Elizabeth Florence Moodie...who's child is she?

Most of the time I write about different research techniques I use to solve a genealogy puzzle which comes my way either via a post in a group on Facebook or from the discussions in the Ottawa OGS/OPL genealogy drop-in. This time it is actually an issue I stumbled upon while reviewing a branch of my own tree. 

It all started with the following tree hint for Thomas Moodie who was born 25 Dec 1839 in Upper Canada and died 8 Dec 1913 in Perth, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada.

Screen capture from Ancestry for a family tree hint for Thomas Moodie (1839-1913), retrieved 2 Mar 2022.

Since I barely trust my own tree I'm definitely not going to trust what someone has recorded in their tree. So I, and hopefully you also, only use the hints from other trees as leads to follow up on. The majority of the time I can quickly discard the extra child or spouse. Yet in this case it sort of fit.

The extra child in this family was Elizabeth Florence Moodie (1868-1870). The reason I didn't immediately ignore this child was that she fit nicely in the gap between Annie Marie Moodie (1866-?) and Robert Thomas Moodie (1870-1929). The big stumbling block in just accepting this as correct is that the own of the tree didn't cite any sources. So it was off to do my own research.

The first step was just typing in Elizabeth Florence Moodie into Google (or your favourite search engine) to see what popped up. The second result was for a profile on WikiTree for an Elizabeth Florence Moodie born in 1868.

Screen capture of the WikiTree profile for Elizabeth Florence Moodie (1868), ID Moodie-204, retrieved 2 Mar 2022.

There (at least as on 2 Mar 2022) she is recorded as the daughter of Alexander Moodie and Rebecca Ferrier. Right away I know that something is not quite right with this profile information since it is unlikely that Elizabeth was actually born in "St Andrews Presby Church, Perth, Larark, Ont.". But it did give me a clue as to where to look...the church registers of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Perth, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada. I've used those registers before and a digitized copy of the microfilm of the original records held at Library and Archives Canada are available on FamilySearch under "Church records, 1830-1887" for the Presbyterian Church in Canada. St. Andrew (Perth, Ontario).

St. Andrew's Church Presbyterian Church (Perth, Ontario, Canada), "Register of Baptisms St. Andrews Church Perth U.C.," baptism of Elizabeth Florence Moodie, born 21 Jul 1868, baptized 13 Mar 1869; FHL microfilm 8,632,136, image 60.

That baptism entry records that she was born 21 Jul 1868 and baptized 13 Mar 1869, the child of Alexander Moodie and Ferrier of the township of North Burgess. What is interesting is that her mother's first name is not recorded.

What about finding her death in the same book or books? It wasn't too difficult to find the start of the burials on that same digitized microfilm beginning at image 72.

St. Andrew's Church Presbyterian Church (Perth, Ontario, Canada), "Burials.," burial of Elizabeth Florence Moodie, died 13 Oct 1870; FHL microfilm 8,632,136, image 78.

There it records that Elizabeth Florence Moodie residing in N. Elmsley [North Elmsley], born in Canada, died  Oct 13 [1870] (July 21) [written above], age 2y 2m. The age and the "July 21" written above the Oct 13 matches the date of her birth found in the baptism register. Even the age matches closely to Elizabeth's age. Yet no parents are recorded.

Fortunately she died in 1870 and the 1871 Census of Canada has "Schedule No. 2 - Nominal Return of the Deaths within last twelve months." and that schedule, like all nine other schedules for the 1871 Census of Canada, has survived and has even been digitized.

“Census of Canada, 1871,” images, Library and Archives Canada (https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1871&op=img&id=4396356_00287 : accessed 2 Mar 2022), Schedule No. 2, line for Elizabeth Florence Moodie (age 2 years); citing Ontario Province, Lanark South (79) District, Elmsley North (C) Sub-District, p. 1.

There it has been recorded that Elizabeth Florence Moodie, female, age 2 years, C Pres [Canadian Presbyterian Church as the religion], died Sept from a bowel complaint and she was sick for 2 weeks.

We are even lucky enough to find her Ontario civil registration of death:

Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947," database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Mar 2022), Elizbth F Moodie, died Sep 1870; citing Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS935; Reel 2, no. 013442.

But we have another mystery for both Schedule 2 of the 1871 Census and the Ontario civil death registration states that she died in Sep 1870 and not in October. What's going on here? The first thing that leaps out is that Thomas Moodie registered the death six months after Elizabeth died so he might not have had the correct date. Also in looking at the pages of "Schedule No. 1 - Nominal Return of the Living" from the 1871 Census it would seem that the household of Thomas Moodie was visited on 13 Apr 1871. With the law in effect as of 1 Jul 1869 for the civil registration of births, marriages, and death Thomas Moodie may have been advised that he had best register the death of Elizabeth before the enumerator came knocking on the door.

Something is curious on this death registration form though. If Alexander Moodie is supposed to be the father, a least according to that baptism register, why is Thomas Moodie of North Elmsley the informant?

Let's rewind just a little bit and go back to the WikiTree profile of the household of Alexander Moodie and Rebecca Ferrier. One of the siblings of the Elizabeth Florence Moodie is James A. Moodie. It so happens that he has a birth date recorded as 2 Oct 1868 on WikiTree. When I went to edit and save his profile to include a date and place of death, with a citation of course, WikiTree even brought it to my attention that another sibling had a birth date too close to his.

If Elizabeth Florence Moodie was born 21 Jul 1868 and James A. Moodie was born 2 Oct 1868 then they can't have the same mother. So I looked into James A. Moodie a little bit. On his 1944 Ontario civil death registration it states that the informant, his wife Sarah Jane, believed that James was born on 2 Oct 1868 and his parents were Alexander Moodie and Rebecca Ferrier. Even on the registration record for his marriage to Sarah J. Armstrong it states his parents are Alexander Moodie and Rebecca Ferrier. A quick check of the baptism register for St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Perth, Lanark County, Ontario finds on the page before Elizabeth's baptism the record of James' baptism in 11 Dec 1868 with a birth date recorded as 2 Oct 1868 and the father listed as Alexander Moodie and his mother Ferrier. Again, the mother's first name is not recorded.

Someone's record isn't telling the truth and my gut feeling is the baptism of Elizabeth is out of sorts.

But where to look next since "gut feelings" don't make for good citations?

A check of Find a Grave has a memorial page for Elizabeth Florence Moodie without an image. This always raises red flags for me since if the information in the memorial profile isn't recorded on the stone then where did the information come from?

In this case the biography provides some information concerning the source:

Name: Elizabeth Flora Moodie; Residence: N. Elmsley; Birthplace: Canada; Died: 13 Octr. (1870); Age: 2yr 2 mo. (July 21)
[St. Andrew's Burial Register]

Name: Moodie, Elizabeth Florence; Sex: F(emale); Age: 2; Religion: C. Pres.; Birthplace: O(ntario); Died: Sept.; Disease: Bowel Complaint
[1871 Census; N. Elmsley Twp., Lanark Co.]

I've already looked at those sources. Sigh.

Maybe there might be a newspaper clipping but I don't have a subscription to Paper of Record which has digitized the Perth Courier and, for right now, a visit to Library and Archives Canada is out of the question for me. But the Ontario GenWeb Project has a page for Lanark County which has a whole section with newspaper transcriptions from the Perth Courier which were supplied by Christine M. Spencer of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. These transcriptions are even searchable via Google. The search I used was:

site:sites.rootsweb.com/~onlanark moodie

That "site:" thing tells Google to only search URLs starting with the address of "sites.rootsweb.com/~onlanark". Note that there is not a space after the colon (:).

Yet I don't find anything from around that time for the death of a child of a Moodie.

What about Alexander Moodie and his family? If the death in 1870 of Elizabeth Moodie was recorded in Schedule 2 in the Elmsley North sub-district then Alexander would have to be also living there. I already know that Thomas Moodie and his family were in that sub-district since they were found on page 34. 

I could take the easy way out and just rely on searching Ancetsry or any of the other genealogy sites for Alexander Moodie in Lanark county but this is one case I want to double check the indexes in the off chance that family was not transcribed. So first it was a check on Ancestry for any Alex Moodie in Lanark. Two results came back but only one had the right age. That was Alexander Moodie, age 40 years, residing in Burgess North sub-district, with wife "Rebcca" and children including a James who was 2 years old. That is highly likely the James we've already seen in the baptism register and tracked through his marriage and death. But no Alexander Moodie in Elmsley North. Even manually walking through the records for Elmsley North results in no Alexander Moodie.

So based on all these little but very important clues and records I can state with confidence that the baptism registration is incorrect when it comes to listing the parents of Elizabeth Florence Moodie.

Elizabeth Florence Moodie who was born 21 Jul 1868 and died 13 Oct 1870 is the daughter of Thomas Moodie and very likely her mother is Jessie McLaren. She is not the daughter of Alexander Moodie and Rebecca Ferrier.

I'm going to let this sit for a little while before I update WikiTree with my findings and also the one-world tree on FamilySearch (unless someone beats me to it). So I ask you, gentle reader, have I missed something? Is my analysis of the available records totally off base? Let me know what you think.

Toronto Trust Cemeteries on FamilySearch

For those with ancestors and relatives who were buried in several of the Toronto Trust cemeteries FamilySearch has created a searchable name index as part of a project with the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. You can find the search page at Canada, Ontario, Toronto Trust Cemeteries, 1826-1989.

Screen capture of the Canada, Ontario, Toronto Trust Cemeteries, 1826-1989 search page from FamilySearch.

However, just like any searchable database, before you dive right in and start your searching you really need to be aware of the limitations within that name index. 

Before you begin first click on that "How to use this collection" button on the search screen and read the page that appears. This helps set your expectations of what might be found in the searchable index. Note the cemeteries and the range of dates covered in the index:

• York General Burying Ground (also called Potter’s Field), 1826-1855
• Necropolis Cemetery, 1850-1912 (the index will continue to 1935)
• Mount Pleasant Cemetery, 1876-1933
• Prospect Cemetery, 1890-1935

You can even browse the images by clicking on the "Browse all 7,234 images" button. But, if you are like me, you will get very confused and puzzled when you see the list of volumes for the four cemeteries since, with the except of "Potters' Field Cemetery", they all have several volumes with the same volume number but different date ranges as you can see from this image for the image waypoints of Prospect Cemetery. There is also a gap in the dates for volume 4.

Screen capture of the image waypoints for Prospect Cemetery from the Canada, Ontario, Toronto Trust Cemeteries, 1826-1989 search page on FamilySearch.

So just where are these digitized volumes really found on FamilySearch?

For that we need to use the FamilySearch Catalog. If you aren't familiar with the catalogue then you are missing out on a huge (I mean really, really big!) part of FamilySearch. The catalogue is just that, a catalogue of all the books, manuscripts, microfilms, volumes, and digitized collections held by FamilySearch. Of course, not all of it is online. And even if it is online in a digitized format it may not be accessible from the comfort of your home due to licensing agreements. You can tell if a digitized set of records can only be viewed from a Family History Center or Affiliate since those records have a key above the camera icon in the collection list.

Just like searching the genealogy records, you can also search the FamilySearch Catalog [see the update at the end of this post for a better way to locate for this set of collections]. When searching for a place it goes from largest to smallest in terms of jurisdiction.

Screen capture of a search for the place Canada, Ontario, Toronto in the FamilySearch Catalog search screen.

You might note that it actually doesn't find "Canada, Ontario, Toronto" but the first item in the possible places to select from is "Canada, Ontario, York, Toronto". That is the place we want.

Screen capture of the partial list of subjects found in the "Canada, Ontario, York, Toronto" catalogue on FamilySearch.

You will see a really long list of possible subjects for just "Canada, Ontario, York, Toronto" but notice that one of the items is "Cemeteries". In the parentheses it indicates that there are 24 collections within. Clicking on that line will open up the list of collections. Even though I'm focusing on just a few of the items in the list make sure you glance through the full list. The ones I'm focused on for now are these four:

Screen capture of four burial records/registers of the Toronto Trust Cemeteries listed in Cemeteries within "Canada, Ontario, York, Toronto".

I'm going to pick on Prospect cemetery to highlight what can be found in most of those collections.

Screen capture showing death registers and interment registers for Prospect Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada found on FamilySearch.

Looking at the above image you might note that there are death registers and interment registers. If we look back at the list of images returned from the "Canada, Ontario, Toronto Trust Cemeteries, 1826-1989" search page and compare it to this list then you can see that the first "Volume 04", which has a date range of 1930-1935, is probably for a Death register. What about the second "Volume 04" from 1953-1962? That is probably from the "INDEXES to death/interment registers v.4-7" which started in 1953. So that searchable name index is probably a combination of an index created from the death registers directly and a a transcription of an existing index. Confused? That's normal so don't worry!

You might have also noticed that only two of the digitized items have a magnifying glass on the right side. Those are the ones which are searchable. The rest...well...we have to do the work by looking in those digitized but non-computer searchable indexes to find the number of the entry in the death or interment register. Then we have to manually go through the death/interment registers to find that number. I'm not going to walk you through how to bounce (my term for how I use the digitized images on FamilySearch) through the images of the pages from the index. It is just one of those skills you pick up the more you use FamilySearch. But it really isn't too hard!

From a death notice in the Toronto Star I know that my great-grandfather, George Kaye Warrener, who died in 1945 was supposed to have been buried in Prospect Cemetery. In theory I should be able to find him in the "INDEXES to death/interment registers v. 1-3 1890-1953". It is also important to realize that those digitized set of images are not the only collections on this specific virtual microfilm but are found in items 7-9. So I had to "fast forward" through the images and then take a look in each of the three registers.

"Index to Death Register, v. 2,"  FamilySearch, Images (www.familysearch.org : accessed 9 Feb 2022), p. 558, George Kaye Warrener [ name highlighted in a red box]; citing DGS 8265661, item 8, image 935 of 1113.

Here he is in the index to the death registers. Since there was more than one index register I had to start with the first one and then move on to the next. I now know I need to find the death/interment register book which has number 71002 in it.

Even without knowing his date of death I could see that the "Death registers v. 4-6 (52529-87250)" is probably where I want to look. But note the little gotcha for the Interment registers:

(NOTE: The following interment registers were filmed in descending numerical and chronological order within each volume, i.e. 1957-1953, 1962-1958, 1967-1963, etc.)

This can really mess you up if you are expecting the pages for 1953 to be first in order in the images. So always read and pay attention to the notes. They are important!

Quickly I was able to find the page in the Death register with the entry for George Kaye Warrener. Since these registers are really two pages make sure you review the left and right page to see all the information.

"Death Register, v. 5,"  FamilySearch, Images (www.familysearch.org : accessed 9 Feb 2022), p. 267, no. 71002, George Kaye Warrener; citing DGS 8265660, item 2, image 371 of 841.

From the left side of the page, if I didn't already have his date of death I now know it is 26 Feb 1945, that he died of myocarditis, and he was interred on 1 Mar 1945. On the right side of the page I learn that he was buried in section 26, lot 625 and the owner of that lot is Ernest and Mary Palmer. Also the nearest relation is Mrs. Henrietta Warrener of 688 Gladstone Avenue. Because this is my own family line I know that Henrietta is his wife.

What next?

It just so happens, at least for the Prospect, Mount Pleasant, and Necropolis Cemeteries, the Plot cards have also been digitized and made available to us also on FamilySearch. Looking at the list of digitized records I see that I need to look at FHL 1493608/DGS 8738039 "Plot cards: Section 26 (no. 426-942) Sections 27-28 Section 30 (no. 1-750)" to locate the plot card.

"Plot cards: Section 26 (no. 426-942) Sections 27-28 Section 30 (no. 1-750),"  FamilySearch, Images (www.familysearch.org : accessed 9 Feb 2022), Section 26, Lot 625; citing DGS 8738039, item 1, image 407 of 3078.

Now we know who is buried in Section 26, Lot 625 and even the dates of death. Those other two buried with George Kaye Warrener? From my research I know that Mary Adele Palmer is his daughter (my grand-aunt) and Ernest George Palmer is Mary's husband. I now have their register numbers and dates of death so I can quickly look up their entries in the death/interment registers.

But don't stop there!

If you go to the next image you will even see how the grave has been laid out. How cool is that!

"Plot cards: Section 26 (no. 426-942) Sections 27-28 Section 30 (no. 1-750),"  FamilySearch, Images (www.familysearch.org : accessed 9 Feb 2022), Section 26, Lot 625, plot layout; citing DGS 8738039, item 1, image 408 of 3078.

Yet wait a second. Where is his wife Henrietta? She's not buried with him. From her death notice in the Toronto Star I know that she died in 1966 and never remarried. Is there any record of her?

Well, yes. In the "Crematorium records, 1933-1989" collection with "Toronto Crematorium (Ontario); Toronto Trust Cemeteries (Ontario)" listed as the author. Just like with the burial registers I soon found an entry for Henrietta Jane Whitfield Warrener, page 9358. This is one of the registers which was filmed backwards but it still didn't take long to find her in the cremation register.

"Cremation Register, v. 2,"  FamilySearch, Images (www.familysearch.org : accessed 9 Feb 2022), no. 9358, Henrietta Jane Whitfield Warrener [image formatted for blog]; citing DGS 8362351, item 1, image 205 of 1170.

In that entry, on the far right side we can see that there is a notation of "Remains sent to Hespeler on Nov. 22/66".

There is even a collection of a number of digitized images from the Mount Pleasant Group from 1989 to 1995 titled "Ontario, Toronto cemetery records, 1989-1995" available for one to review from the comfort of one's home. Not just for the Necropolis, Prospect, or Mount Pleasant cemeteries but for several others managed by the Mount Pleasant Group.

Of course these collection aren't just the only resources for you if you have ancestors or relatives buried in those cemeteries. The Mount Pleasant Group has a database on their site called "Find A Grave". There are a few challenges with using this database since you have to know the cemetery the person is interred plus you need to know how the surname has been spelled in the database. Also you have to provide at least an initial for the first name. But it might help you find details about where someone is buried. Here is what was returned when I searched their site for Prospect Cemetery, surname: Warrener, first name: G

• Given Name: George Kage
• Surname: Warrener
• Year of Burial: 1945
• Age of Deceased: 0
• Property Type: Land
• Section: 26
• Lot: 625
  

What is nice about the Mount Pleasant Group Find A Grave database is that they also provide a map so you can visit where the person is buried. This is always handy when dealing with large cemeteries. Additionally, with the section and lot information I could have gone directly to the Plot Cards to find his register number and then look him up the death/interment register.

Then there is also Find a Grave to help you locate a burial. However, with Find a Grave the information is quite often provided by volunteers based not just on what may be recorded on a marker but from their own research. So I always treat what is on Find a Grave as a clue unless I can actually view an image of the marker. Even then there may be errors.

Here is the marker for George Kaye Warrener in Prospect Cemetery from his entry on Find a Grave.

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169703644/george-kaye-warrener : accessed 9 February 2022), memorial page for George Kaye Warrener (1870–1945), Find a Grave Memorial ID 169703644, citing Prospect Cemetery, Toronto, Toronto Municipality, Ontario, Canada ; Maintained by Family Foliage (contributor 49085284).

You might notice a Ronald MacGregor Warrener recorded on that marker yet he's not listed on the plot card. Is the plot card wrong? Not at all! Ronald is actually buried with his fallen comrades at the Agira Canadian War Cemetery in Sicily. Just another reminder that one can't believe that everyone listed on a grave marker or memorial stone is actually buried there.

There are many other sites to help you in your search of an ancestor or relative in these cemeteries such as:

• BillionGraves
• TONI - The Ontario Name Index from Ontario Ancestors
• Canadian Headstones
• Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid
• Ontario, Canada, Toronto Trust Cemeteries, 1826-1989 on Ancestry
  

 

Happy researching!

 

[2024 Jan 28: With the changes to the FamilySearch Catalog when it comes to searching by places in Ontario, see the post "Toronto Trust Cemeteries on FamilySearch - Updated" for a different way of locating these collections on FamilySearch

Just When Did Caleb Howe Die? June or July 1755?

Over the Christmas-New Year week I decided to update the various profiles for my ancestors recorded in the FamilySearch "one-world" or common family tree. One reason for doing this was to see if others had posted any additional events, documents, or even family members that I might not have known about. It turns out I was able to uncover several distant cousins that were born and died between census enumerations plus find where a few branches of the family disappeared to.

But that's not what this post is about. Instead I'm going to write about the challenges of verifying a date of death from the mid 1700s.

My 6th great-grandfather, Caleb How(e), the second husband of Jemima Sawtell and the father of my 5th great-grandfather, Lt. Caleb Howe of the Queens Rangers, was killed in a raid by Native Americans as probably part of the actions stemming from what became known as the French and Indian War of 1754–1763. I've come across several different dates but most either have him killed on 27 Jun 1755 or 27 Jul 1755. However, which month is it? June or July?

I've written about Jemima in my post "The Fair Captive" when I attempted to trace through the various footnotes and endnotes to locate details about her captivity and subsequent release. In the tale "Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Jemima Howe, taken by the Indians at Hinsdale, New-Hampshire, July 27, 1755." in The American Preceptor published in 1801, a story told by Jemima Howe, Caleb's wife, a number of years after the events she says that the attack happened on 27 Jul 1755.

Caleb Bingham. American Preceptor; Being a New Selection of Lessons for Reading and Speaking. Designed for the Use of Schools (Boston, Massachusetts: Manning and Loring, 1801), p 176; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/americanprecept09binggoog/page/n1/mode/2up : accessed 3 Jan 2021).

However, if the attack took place on July 27, 1755 and Caleb was found alive the next morning before passing away after he was brought to Fort Hinsdale, then he would have died on July 28, 1755. Also, in the Gazetteer of Cheshire County, N.H., 1736-1885 published in 1885 it states: "...and July 27 they ambushed Caleb How, Hilkiah Grout and Benjamin Gaffield as they were returning from their labor in the field."

Even a few years later in 1758 a letter concerning Mrs. Jemima How states that she was taken in July 1755.

[John Farmer, Nathaniel Bouton, Isaac Hill]. Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, Vol. V (Concord, New Hampshire: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1837), pp.254-256, Letter of Col. Ebenezer Hindsdale to Gov. Benning Wentwork-1755; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/collectionsnewh06socigoog/page/n7/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

However, in the "New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947" database found on FamilySearch we come across this image of a card created on 29 Aug 1905:

"New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947," database, FamilySearch (familysearch.org : accessed 20 Feb 2012), entry for Caleb How, died 27 Jun 1755; citing Death Records, FHL film 1,001,086; New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord, New Hampshire.

Here we see that it is recorded that he died on June 27, 1755 at Hinsdale, New Hampshire "Killed by the Indians". But we don't know the source of that information in that "modern" record. Could it be from the grave marker?

The marker found on Find A Grave appears to confirm that detail:

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 03 January 2021), memorial page for Caleb Howe (3 Dec 1723–28 Jun 1755), Find a Grave Memorial no. 69042959, citing Hooker Cemetery, Hinsdale, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, USA ; Maintained by John Clay Harris (contributor 47322896).

In memory of Mr. Caleb How a very Kind Companion who Was killed by the Indians June the 27th 1755 in the 32nd year of his age, his wife Mrs.Jemima How With 7 Children taken Captive at the Same time.

A bit more searching led me to a letter from Colonel Ebenezer Hinsdale to Governor Benning Wentworth date 22 Jul 1755 in the Provincial Paper: Documents and Record relating to the Province of New-Hampshire, from 1749 to 1763, Volume VI with a copy found at the Internet Archive. There on page 412 at the tail end of a letter from Col. Hinsdale is mentioned within a postscript by Abigail Hinsdale the following:

"Mr. Hinsdale wrote to his excellency the 28 of June of the mischief that was done upon the other side of the River, one man kill'd, three women, eleven children captivated, the Indians burnt two buildings."

A copy of that letter has been digitally preserved by the New Hampshire Historical Society and can be viewed at their site at "Letter from Colonel Ebenezer Hindsdale to Govenor Benning Wentworth, 1755 July 22".

On 27 Jun 1911 at Vernon, Vermont there was a dedication of a marker on the site of Fort Bridgman where the attack took place:

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 03 January 2021), memorial page for Caleb Howe (3 Dec 1723–28 Jun 1755), Find a Grave Memorial no. 69042959, citing Hooker Cemetery, Hinsdale, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, USA ; Maintained by John Clay Harris (contributor 47322896).

With the information from the dedication and the letter from Colonel Hinsdale/Hindsdale that included the postscript by his wife Abigail it would seem that the date of the attack was 27 Jun 1755. Yet if Caleb passed away at Fort Hinsdale the morning following the attack then the date of his death is actually 28 Jun 1755. So that's the date I'm going with at this time.

My Top 10+ Free Genealogy Sites

 

In my post "My Top 10 Fee-Based Genealogy Sites" I limited myself to only 10 fee-based genealogy sites that I regularly depend upon in my research. However, in the case of the free genealogy sites, as I started making the list, it quickly got out of hand and I just couldn't keep the list at ten sites. So here is my top 10+ free genealogy sites that I regularly check. 

Remember, these are my top free genealogy sites and I've selected them based on the names, places and time periods that I'm researching. I am positive I'm missed at least one of your favourite sites.

There is one site I didn't put on the list since its focus isn't on genealogy. That site is Google. Often when I get stuck looking for information I will use Google to explore what is out there. Often I come across those genealogy and family history gems buried on page two or three of the returned results.

1. FamilySearch

With your free account you have access to millions indexed abstracts and images along with their one world tree where anyone can contribute or correct information FamilySearch is a key tool in my genealogy toolbox. Yet there is a whole bunch of images not indexed and once you get comfortable with using their catalogue what is available to you is phenomenal. Although some of the image collections may not be viewable from home once their Family History Centers reopen many more digitized records will be accessible.

2. Library and Archives Canada

If you are researching your ancestors that at any time settled in Canada then Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is a site to visit. You may be disappointed that a vast majority of their collections are not digitized but I've found that the real value from LAC is from their various subject matter pages such as Census and the Military Heritage pages. Those pages help point you to where you can find the information, whether at LAC in Ottawa or on partner sites. Also, much like with FamilySearch, once you become familiar with using the catalogue search system so much more can be found.

3. Internet Archive

I make use of the Internet Archive to locate those out of copyright books that are often referred to as sources in family history compilations or in online databases. But that's not all that there is on the site. Maybe you are looking for the Canada Gazette for 1898-1899, you can find it here and can even download it in PDF or even EPUB format for reading on your computer later. You just don't know what is available unless you look for it. The other reason I use the Internet Archive is the Wayback Machine. This is an archive of over 477 billion (and growing) web pages on the Internet. A number of times when a web site has disappeared from the Internet I've been able to find an older copy in the Wayback Machine's archive.

4. Canadiana Héritage

First of all, this is not exactly your usual friendly genealogy web site. If you think of it as a collection of digitized microfilms that may or may not be name indexed or even fully catalogued then you will have set your expectations appropriately. Yet this has become an important site for my Canadian research. Many of the "C", "H", and "T" microfilms from Library and Archives Canada may be found here. In these often frustrating COVID-19 times where we can't get to an archive to review a microfilm, having any digitized microfilms can be wonderful. You will even find parish records from some churches in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba.

5. Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

I wish all provinces were like New Brunswick when it comes to the free availability of indexed vital statistics records with images. It isn't just those birth, marriage, and death records that make the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB) site so invaluable in my research. You will find indexes to land petitions and grants, very early port returns from 1816-1838, marriage bonds between 1810-1932, Daniel F. Johnson's Newspaper Vital Statistics collection, and a lot of information contributed by Wallace Hale in the Fort Havoc pages concerning the Loyalists in New Brunswick. Those are just a few of the highlights on this site. If you have New Brunswick ancestors you really need to visit the PANB site.

6. BC Archives Genealogy Collection at the Royal BC Museum

It seems that in the various branches of my family tree sooner or later a group goes to British Columbia to live. Ancestry may have their British Columbia birth, marriage, or death indexed but the BC Archives Genealogy collection hosted by the Royal BC Museum has the births (1854-1903), marriages (1871-1944), deaths (1872-1999), colonial marriages (1859-1872) and baptisms (1836-1888) index is searchable with many of the records having images of the documents available for you to save to your computer.

7. WorldCat

WorldCat is one of those site that doesn't provide the records that we are so often looking for in our research. Instead it can help us find those sometimes hard to find books that have those transcriptions in libraries, archives, and museums. I remember one time looking for a book on the family of Simon Baxter and learned that the Canadian Museum of History had a copy in their reference library. I didn't even know that they had a reference library. A few days later I was able to review that book and learn more about that line on my family tree.

8. Commonwealth War Graves Commission

When researching one of those 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who gave their lives in the First and Second World War then a visit to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site is a requirement. There you will learn where the person is buried or memorialized, their service number (so important to later research), unit, and possibly other personal information. There may be additional documents such as what was to be recorded on the marker or panel.

9. Find A Grave

Find A Grave is one of those sites I either really love or hate depending on what I find and my mood. I love it when I comes across a memorial page that has the image of the marker that is readable or at least correctly transcribed. I hate it when there is no marker image but someone has created a memorial and they haven't stated where they got their facts. So I have learned to treat Find A Grave like a user contributed tree on Ancestry, don't trust but verity everything. That said, those memorials with images have helped me considerably in my own research. Even those without images have been handy as possible pointers to find the key records.

10. Public Libraries [Ottawa Public Library in my case]

Many of public libraries have genealogy databases available to anyone. These databases are often specific to the area and help point the way to find documents in the library. For example, if you have ancestors in the Belleville area of Ontario, Canada then checking out the Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes from the Belleville Intelligencer might be a really good idea. In these COVID-19 times many of the libraries, courtesy of Ancestry and ProQuest, have made available the library version of Ancestry to use from the safety and comfort of your home. Some libraries will even help you locate a copy of an obituary in the local newspaper as long as you provide the key details. As always, be polite when asking for help.

 

The next set didn't make my top 10 list of free resources but I couldn't leave them out. So here is the "+" list.

Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics

If you have ancestors from Nova Scotia and you are trying to find their birth, marriage, or death registration then you need to visit this site. It is free to search and view the various registrations. However, unlike PANB or the BC Archives Genealogy Collection, you need to pay to download the registrations. So be prepared to create your own abstracts unless you want to spend the money to have an electronic copy of the record.

Archives of Ontario

The Archives of Ontario don't have the birth, marriage, and death records on their site (go to FamilySearch or Ancestry instead) but where the Archives of Ontario shines for genealogists and family historians is in their research guides. Are you trying to find a divorce record in Ontario, then you need to read Research Guide 210. Looking for a birth registration and you don't know if has been released to the Archives of Ontario then Research Guides 202, 203, and 204 probably need to be read. Are you trying to figure out the districts and counties in Ontario over time? Then a visit to "A Guide to Boundaries, Names and Regional Governments" page is a good place to start. Did your immigrant ancestor come through the Toronto Emigrant Office between 1865 and 1883? Check out the Toronto Emigrant Office Assisted Immigration Registers.

WikiTree

I've been using and periodically contributing to WikiTree for about a year. This is a "one world" family tree much like what is found on FamilySearch. With a free account you can add people and update existing entries. What sets WikiTree apart from other trees is in their encouraging of making sure the information in a person's profile is sourced. This allows you to locate new sources of information in your own research.

IrishGenealogy.ie

The Irish Genealogy site should be one of your go to sites if you have ancestors that were in Ireland. They have the civil registrations for births (1864-1919), marriages (1845-1944), and deaths (1871-1969) in addition to church records of baptisms, marriages, and burials for a number of counties in Ireland.

The Ancestor Hunt

If you are looking for free archives of newspapers, yearbooks, or city directories for Canada and the United States then dropping my The Ancestor Hunt will make your search a lot easier.

The Ontario Name Index (TONI)

Courtesy of Ontario Ancestors (also known as Ontario Genealogical Society), TONI is one of those databases that can help you out in your Ontario research. As a name index it is important to realize that the database itself is just an index and will point you to where you can find the information. Most of the resources that TONI has indexed are documents held by the various branches but there are pointers to records from from other sites.

Bower-McBurney Genealogy

In addition to TONI, the Bower-McBurney Genealogy site has become an invaluable resource for my Ontario research. It isn't because I have any relatives related to that family but Wayne Bower has made available the images from the Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Register and also the digitized microfilm index pages for the Ontario Birth Registers for 1914-1917.

Trove

Trove is just that, a treasure trove for those researching their relatives in Australia. There are digital copies of newspapers, government gazettes, maps, magazines, and newsletters. The newspapers and gazettes, especially the family notices in the various papers, are often where we as genealogy researchers head to first but don't forget to search the other collections for other nuggets.

Papers Past

Much like Trove for Australia, Papers Past is the source for New Zealand newspapers, magazines and journals, letters and diaries, and parliamentary papers. I don't have many distant relatives in New Zealand but for the branch that did settle there the newspapers have helped answer questions about their lives.

FreeBMD

FreeBMD is a searchable database of the birth, marriage, and death civil registration indexes for England and Wales. Even though fee-based sites may have this index, often from FreeBMD itself, this is the free version. Where I often find it of value is being able to see the original image of the index page and also to learn what places are within a registration district. Combined with the General Register Office (GRO) site for ordering the registrations I've been able to discover "missing" children that were born and died between census enumerations.

CanadaGenWeb's Cemetery Project

Much like Find A Grave, the CanadaGenWeb's Cemetery Project is a free and searchable listing of cemeteries. However, it is focused only on Canadian cemeteries. If I can't find the image of a marker that is in a Canadian cemetery in Find A Grave I always head to this site to see if a volunteer has photographed and placed the picture of the marker here.

JewishGen

One of my connected American branches has Jewish roots and the JewishGen site has been useful in providing clues about the family. The JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry even has images of some of the markers along with providing location details about the cemetery.

National Library of Scotland

Along with ScotlandsPeople, the National Library of Scotland is one of those must use sites if you have Scottish ancestors. There are two items that I often use are the Maps and the Scottish Post Office Directories. However, there is much more to be found on this site.

 

There are many other free sites that I use in my research so this is really just my highlights list. I'm certain that I've not mentioned one of your favourite free genealogy sites. If so, leave a note in the comments since I'm always looking for new resources to help break down my various brick walls.

Same Name, Different Person?

In my post, Not Trusting Trees -or- Make Sure You Read the Records!, I focused on the parents of Louisa Coulston/Colston Golding and the challenge with figuring out the maiden surname of her mother, Susanna. In this post I will look at the husband of Louisa, one Reuben Charles Short of England later of London, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada.

According to the chart found in the family bible Reuben Charles Short was born 31 Mar 1807 and died 17 Mar 1880. As I had mentioned in the research concerning the mother of Louisa, charts found in family bibles always need to be taken with a grain of salt and backed up with other documents such as ecclesiastical and government created records. So far the information recorded in this specific family chart actually matches with the other records I've uncovered. So I trust it...as much as I trust any other record.

In the parish register for St. Michael Bassishaw in London, England we find a marriage recorded in Ancestry's "London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932" collection between Reuben Short and Louisa Coulston Golding taking place on 24 Mar 1829. 

"London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932," database and images, Ancestry Operations, Inc., Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 Sep 2020), Reuben Short and Louisa Coulston Golding, married 24 Mar 1829; citing London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/MIC1/A/01/Ms 6990/1; Marriage register for St Michael Bassishaw, 1813-1835, p 63.

To add a little bit to the confusion to Louisa's middle name she writes it as "Coston". Why do I think it is her handwriting and not that of the priest or clerk? This is where we have to look at the page as a whole. If she didn't know how to write her name the signature would have been like that of the witness to the following recorded marriage, "Ann Pyatt her Mark X". Also the letters, especially the 'd' in Golding, look different when compared to the rest of the record and page.

Unfortunately, unlike in the civil marriage registrations that started 1 Jul 1837 in England and Wales, the names of any parents are generally not recorded in parish marriage registers. This leaves us with a challenge, who are Reuben Charles Short's parents and where in England was Reuben born?

Once again I turned to the family trees on Ancestry that have been created by users of that site for potential clues. And much like the challenges with figuring out the maiden surname of Louisa's mother, Susanna, we face some in interesting challenges. Here an example of one profile hint from Ancestry:

Screen capture of an Ancestry profile hint for Reuben Edward Short Sr.

A few things I need to address or point out.

• For the profile picture they are using the image of the family tree from the Short bible. That is the same family tree chart that I've also been using as a relatively trusted source. That document has recorded within the names of the children along with dates of significant events for that family.
• Reuben's full name, according to that family chart is recorded not just once but twice as "Reuben Charles Short". The use of the "Sr" (senior) may have been used to distinguish him from his son, Reuben Edward Short especially if only the first name is used in business or in the family. Even his grave marker, as you will read a little further on, records his name as Reubⁿ C Short.
• Reuben was born in London, Middlesex, England. However, some have him also baptized on 5 Apr 1807 in Swanage, Dorset, England.
  
• Reuben's father's name is Thomas Short and mother's name is Sarah Martin.
• Six children are listed: Matilda Susannah (1829-1885), Louisa Susannah (1832-1903), Reuben Edward (1935-1928), Sarah Ann (1838-1913), Eliza Jane (1938-1902), and Fanny Charlotte (1842-1918). However, in the family chart found in the bible there is one other daughter, Elizabeth (1841-?). She is listed under the deaths on the chart but without a date recorded. Possibly the creator of the family chart didn't know when she died.
  

Knowing the dates of when the children were born is another little tidbit that may help us out in locating or even dismissing records in England: Reuben Charles' son Reuben Edward was born in England on 18 Mar 1835 and the next child, Sarah Ann, was born in Canada in 14 Oct 1837 with the remaining children also born in Canada. Reuben is also found in the 1871 census of Canada in the Township of London, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada with wife Louisa and daughter Eliza Jane. His entry in that census is sandwiched between the family of his daughter Matilda, now married to William McKnight, and the household of his son Reuben. I've not yet found him in the earlier decennial censuses of Canada West.

So why do some have Reuben Charles Short born in London, Middlesex, England while also having him baptized some distance away in Swanage, Dorset, England. It comes down to two different sets of records. The first is a baptism record for a Reuben, child of Thomas and Sarah Short in 1807.

"Dorset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812," database and images, Ancestry Operations, Inc., Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Sep 2020), Reuben, of Thomas and Sarah Short, baptized 5 Apr 1807; citing Dorset History Centre; Dorchester, England; Dorset Parish Registers; Reference: PE/SW:RE6; Parish of Swanage.

The other is the entry for Find A Grave for Reuben Edward Short Sr. in Mount Pleasant Cemetery and Crematorium in London, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada¹ where someone has written:

REUBEN EDWARD SHORT was born and lived near St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England. He, his wife, two daughters and his son-age one left England in 1836 in a sailing vessel that took 7 weeks to reach America. He settled in Toronto, Canada for four years then went to London, Ontario, where he lived the balance of his life. He was in the shoe making business with his brother and built a log cabin. [Source unknown]

What would have been really nice to read in that Find A Grave memorial page was the source of that information. Also, the memorial page for Reuben on Find A Grave is without an image so how do we know that it is Reuben Edward Short written on the marker? Well, it isn't. The CanadaGenWeb's Cemetery Project has taken photographs of many of the markers on the grounds of Mount Pleasant Cemetery and Crematorium and Reuben's is one of them. The name engraved on the marker appears to my eyes to be "Reubⁿ C Short"²

If that wasn't confusing enough, some people have linked a 1841 census of England to Reuben in their trees. Yet based on the places of birth for his children, he was residing in Canada by that time. That 1841 census of the Parish of Wimborne Minster, Dorset records a Reuben Short, age 35 years, born in Dorset County. Keeping in mind that in the 1841 census of England the ages were rounded down to the nearest multiple of five for those over 15 years of age, could that entry actually be referring to the the Reuben, child of Thomas and Sarah Short?

Curiously, on FamilySearch there is an indexed entry from the "England, Dorset, Parish Registers, 1538-2001" collection for a baptism of an Ellen Short, daughter of Reuben and Catherine Short taking place on 12 Jul 1840 in Wimborne Minster. In the "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005" collection on FamilySearch we find a Reuben Short listed in the index along with a Catherine Mary Ann Primmer with their marriage registered in the 4th quarter of 1839 in the Southampton registration district.

The tricky part in using church records is that not all the parish registers have survived and not all have been digitized or even indexed. So where else can we turn to in these COVID-19 times when archives and libraries are effectively out of bounds for us? How about online newspaper collections. For this I looked to the British newspapers collection on Findmypast.

In the 19 Nov 1840 edition of the Dorset County Chronicle there is a servant, Reuben Short, recorded as a hedger³ with a master named Mr. Harry Small. He performed his hedging task in 2 hours 33 minutes. This was an actual event offered by the Blandford Agricultural Society in a Ploughing and Hedging competition on 11 Nov 1840. There are also mentions of Reuben Short in Lincolnshire and Wiltshire having to do with various criminal activities...all after when Reuben Charles Short was supposedly in Canada.

Could there be at least two Reuben Shorts born around the same time period in England? One that left England for Upper Canada and others that remained behind? The more I look at the records and explore other resources the more I have come to the option that there are indeed at least two people named Reuben Short.

What have we learned from this little exercise?

1. Family trees may not always be correct. It doesn't matter if they are online trees or books compiled a century ago. The information found within need to be looked at with a critical eye and, where ever possible, verified against surviving records.
   
2. Find A Grave entries or those found on any other grave marker site, unless accompanied by the image of the marker, should be treated as suspect.
3. Newspapers can help when looking for a person. Of course, they may just highlight the issue of "same name, different person" like in this case.
4. Family bibles and family charts can be invaluable but, like online family trees, the events recorded need to be corroborated.
   

So, at least for now, the names of the parents of Reuben Charles Short will have to remain a mystery.

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1.  Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 22 September 2020), memorial page for Reuben Edward Short Sr. (1807–17 Mar 1880), Find a Grave Memorial no. 33292270, citing Mount Pleasant Cemetery and Crematorium, London, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada ; Maintained by Find a Grave (contributor 8). 

2. CanadaGenWeb, CanadaGenWeb's Cemetery Project, digital images (http://cemetery.canadagenweb.org/  : accessed 4 Sep 2020), memorial page for Reuben C Short (1807-1880), citing Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada; photographed by Margaret Yasui.

3. Hedger? What's a hedger? Someone who makes and trims hedges of course! It was considered a skilled art.

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.