Description: 1898 Eaton-1898 Marquette.

His father is John Coates and his mother is Anna Wolcott and Albert is born in Rochester, New York. I also abstracted the 1910 and 1920 census enumerations for Albert and Lena and on the 1910 enumeration his name is recorded and John Albert Coates. I'm pretty sure that Albert Coates in this record is the same person that married Lydia Ann Mills. On this marriage record page for the county it even stated that he had one marriage before this one. Hmmm, so did Lena. Since I try to document the spouses also it was time to look at Lena Oldenburg.

If you though it was confusing before I won't get into all of the issues with Lena Oldenburg but it turns out she married an Eper Van Louten/Flouten on 8 Feb 1897¹, filed for divorce on 2 Apr 1897 and was granted a divorce on 21 Dec 1897². In that marriage registration it states that her father was Arnest Oldenb... and Louse Miller. Of course, in the marriage to John her mother was recorded as unknown and father was "Geo." Nothing like inconsistency to drive a researcher around the bend!

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your perspective), Lena died in 1921 and Ancestry has the "Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952" collection that include images.

Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, "Michigan, Deaths Records 1867-1950," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Jul 2020), entry for John Coates, died 1 Oct 1934.

In the block for her parents they are listed as Earnest Oldenberg and Louise Siebert. It just so happens that there is an Ernest and Louise Oldenburg in the 1900 Federal census of the USA in Grand Rapid, Kent County, Michigan.

1900 U.S. census, Kent County, Michigan, population schedule, Grand Rapids, enumeration district (ED) 74, sheet 10A, dwelling 1862, family 195, Ernest Oldenburg; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Jul 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623.

If you look closely, you will also see a son Carl and a daughter-in-law, May, of Canada, living in the same household. Hmmm.

The Louise Siebert in Lena's death registration could be the Louisa Severt that we found in the Carl Oldenburg's marriage record if pronunciation variations are taken into account. For that a side trip to Germany was required. OK, not actually travel to Germany but the "Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1971" collection on Ancestry provided me a clue. There I learned that Carl was born Carl Johann Heinrich Oldenburg, the son of Ernst Johann Christian Friederich Oldenburg and Luise Christine Caroline Sievert. A bit of anglicizing of the forename and saying Luise's surname out loud and you can see how the variations in the spelling appeared.

Of course I'd like to use the 1890 census for that area to see if Ernest, Louisa, Carl and Lena were in the same household. Alas one gotcha with researching in the United States is almost all of the 1890 Federal census was lost in a fire in the Commerce Building in Washington, D.C. In theory I should be able to find Lena and Carl and the rest of the Oldenburg family in the 1880 census of the United States since Lena was supposedly born in Michigan by that year, at least according to her death registration, but no such luck (so far).

However, it was newspaper death notice that clinched the connection between Lena Oldenburg and Annie May Coates:

"Obituary - Coates," The Grand Rapids Press, 2 Oct 1934, p. 2, col. 2; digital images, GenealogyBank (www.genealogybank.com : accessed 24 Jul 2020), Newspaper Archives.

Since it is a bit small, here is what was written:

COATES - John A. Coates, aged 81, passed away Monday evening at the residence 547 Crosby-st. N. W. Surviving are two daughters Mrs. Hazel Kline of Grand Rapids and Mrs. May Oldenburg of Wixom; three sons, Albert Coates, LeRoy Coates and George Coates, all of Grand Rapids; eleven grandchildren and four great-granchchildren. Funeral services will be held at 2 o'clock Thursday afternoon at the residence. Interment in Greenwood cemetery.

Recall that in the 1900 census there was a daughter Hazel recorded along with his wife Lena. After a bit more research I was able to locate Hazel's marriage to Percy Webster Kline. Hazel was residing in Grand Rapids between 1930 and 1940 according to the census records. His other daughter, May Oldenburg, is recorded as residing in Wixom, Oakland County, Michigan. That would be Annie May Coates who married Carl W. Oldenburg and they are in Wixom in the 1930 and 1940 census enumerations. From census enumerations, death registration, and newspaper notices I know hat Albert, LeRoy and George are all children of John Albert and Lena.

What we end up with is the family tree below:

Two Generation Tree of Annie May Coates

As we can see in this very basic two generation family tree diagram (dotted lines indicate marriage and solid lines are blood connection), after all is said and done, John Albert Oates is both the father by blood of Annie May Coates and also the husband of her sister-in-law. The relationships get even more interesting between the children of John Albert Coates-Lena Oldenburg and the children of Annie May Coates-Carl Oldenburg.

And don't even get me started about the challenges of trying to figure out Hazel Coates. It turns out she appears to be the daughter of Lena and her first husband.

Through all this I had to follow various family lines including siblings, parents, and children to knit together this strangely interesting family unit. Census enumerations in both Canada and the USA, marriage records, death registrations, grave markers, and newspapers all played an important part in understanding this family.

Nothing like a little bit of confusion to keep you on your toes!

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1. "Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Jul 2020), entry for Eli Van Flouten and Lena Oldenburg, married 8 Feb 1897; citing Michigan Department of Community Health, Division of Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952; Film: 60; Film Description: 1897 Kent-1897 St Clair.

2. "Michigan, Divorce Records, 1897-1952," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Jul 2020), entry for Lena Van Louten and Eper Van Louten, granted 21 Dec 1897.