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"

Records that don't make sense...and what to do with them

Everyone comes across records on the genealogy sites that don't tell us much and we are puzzled as to where the record came. Such was the case of a posting in one of the genealogy related groups I follow on Facebook.

"Can someone explain to me how and where I can access the actual record for this marriage? I found this index on ancestry, but I guess I am not smart enough to figure out where the actual source document is or how to reference it. It does mention the film number, but that's all I've got (Film Number: 000010066)."

Screen capture from Ancestry.com for the index entry of Lillian E Overlock and Chas A Overlook from the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection.

First of all, never sell yourself short when it comes to your genealogy and family history research knowledge. We have all been in the same boat way too many times. Just by asking the question shows that you are smarter that many others that will just take that index entry at face value. Even I didn't know where that film number came from. Fortunately the hive mind on Facebook did but I'll get to that shortly along with a common problem that I came across with some of the records we use.

What also caught my attention with this query is that the original poster provided all the details needed to help us to answer the question and he was only asking one question. This is something that I mentioned in my post "Questions and Answers: Dos and don'ts". Even better, his question include a screen capture that included the Ancestry logo and the collection name at the top with all the necessary details.

My first reaction when I come across an index entry like this is to click on the link for the other party listed to see if there is any additional information. However, in this case, nothing new was provided:

Screen capture from Ancestry.com for the index entry of Chas A Overlook and Lillian E Overlock from the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection.

Next I will check the "Learn more..." link under Description for the collection. Again, no additional information was provided by Ancestry as to the source other than it was from "Various Maine County marriage collections." Great...it came from a bunch of stuff and you aren't going to tell us from where.

I also noticed that there was no marriage date recorded in the index. That seemed strange to me for an index consisting of marriages.

Fortunately there are many that are familiar with this collection within this Facebook community and they stated that the "Film Number" is from FamilySearch. The hive mind can be so awesome!

So what can you find out about that film number? After logging on to FamilySearch with your free account start a search of the catalog by Film/Fiche Number:

Screen capture from FamilySearch for a search of Film/Fiche Number 10066.

The search reported back that the film/fiche number is for the "Vital records, 1892-1907" authored by "Maine. Division of Vital Statistics; Maine. Division of Vital Statistics." Following that link brought me to this collection that has 184 microfilm reels.

Screen capture of the description for the collection, Vital records, 1892-1907, containing film 10066.

A search for 10066 on the page brought me to the following:

Screen capture from FamilySearch for a search of 10066 on the Vital records, 1892-1907 collection page.

Only one problem, we are looking for a surname that started with an "O" and the digitized microfilm reel has surnames Woodward to Wyzanski. Something is definitely not right. Time to go back a few steps to see if we can straighten out this point of confusion.

We are going to go back to Ancestry and the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection and try searching again but using a bit of the knowledge we have gained. As you can see below I've just entered in the surname of "Overlock" and the exact film number "000010066". It is important to include those leading zeros since that is what the original record for Lillian E Overlock used.

Screen capture from Ancestry for a search of the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection for a Last Name of "Overlock" and exact film number of "000010066".

Only one results appears with that criteria and the spouse listed has a surname of Wotton. A name that fits within the range provided for film 10066 on FamilySearch.

Screen capture from Ancestry for a search results of the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection for a Last Name of "Overlock" and exact film number of "000010066".

Now we can go back to FamilySearch and look for a 1905 marriage in Maine for Grace M Overlock and George B Wotton.

Screen capture from FamilySearch for a 1905 marriage in Maine, United States for Grace Overlock and George Wotton.

That first record looks like a promising candidate and there is even an image available as indicated by the camera icon on the right side. After selecting that entry I clicked on the image that was presented.

"Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-RBGW-P?cc=1803978&wc=71R8-F7C%3A1029440301%2C1029483501 : 20 May 2014), Vital records 1892-1907 > Woodward-Wyzanski > image 1681 of 3463; multiple sources, Maine.

I always try to remember to check the next image to see if there are any additional details. In this case the names of the bride's parents didn't make sense to me:

"Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-RBR3-C?cc=1803978&wc=71R8-F7C%3A1029440301%2C1029483501 : 20 May 2014), Vital records 1892-1907 > Woodward-Wyzanski > image 1682 of 3463; multiple sources, Maine.

So, what about going to the previous image? I know from experience that sometimes the back of these cards/forms get microfilmed first.

"Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-RBLL-H?cc=1803978&wc=71R8-F7C%3A1029440301%2C1029483501 : 20 May 2014), Vital records 1892-1907 > Woodward-Wyzanski > image 1680 of 3463; multiple sources, Maine.

Look at that, there is a Chas . A. Overlock and Lillian E. Overlock listed as the bride's parents! I think we found the image of the document that the original poster was asking about.

How do I know that this image isn't associated with the image before this one? Well I checked that image and it is for a birth registration. So it seems that this image is the back of the form for the marriage of Grace M. Overlock and George B. Wotton.

Why is there a separate entry for Chas A Overlook [as transcribed by Ancestry] and Lillian E Overlock? I'm guessing that the transcribers didn't realize that the cards had a front and back to them and just recorded what they saw, creating a marriage entry for Chas A Overlook and Lillian E Overlock plus a separate entry for Grace M Overlock and George B. Wotton.

So the short answer, which was provided by the others in the Facebook group where the question was originally proposed, is that the film number is from the FamilySearch collections. However, the longer answer found a marriage registration for a daughter and a possible explanation as to why the original index entry was created.

Transcriptions and Their Sources...An Adventure

One the many challenges often faced by genealogy and family history researchers is finding the original source of those transcriptions we often use in our family trees. Over the past week that has been a consuming task for me as I prepare to work on updating and creating source citations for the entry of my 4th great-grandfather Joseph Starr (1757-1840), son of Samuel Starr and Abigail Leffingwell, on Wikitree.

Starr's Point Cemetery ( Kings County, Nova Scotia), Joseph Starr (died 8 Jul 1840) marker; personally photographed and read by Ken McKinlay, 17 Sep 2009.

Up until very recently one of the resources I turned to for early records in the area of Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada that my Chipman and Starr branches originally settled in in the 1760s has been the "Township Books, Kings County: Aylesford, Cornwallis, Horton" compiled by Lorna Woodman Evans in 1996¹. It is still an important reference book for me since it lets me quickly locate information on the families I'm researching in that area.

On page 120 in the compilation by Lorna Woodman Evans she recorded:

"Joseph Starr died at Cornwallis in 8th inst. aged 84,
one of the oldest inhabitants of that port of N.S.
- Haligonian of 18 Aug. 1840."

This would mean he died on 8 Aug 1840 but his marker says he died on 8 Jul 1840. An ugly conflict that needs to be resolved.

With the digitization project by FamilySearch of the microfilms in their possession I've been able to find copies of the Horton Township book, 1751-1895 and the Cornwallis Township and church records, 1720-1920 on FamilySearch.org.

This is where my latest research adventure really starts.

When I reviewed² the digitized copy of the Horton Township book found on FamilySearch I couldn't locate that entry for Joseph Starr. Of course, what made it more of a challenge is the Township book isn't exactly in alphabetical order by family name. The older part of the book is mostly sorted by family name but later sections are a mishmash with family groups interspersed with pages listing deaths for a specific year. After much reading I was able to locate all the other Starr entries in Horton Township except for one...Joseph's. So I went back to the beginning, the beginning of the compilation that is, and read the explanatory notes by Lorna. There she wrote:

"The Horton Township records are preserved in copies of at least four slightly different books. Three copies are found in the K.H.S. Family History Library: one is a photocopy of an original book kept by the Horton Dyke Commissioner, another is a microfilmed copy of a handwritten book with added margin notes and the third is a microfilmed copy of a very neatly handwritten record with entries as late as 1895. In addition to these three copies Douglas Eagles mentions a transcript of the Horton Town Register held at the Public Archives of Canada³ in Ottawa."

"We want to thank Douglas Eagles for allowing the use of his Horton Township Records which he published in 1974. Nearly all of the Horton information recorded here came from his work, with the exception of a few details found in the third copy of the township book previously mentioned."

Based on the handwriting and the FamilySearch description that third copy of the township book appears to be the one that FamilySearch microfilmed and recently digitized. The beginning of the digitized microfilm states that it came from the "Public Archives of Nova Scotia, Halifax.Can." with the title recorded as "Horton Township MG-4 Vol 74." This matches the description found on the Nova Scotia Archives page for the Township book of Horton Township, Kings County.

Since I reside in Ottawa I figured I'd check if a copy of Douglas Eagles' book was available at Library and Archives Canada since it appears they heavily relied on his work. A search using LAC's Aurora system revealed that his "Horton Township records, Kings Co., Nova Scotia : register of births, marriages and deaths, 1751-1895" was available. I was doing this research from home but with the new Aurora system I could place my order without having to visit LAC. However, with it being a preservation copy it could take between 2 to 5 business days to be retrieved. To my surprise I received an e-mail the next day stating the book was waiting for me at Library and Archives Canada. A day later I popped into the Special Collections room and quietly began to check out Mr. Eagles book. This time I started at the beginning and came across this little but significant note on page iii:

"Notices of a few marriages and obituaries gleaned from the "Haligonian" and the "Nova Scotian" by Ross Graves of Upper Stewiacke, N.S., and 'bible' information on several families contributed by John Duncanson, 193 Queen St. Sarnia have been included and gratefully acknowledged."

I also came across the entry for Joseph Starr's death on page 77:

"Joseph Starr d. at Cornwallis on 8 inst aged 84 years, one of the oldest
inhabitants of that part of N.S. Haligonian of 18 Aug. 1840."

Could it be that those several days of reading and rereading the digitized microfilm was for naught? Could it be that Mr. Eagles added information not found in the Township book? It seems that way.

What about the Haligonian newspaper? Could I find a copy at Library and Archives Canada? No such luck. Maybe at Nova Scotia Archives? Well...sort of. They only have the 7 Aug 1840 edition of the Haligonian and General Advertiser. That's "annoying". A search using Worldcat reveals that both Acadia University in Wolfville and the University of Kings College in Halifax have copies. But they can only be consulted on-site and popping over to Nova Scotia, as much as I would love to, just isn't in the cards for the immediate future. So yet another to-do item goes into my genealogy research software.

However, if the notice was in one newspaper might it be found in other newspapers of the time in Nova Scotia?

On the shelves of the Genealogy Services room at Library and Archives Canada you can find a number of books with transcriptions and family histories. I found "Vital Statistics From Halifax Newspapers, 1840-1843" compiled by Jean M. Holder and assisted by Grace L. Hubley and published by the Genealogical Association of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society in 1985 in Halifax. There on page 27 I came across:

"A.R., Sat., 15 Aug. 1840
454. + 8 July at Cornwallis: Joseph STARR, 84"

From checking the list of acronyms at the start of that compilation I learned that "A.R." is the Acadian Recorder. I also know that Nova Scotia Archives in their Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers collection has placed online a digitized copy of that newspaper. Even better, they have the 15 Aug 1840 edition available. Here is the entry clipped from that edition of the Acadian Recorder.

"Died - Joseph Starr," Acadian Recorder, 15 Aug 1840, p. 3, col. 1; digital images, Nova Scotia Archives (https://archives.novascotia.ca/ : accessed 19 Oct 2019), Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers.

Hmmm, "8th ult."not "8 inst". This puts his death as occurring on 8 Jul 1840.

Now I at least have the information on the grave marker which states he died "July 8th 1840" matching up with at least one newspaper. That's a good thing. I still need to review the Haligonian at some point in the future to see if the transcriber made a mistake or the newspaper was in error when originally printed.

During this research escapade I also took the time to check Thematic Guide 1206 to Parish Registers⁴, Volume 1 found in the second floor Reference Room of LAC. I often consult that guide to see if there are parish registers held at Library and Archives Canada that might help me out in my latest quest. Unfortunately they haven't digitized this 2 inch binder so it can only be reviewed onsite. However, I did see that they have listed several entries for Horton, Kings County, Nova Scotia:

• C-3027: Civil registers BMD 1751-1895 (MG 9, B 9-7)
• C-3021: St. John's Anglican Church, Cornwallis, Annapolis Co. B 1783-1902, M 1783-1911, D 1830-1920 includes Horton, and Wilmot.
• C-3022: St. John's Anglican Church B 1823-1877
• H-1806: Eagles' Compilation of Township Registers, etc. BMD 1751-1895
• H-1806: Eagles' Cemetery Recordings for 19 Horton Township cemeteries BD 1767-1873

Could the "Eagles' Compilation of Township Registers, etc. BMD 1751-1895" be the same as the book I read in the Special Collections room?

It just so happens that the Héritage Project site holds digitized copies of a number of the C, H, and T microfilms from Library and Archives Canada. It isn't the easiest site to navigate but when it comes to being able to research from the comfort of your home I'm not going to complain too loudly. A quick check and I discover that H-1806 is in fact digitized and available on the Héritage site. After a few minutes of bouncing around the 810 pages of that digitized reel I found the start of Mr. Eagles book (explanatory notes starting on image 151). So now you too can review his material from your home.

A few lessons to take with you if you've made it this far in my post:

• If you have conflicting information then take the time and effort to resolve the conflict. You might be surprised at what you find.
• Always read the introduction pages to any transcription books. You may find clues as to where they got the information. You might even discover new facts and sources.
• If a book cites another book, make sure that you review that book also (repeat as often as necessary to get to the original source).
• Not everything is digitized and online but it is getting better over time.

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1. Evans, Lorna Woodman, compiler. Township Books, Kings County: Aylesford, Cornwallis, Horton.  Kentville, Nova Scotia: Family History Committee of The Kings Historical Society, 1996.

2. Not just once but I looked through that digitized copy for many hours over several days!

3. Now part of Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.

4. Yes, I keep asking the Genealogy Services staff when they will have that guide available online since it is invaluable to those using the Héritage Project site.

The Challenge of Finding the "Truth"

When we are doing research for ourselves or for a client, one of the challenges that we must tease out of a story is the truth of what happened rather than what was told to us. Here is part of a story that was told within my own family:

"My Aunt Libby had married a Baptist minister and gone to live with him in China to convert the heathen. He must have been one stern man for he had his wife completely cowed. She never made a move without his express orders. So accustomed was she to obeying his every wish, that when they returned after many years to serve a church community in New York city, she was rocked right out of her sense, because he was struck and killed by an auto while crossing a busy New York street. I suppose that after his lengthy China mission, he had not adapted to the great difference in living speeds."

McMullen, Frances Mary Howe (Chipman). "Fran McMullen's Correspondence - Aunt Libby." MS. Mississauga, Ontario, 1936-1987. Privately held by Ken McKinlay, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Ottawa, Ontario, 2018.

There are a few other facts included in the rest of story about Aunt Libby:

• Her name is Elizabeth Chipman
• She was born in 1837
• She was the daughter of Wm Henry Chipman and Sophia Cogswell
• She married Robert Somerville in 1865
• Robert Somerville was a Baptist minister

I wanted to know if the story about Aunt Libby's, my 2nd great-grandaunt, husband was accurate and he was killed while crossing the street.

I first needed to check some of the basic facts so I started with the Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics site to see if they had a copy of parish register marriage entry. I was very fortunate that the Kings County register had survived and was digitized. However, the second page of the entry has been damaged and lost. But enough of the fragment survived to confirm that the marriage took place in 1865.

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Archives, Marriage Registrations ~ 1763-1939, 1866: 7, 20, R M Somerville-Elizabeth Chipman; digital images, Nova Scotia Archives, "1866 Marriages in Kings County," Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics (https://novascotiagenealogy.com/ : accessed 26 Jan 2013).

As you can see, the marriage took place on 13 Sep 1865 in Cornwallis (Kings County, Nova Scotia) between R^t M Somerville and Elisabeth Chipman. With an age of 27 years at the time of the marriage, her birth year is about 1838. Elizabeth's death registration in 1924 in Nova Scotia listed her parents as Wm Henry Chipman and Miss Cogswell according to the informant, her brother Ross Chipman. So far, so good.

The next step was to find out when Robert died.

According to the story, he died in New York City. I know that Ancestry has the "New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948" collection available but Ancestry states that the indices were prepared by the Italian Genealogical Group and the German Genealogy Group. I know that the Italian Genealogical Group has a web site and a number of freely available databases. So let's go to where Ancestry got the index.

As search for Robert Somerville with a death range from 1865 to 1924 returns two matches but the ages don't quite line up. I searched again but this time looking for last names that "sounds like" Somerville. Four names come back this time including a "Robert M Sommerville", age 83 years, dying 3 Feb 1920 in Manhattan and recorded on certificate 5023. This might be the person we are looking for.

Since the 1920 Federal census of the United States took place on 1 Jan 1920, I should be able to find him there along with his wife Elizabeth.

1920 U.S. census, New York County, New York, population schedule, New York City - Manhatten Borough, enumeration district (ED) 445, sheet 1A, dwelling 1, family 5, Robert Sommerville; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 28 Jan 2013); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T625, roll 1194.

There he appears to be with his wife living at 327 West 56th Street in Manhattan.

Let us proceed with the assumption this is the right Robert M Sommerville/Somerville. Can we get a copy of his death certificate without having to write a check? A check of the catalog on FamilySearch shows that they have a "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949" collection. Since he died in 1920 we should be able to find him there.

Screenshot of FamilySearch results for Robert Sommerville, retrieved 23 Sep 2018

And we do but no image is available from home so I will need to visit my local Family History Center to see the image but which microfilm and is it digitized? The "Citing this Record" section states "...FHL microfilm 2,021,133" and a check of the catalog for that film tells me that the "Death certificates (Manhattan, New York), 1919-1948" microfilms have been digitized.

A little while later and after a bit of looking through the images I finally found his death registration. Only one problem...according to the certificate he didn't die due to an automobile accident but from lobar pneumonia.

New York, New York County, New York,  "Death certificates (Manhattan, New York), 1919-1948," (Municipal Archives, New York), 1920, p. 5023, Robert McGowen Sommmerville; FHL microfilm 2,021,133. Cit. Date: 18 May 2018.

I'm not finished yet. Search for him on Google turns up an interesting find, the book "Covenanters in Canada: Reformed Presbyterianism from 1820 to 2012" by Eldon Hay. That book has been digitized by Google Books and parts of it are online to be viewed. Once again providence shone on me and on page 104 of that book it states, "Sommerville's active life ended in 1912, following an accident. In failing health, Robert Sommerville died in New York City on 3 February 1920."

So it appears there is some truth to the story but not exactly as told.

Recently, while on the way to a friend's wedding (don't all genealogists do that - drop by a cemetery on the way to a wedding?) I was able to visit the Bronxville Cemetery where Robert and Elizabeth are buried.

Photograph of gravemaker of Robert and Elizabeth Sommerville, Bronxville Cemetery, Bronxville, New York, USA

As they say on the TV show "The X-Files", the truth is out there. The challenge we face is to find it!

Would the real William Jones please stand up?

Just recently I completed a research project as a present for my brother-in-law where I explored his maternal grandmother's lines. That is also one of the reasons I haven't been posting any blog items these past months. Since my posts are based on the genealogy research I am doing I didn't want any chance of him learning about what I was finding until I presented it to him on his birthday¹.

Almost all of the research for my brother-in-law involved families residing in England and that meant I had the challenge of figuring out if I had the right records or not since some of the people included the dreaded "Smith" and "Jones" surnames. In today's post I'm going to focus on William Jones.

The first William Jones in this project that I came across was the father of Laura Jones and he was mentioned in the parish marriage registration for James Thomas Morris and Laura Jones. I was very happy to learn that via Ancestry the following digitized parish record collections, courtesy of the Library of Birmingham, have been made available:

• Birmingham, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937
• Birmingham, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1912
• Birmingham, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1964

This saved me time and money when it came to requesting various records as part of this project.

So here in 23 Mar 1891 William Jones, the father of Laura, is recorded as having a profession of a Boot Maker.

"Birmingham, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937," database, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 11 Jun 2018), marriage for James Thomas Morris and Laura Jones, 23 Mar 1891, Parish of Bishop Ryder; citing Reference Number: DRO 30; Archive Roll: 580; Anglican Parish Records. Birmingham, England: Library of Birmingham.

It is always a good thing when you come across someone having an occupation that is not an "Ag Lab" or just "labourer" since that provides a unique trait for the person that you can use to rule out other people of that same name. So just how many William Jones are residing in England in the 1891 census? According to Findmypast² there are 14,852 results. We need to get a bit more information first to narrow it down. Under the "Advanced options" in the Findmypast search screen I typed in different occupations that are directly related to making shoes or boots such as:

• bootmaker - 11
• cordwainer - 4
• shoemaker - 51
• shoe maker - 43
• boot maker - 28

There are only 137 William Jones in all of England recorded in the 1891 census with those occupations. Still, that is a number of records and people to look at. Let's try a different tack. How about we look at the 1881 census for households where there is a William Jones and a Laura Jones? There we find 92 households. Still quite a few. What if we look for the reverse, households with Laura Jones (including forename variations) with a William Jones in it but adding in her approximate birth year of 1869 that we gathered from her marriage registration? We now find 34 1881 census entries. Of course we are making an assumption that she is living with her father at that time so we need to keep that in mind. I still need to narrow it down to make sure I have the "right" family.

The 1901 census of the household of James T Morris states that she was born in Erdington, Warwickshire. Can I use that information to help me out?

1901 census of England, Warwickshire, Civil parish of Erdington, Ecclesiastical parish of Erdington St Barnabas, folio 33, page 24, Laura Morris; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Jun 2018); citing PRO RG 13/2875.

In the Findmypast advanced search I added "Erdington" to the keyword and three people were left:

Findmypast search rules for Laura Jones in 1881 census of England

That first one really looks promising since, up to this time in my research, she didn't have any other first names recorded. Looking at the record image³ and not just the transcription seems to confirm that this is the right family. But just to be sure, I looked at Mary L Jones and her father, William, is an Accountant Clerk. Emily L Jones' father is Geo[rge] and it is her brother Wm [William] that is the match in my search.

1881 census of England, Warwickshire, Civil Parish of Aston, Hamlet of Erdington, Ecclesiastical Parish of St. Barnabas, folio 125, page 33, Laura Jones; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Jun 2018); citing PRO RG 11/3046.

We can see that in addition to being a boot maker William is also an Insurance Agent. He is 39 years old, thus born about 1842, and was born in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire.

Checking the 1871 census for that same family we find that William Jones is a "Letter Carrier & Librarian". I wonder if times were tough in the boot making field in 1871?

1871 census of England, Warwickshire, Civil Parish of Aston, Hamlet of Erdington, Ecclesiastical of Erdington, folio 97, page 4, Laura Jones; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 Jun 2018); citing PRO RG 10/3159.

From the 1881 census and 1871 census there is another clue to find more records, do you see it? A John Coton in that same household is listed as a father-in-law. Making yet another assumption, that means that Ellen, William Jones' wife, is a "Coton". With both William and Ellen born in Warwickshire and Ellen being born in Erdington (1881) or Aston (1871) there is a pretty good chance I might be able to find the marriage record on Ancestry for the two of them since those places are in the Birmingham area. However, I had no such luck using the parish collections from Ancestry so it was off to FreeBMD.

There was only one William Jones recorded as marrying an Ellen Coton in the civil marriage registrations. Even better, the marriage took place in the Birmingham registration district and recorded in the second quarter (April-June) 1865. That is just a few years before the birth of Charles, their eldest son, as recorded in the 1871 census. So I spent my money, £9.25, and waited three weeks for the document to arrive in my postal mail box. It was money well spent.

England and Wales, marriage certificate for William Jones and Ellen Coton, married 7 May 1865; citing 6d/93/462, Jun quarter 1865, Birmingham registration district; General Register Office, Southport.

There is William Jones, a boot maker, the son of...really? William Jones?? You have got to be kidding me?

Fortunately William Jones the Senior also has a relatively unique occupation, that of a wheelwright. I guess I'll just have to repeat the process all over for him.


As you can see, it just isn't a name that is needed when find anyone in the records. You need a unique combination of other details about that person. It might be where they resided, who they were living with, when they were born, where they were born, a medical condition, or occupation to help you winnow them out from all the other people with the same name.

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1. Yes, he did appreciate the gift. He then spent the next hour reading the report and asking questions.
2. Why use Findmypast in this case? I don't have any family tree recorded there so there is less bias when it comes to searching and the results that are provided.
3. I am citing the images from Ancestry since that is where I originally retrieved them. The Findmypast images, in this case, are the same. 

Finding "Unknown" Children in Findmypast Parish Records

One of the challenges we often face is locating the siblings of children we already know about. That was the case with a recent post in the Yorkshire Genealogy group on Facebook:

"A question about how to search on FindmyPast.com for baptismal records without knowing the child's name. (For those who don't know findmypast is giving free access to records from Sept 7-10.) I am interested in finding all the siblings of someone born in Wakefield, Yorkshire around 1820. Because I do not know the names of all the siblings I cannot search using their own names. If I search on the names of one of the parents, however, I don't seem to find baptismal records for their children. Is there a way to search for the parents and get their kids' baptismal or birth records? Thank you!"

The first challenge was to get a little more information so that I could better help out and to create a usable search. With a bit of prompting this is what was next posted:

"...the father is George Armitage. Mother is listed as Mary Rayner (both in first name field) Armitage. Her full maiden name was Mary Rayner Haigh. Two known children are John Armitage born 25 Oct 1819, baptized 4 Sep 1820 at Wakefield, All Saints. Their other known child is Henrietta Armitage, born 13 Apr 1813, also baptized 04 Sept 1820. There was also a daughter, Jane baptized the same day as the other two, according to the West Yorkshire, Church of England records on ancestry, but I am most interested in finding out whether George and Mary Rayner had other children. George and Mary Rayner were married in Leeds but known children were baptized in Wakefield."

So what do we know now?

• George Armitage is the father
• Mary Rayner Haigh is the mother
• George Armitage and Mary Rayner Haigh were marred in Leeds, Yorkshire, England
• Two children were born between 1813 (Henrietta) and 1819 (John)
• Those two children plus another daughter were baptized in 1920 at All Saints Church in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England

That should be enough information to give us a nice starting point to build a search query using Findmypast.

Here is the starting page I typically get once I am logged into Findmypast.com:

Findmypast.com starting page

We could start at the Findmypast starting page by filling in the boxes in the 'Search our records" section but I'm going to take a different tack by clicking on the "Search" tab on the top banner and selecting "Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)". This brings me to this page:

Findmypast,com Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers) search page

Since I know where in the world the family was I'm going to click on the "World" drop down menu found on the left side of the screen and select "England".

Also, since the records are all probably in the years before civil registration took place in England and Wales, I'm going to click on the "Parish Baptisms" text within the "Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)" section on the left side of the screen.

As you can see, there are a few more really useful additional search boxes we can fill in. Each of those specific collections within the "Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)" have unique search boxes so if you know what type of record you want to look for, select that collection.

Now to fill in the blanks in the search form. As you do so, the floating "Search Parish Baptism" button at the bottom of the screen will change to show how many records match your search criteria. I will put in square brackets the number that appeared on my screen to show the effect of the filters I am using.

1. For the "Last name" type in Armitage. [34,388]
2. Check the "Name variants" box under the Last name since we don't know how the parish clerk or vicar might have written the name. [47,637]
3. For the "Year of Birth" type in 1820 and change the "Give or take" to -+ 10yrs [7,844]
4. For "Where", for the list of counties, just start typing "Yorkshire" and select that county from the drop down list that appeared. [4,203]
5. For the "Locations" type in Wakefield. [82]
6. For the "Mother's first name(s)" type in Mary and leave the "Name variants" box checked. I could add her second first name but the person recording the details in the record book will only put in the first forename [27].
7. Leave the "Mother's last name" box empty since often the last name isn't recorded. [27]
8. For the "Father's first name(s)" type in George and leave the "Name variants" box checked. this will catch any "Geo" or other variations including just initials. [12]
9. Leave the "Father's last name" box empty since we have already put that in our search form above. [12]

So we have gone from 34,388 records down to just 12. Not too shabby! Clicking on the "View 12 Results" button will bring up what was found.

Partial search results from Findmypast for the Armitage Parish Baptism query

Here is a snippet of the results from the search. You will notice a few duplicates. That is due to the information being duplicated in the collections from the various original searches.

Also, these are only transcriptions as can be seen by the piece of paper icon. If there were images then there would be a camera icon.

If you look at one of those records and scroll down the page you will see some text stating:

Index (c) IRI. Used by permission of FamilySearch Intl.

So we know that this is an index and it is under copyright by IRI. Just who is IRI and can we find what this index was created from? Well, IRI is the "Intellectual Reserve, Inc." and it was created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints¹. This means, at least for my purposes, that I should probably go to FamilySearch to see if I can find the images, or at least the microfilms, so that I can view the scanned in original documents.

Let us pop over to FamilySearch to see if we can replicate the search.

First we need to sign in to FamilySearch. If you don't have an account at FamilySearch it is easy to do so and it is free.

Once I signed in I hovered my mouse over the "Search" text at the top menu and click on "Records" to bring up the search page. Below is my reconstruction of the search I used on Findmypast.

FamilySearch search screen for Armitage

There are many more records return, 36,353 results to be exact, but that is because I didn't do any filtering of the collections. Like in the Findmypast search we there are duplicates, but that is to be expected since it appears that Findmypast used these records for their index.

FamilySearch search results for Armitage query

Hmmm, it looks like there are no images here also. Yet if we click on one of the search results we get the details records and "Citing this Record" text.

FamilySearch Armitage search results details for Edward Haigh Armitage

In the "Citing this Record" we can see that the microfilms used were 0990773 to 990775. A quick search of the catalog for Film/Fiche Number tells us that these are from the "Bishop's transcripts for the parish church, Wakefield, 1600-1857". Those specific microfilms cover a range of dates.

FamilySearch Catalog search results for microfilm 990773

You can see that there is a key symbol above the camera icon. This indicates that we will need to visit a Family History Center to view digitized copies of the microfilm scans of the original documents. Also, since we are interested in the christening/baptisms from 1810 to 1830 we will need to look at the digitized microfilms 990773, 990774, and 990775 to find all the family members.

Could we improve our search in Findmypast and FamilySearch? I think so. If we know the date of the marriage for George and Mary Rayner Armitage I would be tempted to set the starting year as 2 years before that time (just in case the first child was out of wedlock) and 25 years after the marriage. Sometimes the census can help us with a "cut-off" date for the last known child to survive. but even then I would add an additional 5 years to find those "lost" children.

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1. See the Wikipedia article Intellectual Reserve for details of why you will find "(c) IRI" on the indexes from FamilySearch that are used on genealogy research sites.