David, Daniel, Donald!

In early August I was contacted by a young woman asking if I had information on her ancestor, Daniel. She was struggling because one census record listed him as Danial and another as Donald and it made no sense to her. I checked my files and even though I have a very large data base for the surname that she is researching I had nothing on this man. I explained that the only reason I could think of for the census discrepancies was an error on the part of either the census taker or the person that supplied the information.

I was intrigued by her request because the only persons with the surname she is researching in the Syracuse area seem to be descendants of my 4th great-grandparents. I decided to see what I could find for her.

A month earlier and I would have just logged onto Ancestry.com and searched several data bases at once, however I gave up my paid subscription at the end of July. I was forced out of my comfort zone.

My first stop was Family Search. I tried both the Labs and Beta sites and came up with only the 1930 census where he was listed as Donald, living in the home of a married daughter. One of his sons was also living there. He was recorded as Danial on the 1910 census and the 1910 census is not available anywhere for free. (She later provided me with a copy of the 1910.) Let me say that this is a surname that can be misspelled a dozen different ways

My next stop was Old Fulton Post Cards to see what I might find in the newspapers. I quickly found three articles, all of them sad. They did place the family in Syracuse in the 1915 - 1916 time frame and provided me with the names of some of the children.

Through emails I learned a little bit more about what she already knew about the family and some of the things she had been told. She was expecting Native American and Irish ancestry. (I believe she will be disappointed.)

I went back to the newspapers and did some very creative boolean searches. I found an obituary for Mrs. Charles _____, 1903 in Oswego County, just north of Syracuse. Daniel was listed as one of her survivors living in Hastings. But was this the correct Daniel? I went back to Family Search and tried to find him on the 1900 census. First I tried searching for just the surname in Oswego, New York. I found one of the other sons mentioned in the obituary but not Daniel. Next I searched for him with just a first name, year of birth +/- 5 years. No luck. Next I searched for just his wife's first name, Ida,  year of birth +/- 5 years. BINGO! I had never seen the surname spelled with an s in the middle and he was listed as DAVID! The children were the same as listed on the 1910 census so I'm fairly certain it is the correct record.

So now I had David on the 1900 census, Danial in 1910, MIA in 1920 and Donald in 1930. But where was the rest of the family in 1930? Ida and their youngest child were living with another family and she was listed as a domestic. My best guess is that times were tough in 1930 and Ida took a job when it was offered. Both of them listed their marital status as married so I don't believe they had divorced. I have been unable to locate Daniel on the 1880 census but I did find Ida with her parents. [Update below]

Frustrated with the census I returned to newspapers. I found an obituary for Charles ____  from 1906 that listed the same sons as the Mrs. Charles ______. This time Daniel was said to be of Amboy. There are two Amboy's, one in Oswego County and the other in Onondaga County. I found several article about the other sons of Mr and Mrs Charles ______ but they didn't help me any with tracking down Daniel.

I started looking for Charles in the census. The only record I found was for a Charles born abt 1836, one town west of where I had been looking. He was living with his parents, Egbert and Charity. This couple was in my file however I was chagrined to realize that I had Egbert as a son of John but with no firm source. This would be a distant cousin and I had never followed up.

Partly due to frustration, mostly due to life I put this project aside. As I was writing the above I decided that I WOULD find Daniel, hopefully with Charles and the siblings I had listed. And I did! I finally found them by going to the original FamilySearch.org, choosing just the 1880 US census to search and looking for a family from the 1900 census. After only two tries I found myself in the town I wanted and clicked through, household by household. Another odd spelling of the surname. Then the masochist in me went to the Family Search Beta site and searched for Charles with the birth year +/- 5 years, residence in 1880, Oswego, New York. Of course the record came right up. Previously I had searched for Daniel with the wrong year of birth as shown on the 1900 census.

Meanwhile I put my tree for the surname on Ancestry and extended her an invitation. As I found things I added them to the tree and she was able to access them there. I transcribed some of the newspaper articles I found and placed them there too. She can easily evaluate what I've found and post it over to her tree as she sees fit. If we can ever find a source naming Egbert as a son of John she will have one line of her family tree back to 17th New York, perhaps with a couple of other glitches too.

It was interesting working on a line I knew nothing about. Because I have previously (as in several years ago) researched the surname in the area I think I actually handicapped myself, thinking I knew more than I did. I also learned how to more effectively search at Family Search and that switching between their three sites can be beneficial. I also should have tried to find records at both Footnote and World Vital Records but even though I have subscriptions to both, I find them frustrating to use. Many newspapers have been added to the OFP site and I found many articles that weren't available a few years ago.

I expect to continue to work on this because I love a good puzzle. Next I need to tackle the 1860 and 1870 censuses. And while I was searching for this group of _____ I found others that didn't already reside in my tree so I'll be taking another look at them to see if / how they connect to me.

This was written for the 97th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, Research From Scratch, to be hosted by Jasia at Creative Gene. The task was to spend 3-5 hours of online research to get someone else started. Jasia is just too funny! Who could stop at just five hours?


Thanks for the poster fM!

The Church at Oaks Corners - Part1

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

Amanuensis Monday, hosted by John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch.

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Part 1 is here. The full series is also available at Ontario County GenWeb.

 

I have spent many hours reading old newspapers this summer. Three branches of my family were all in Ontario County, New York in the early 1800's, with the Hall's and Glover's settling in the town of Phelps at Oaks Corners. This is the only place other than family notes that I have ever found a reference to my gr-great-grandmother, Louisa Glover! I have found many other names of persons I know I am related to and I'm still exploring my file to see if any others are there. I hope that others find their families listed here.

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The Phelps Citizen. [Phelps, Ontario, New York. No author name with article.]
Thursday, May 9, 1889

Sessional Records of the Church at Oaks Corners

A synopsis of the same will only be attempted. I have been unable to obtain any sessional records, as such, till April 1st. 1814, at which time the Society was transformed into a Presbyterian Church. Therefore, the records, printed In the business records from 1804-1814, must suffice.

The record in question opens with a written confession of faith and covenant, as held by the Presbyterian Church. The first recorded meeting, was held at the house of Thaddeus Collins, April 1813.

Resolved, That the church adopt the Presbyterian standards and form of government. Dr, Peter Woodward was appointed delegate to Presbytery of Geneva, to present the notion of the church.

Said action was presented at a meeting of Presbytery, April 23d, 1813, at Housoye, and the church was made a constituent member of Geneva Presbytery.

Rev. Mr. Powell , as far as I know, was the only officiating pastor from 1805 up to this time, 1813.

Lackey Morrow, Peter Woodward, Mathew Denniston and John Burnham were the first board of ruling elders.

A meeting was held at the union school house in Phelps to consider a call to the Rev. Mr. Barritt. Committee: John Burnham, Moses Youngs, Joseph Griffith, M. Denulaton, Thaddeus Collins, Caleb Case, John Griffith, Joseph Hall and Thadeus Oaks.

This committee did not meet with sufficient success, resulting in a failure to call Mr. Barritt.

At the next meeting, August 14th, 1814, the Rev. Ambrose Porter presided, and undoubtedly was the officiating minister, as his name appears as moderator of the session for some length of time.

Peter Woodward was dismissed to join the church at Gorham. George VanAuken was admitted membership, on profession, October 2d, 1814.

During this period John Burham was clerk of session.

At a church meeting, May 14th, 1815, Joshua King and Caleb Case were chosen elders. Charity Humphrey and Betsey Burnett were received into the church. Anthony VanAuken and wife dismissed to join the church in Lyons. September 12th, 1816, Rev. Charles Mosher was Installed as pastor.

December 11th, 1816, Cephas Field, Ruth Hodson and Lydia Hindman were admitted.

January 26th, 1817, Simeon VanAuken was dismissed to join a church in Wolcott.

May 4th, 1817, Lucinda Richards, Louisa Baker and Mercey Humphrey were admitted to the church.

May 9th, 1817, Maria Prescott, and Salmira Webster. Reuben Bardwell and Robert J. Griffith, were received January 16th, 1818.

A number were dismissed to join a new church in the north-west part of the town, Brewer, Post, Sears, VanBlarnacom and others.

May 17th, 1818, James VanAuken, Mary Shattuck and Mr. Rogers were admitted to the chrch.

August 1st, 1819, received Theodore Partridge and Summit Brown.

Theodore Partridge was a school teacher in Phelps, and became a ruling elder, and prominent in church affairs many years. He was clerk of the session many years. His fine work is still to be seen on the books.

The resignation of Rev. Charles Mosher was accepted September 20th, 1819.

Rev. Samuel Brace was ordained and installed December 29th, 1819. Present, Rev, Axtell, Clark, Stephen Porter, Townsend, Pomeroy, Merrill, Bacon.

January 16th, 1820, received into the church Lucena VanAuken, Loa Wells, Jane and Susan Rees, Mrs. Clark, Charles W. Glover, and Erastus Lonett, William Frisbie and wife, Elias W. Frisbie, Sally C. Deming, and Abigail Glover.

March 23d, 1820, Doctor William Frisbie was chosen Deacon, and Enoch Wing, Daniel Trowbridge, Theodore Partridge, Elders.

Jabez Joslyn, Nancy Young, Minerva Wait, Lucy Phillips, Eliza Wing, Abgail Baldwin, Vinera Glover, were admitted. The names of Charity Stephens, Mary and Elizabeth Bedell appear. Cases of discipline occurred which were conducted in a straight forwrd manly manner, to positive results.

November 24th, 1820, Rev. Mr Brace baptized Christopher, Augustus, Caleb, Lorenzo, and Sophia Dickenson, children of Fanny Bannister, also Samuel B. an infant of Robert J. and Elizabeth Griffith

March 23d, 1821, Elder Nathan Denniston and wife were dismissed to join the church at Sodus.

April 22d, 1821, Charity Stevens, Robert Harris, Polly Glover, Miller Eddy, Louisa Glover, Milan Glover, Samuel Glover, Conway D. Crosby, were admitted to the church.

August 25th, 1821 Charles Yale was elected elder.

November 13th, 1821, received into the church, Mehitable Sumner, Rebecca Phillips, Elizabeth Humphrey, Robert Cross, George Glover.

February 4d, 1822, Enoch Eddy, Benoni Grover, Harriet Hall, and others.

May 12th, 1822, received into the church, Olive Burnett, Susannah Lansing.

August 11th, 1822, received on profession, Jacob Cooper and Elizabeth Simons.

November 7th, 1822, by S. W. Brace, baptized Willard, child of Henry Farbush; also Nathan, son of Thaddeus and Fanny Oaks.

April 27th, 1823, received into the church, Asahel Bannister, Polly Banister, William Butler, Esther Butler, Benjamin Heartwell, Eli Dickinson, Abigal Parks, Mrs. Harriet Stewart, Jacob and Diantha Lewis.

The Rev. Samuel W. Brace closed his labors with the church February 8th, 1824.

November 10th, 1834, the Rev. Henry P. Strong was installed pastor of the church. Present, Rev's Stockton, Larndsbury, Lansing, Axtell, Pomroy, Wm. Eddy.

October 12th, 1826, Samuel Wright and Charles W. Glover, were chosen Elders, and Doctor Winens Bush, Deacon. Presbytery, Seneca Falls, February 4th, 1830

STEPHEN PORTER, Moderator.

May 10th, 1831, the relation existing between the Union Religious of Phelps, and Presbyterian Society of Vienna, and the Rev. H. P. Strong, is dissolved.

The persons named as follows, constitnted [sic] a new church at Vienna: Lackey Morrow, (Elder,) Richard Van Vranken. Esther his wife, John, Lucy, and Mary Wright, Ann Frazier, Enoch Wing, (Elder,) Elizabeth Bulkley, Rufus Goodale, Samuel Wright, Daniel Peer, David G. Monett, Francis M. Lansing, A. D. Crosby, Ann Johnson, Sally Beman, Robert J. Griffith, E. Willard Frisbie, Minerva Wait, Jane McCormac, Anny Merry, Nancy Gates, Rhoda Crosby, Elizabeth Frisbis, Walter Laidlow, Loa Wells, Orres Frazer, David Sherrill, Wynan Bush, Robert Allen, Elizabeth Hibbard, Julia A. Bush, Mary J. Morrow, Margaret Morrow, Elizabeth Sherrill, Elizabeth Griffith, Polly Woodward, Darius Seager, Eunice Seager, Eunice Wilson, Sarah Deming, Maria Flynn, Wm. H. Thomson, Catherine and Sally Crumb, Andrew Robison, Sophia Schutt, Joseph Bronson, Sarah, Catherine and Mary Brower, Ellen Poe, Joseph Griffith, Peter and John Brower, Cyntha Brower, Lydia Taylor, Julia Hindman, Charlotte and Lydia Hindman, Mary Harmon, Jane Laidlow, Nancy Moody.

The above persons were constituted into a church at Vienna. In addition the following persons were dismissed June 4th, 1831:

George, Betsey, Phoebe, John and Frederick Brown, Betsey, Charlotte and Abigal Brown, Lucretia Bruzee, Elizabeth Goodale, Anna Morse, Anna Hubbard, Wm. and Mary Hutchinson, Mrs. Guilford, Enoch Crosby, Tobias Mercy, Mary Sarah Stoutenburg, and Catherine Loomis, to the Vienna church. Eighty four in all.

The wholesale emigration to Phelps nearly stranded the old church. We may well imagine their feelings, with Minister and some Elders, and a large membership gone. But with courage undaunted, the remnant proceeded to hold up the banner.

June 22d, 1831, Asahel Bannister and Enoch Eddy were chosen Elders. Cha's Glover and Daniel Trowbridge, Deacons.

July 31, received into the church, Othniel Hall, Peter Brizee, Sally Brizee, Eliza Bigelow, Dudley L VanAuken, Reuben Worthy Stevens, Mary Doty, Elwin Thompson, Elizabeth Brown, Lucinda Crittenden, Chloe Humphrey.

April 8th, 1832, Eli Dickenson was chosen Elder, Osee Crittenden and Reuben Stevens, Deacons.

September 1832, Rev. Wm. R. Betts was ordained and installed pastor.

John Whipple elected Elder January 20th, 1833.

Osee Crittenden and George VanAuken elected Elders July 25d, 1833.

The pastoral labors of Wm. R. Betts closed April 14th, 1834.

Rev. Isaac Crabbe appears on the record, July 13th, 1834. At this point the records are missing from page 70 to 93. 1836, Isaac Crabbe is still pastor, but closed his labors in the autumn.

November 27th, 1836, Hiram Armstrong was received by profession into the church.

Wm. Young chosen Elder February 16th, 1837.

August 27th, 1837, were received into the church, Sylvanus Burtis, Oscar Heartwell, Victoria Bannister and others.

Rev. Ezra Scoville installed pastor Febraury 20th, 1838.

March 11th, 1838, Cotton Dickenson, I. Clinton Stevens, Catlin Webster, ordained Ruling Elders.

September 7th, 1840, Rev. Mr. Scoville closed his labors.

February 15th, 1842, Rev. Mr. Everett installed.

I. C. Stevens, November 17th, 1842, was dismissed, at his request, to join the church at Vienna.

May 26th, 1843, Hiram Armstrong was ordained Elder.

Twenty years elapsed without any more additions to the Eldership.

Rev. Mr. Everett was succeed by Rev. J. R. Moser in 1843, he by John R. Young in 1847, A. G. Moore in 1849, Rev. Ira Ingram 1853, Chester 1857, Stoutenburg 1860, A. T. Young 1864, twelve years, Rev. Mr. Werner 1876, Rev. Mr. Salmon 1880, Mr Richardson 1884, Rev Samuel Murdock 1887.

A Day Spent at Find A Grave

I spent most of the day today at Find A Grave. I spent a few minutes doing searches and then the rest of the day adding to Ellisburg Cemetery. The photos I have were taken over a year ago - so shame on me! Here are some random thoughts from today.

• If you add a memorial you agree to manage it. I understand that typos happen but if I ask you to make a correction I feel you are obligated to do so, or transfer the memorial to someone who will.
• Ditto if I ask you add relationship links or other information.
• Is there a prize I'm not aware of for managing the most memorials?
• Copying newspaper obituaries is plagiarism and not allowed under FAG rules, so why are there so many there?
• What happens to memorials when contributors die?
• I find it maddening when a photo of a stone was added but not transcribed. If I can see that he died on May 10th certainly that should have been added rather than just the year.
• A search for the last name "Unknown" results in 21,085 records! 13,655 of those also have the first name "Unknown."
• Am I the only one that feels the need to poke around and see if I can find out a little more? For example today I had two stones next to each other. Her stone said she was the wife of Samuel and daughter of P & A Williams. The next stone was for S. Eugene. Ten minutes later I knew that her husband was Samuel Eugene and I also was able to determine her parents names and link them. (This led to an hour detour through old newspapers but I found some great stuff!)
• I really need to spend more time adding memorials for people I am related to.
• I also need to organize my virtual cemetery.
• There is a way to add someone even though you don't know where they are buried.

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Pancratius Boll and Elizabeth Deiss

I am not related to the Ball family. This record is for my grandchildren.

Pancratius Boll was a man of many names. I also have Pancratius Ball, Pomgrotry Poll, Pomgratzy Boll, Pomgratzy Ball, Pomgratzy Poll, Pomgratzy Pole, Pomgrety Poll. Pomgrety Boll, Pomgrety Ball, Pancratz Boll, Pancratz Ball, and Bumgratz Ball.

The birth and death information I have for him comes directly from his monument in Old St. Mary's Cemetery, Minoa, New York.

Pancratius Boll
Born At
The Town Of
Bozol, Baden
Mary 12, 1802
Died Aug. 28, 1853
Age 51 y's
3 m's & 16d's

I could find no place called Bozol in Germany. Based on something else I had found I tried a search for Bozol, Switzerland and the very helpful Google search engine asked "did you mean Basel?" (When trying to repeat that search Google is no longer helpful so I guess I must have searched on my lucky day!) Basel, Switzerland is pronounced very close to Bozol in German and is located where Switzerland, France and Germany meet.

I do not know when, how or with whom Pancratius traveled to the United States. He was in New York by 1834 when his son, John, was born. The only record I have found so far is the 1850 Census, New York, Town of Dewitt (162 written top left corner) Dwelling 1189. (Found at Family Search) If you look closely the first name appears to have been written initially with a W and changed to an R. I would love to know if/how the Ripple family was related to the Ball's.

William Ripple, 38, m, Farmer, 2500, Germany, could not read or write
Catherine Ripple, 42, f, Germany, could not read or write.
Anthony _ousing, 22, m, Farmer, Germany, could not read or write
Catherine Ripple, 16, f, Germany, attended school in the last year
Pomgrotry Poll, 50, m, Farmer, 3500, Germany
Elizabeth Poll, 40, f, Germany
John Poll, 16, m Farmer, NY
Joseph Poll, 14, m, NY, attended school in the last year
Pearce Poll, 12, m, NY, attended school in the last year
Anthony Poll, 10, m, NY
George Poll, 5, m, NY
Jacob Poll, 3, m, NY
Elizabeth Poll, 1, f, NY

Elizabeth's maiden name was most likely Deiss as next to Pancratius' monument is a stone for Mary Ann Deiss, Mother of Elizabeth Ball. Her stone has been broken and reset. An online transcription of Old St. Mary's Cemetery gives her date of death as Oct. 2, 1852 ae. 77-0-10. An obituary for one of her children gives her name as Elizabeth Ties. (Note that the online transcription has her name as Diess while the stone clearly shows Deiss.)

After Pancratius' death, Elizabeth married Oliver A. Snavely. They are found on the 1860 census at Footnote.com, New York, Onondaga, Dewitt, Collamer PO, page 178, family 1344.

Oliver Snebly, 30, m, Farmer, 5600, 1000, France
Elisabeth Snebly, 47, f,  Baden
Joseph Ball, 24, m, Farm Laborer, NY
Pierce Ball, 22, m, Farm Laborer, NY
Anthony Ball, 20, m NY, Farm Laborer, NY, could not read or write
George Ball, 16, m NY, Farm Laborer, NY, attended school within the year
Jacob Ball, 14, m, NY, attended school within the year
Mary Ball, 9, f, attended school within the year.

Elizabeth and Oliver had a son, Oliver Shnable born 14 Dec 1857 and died 15 Dec 1857.





Thus far I have been unable to locate Elizabeth and Oliver on the 1870 or 1880 census.

Elizabeth died 31 Jan 1892, East Syracuse, New York. Two obituaries were found at the Old Fulton Post Cards site.

The Syracuse Daily Journal, Wednesday, February 3, 1892; page 8[?].

Neighborhood News - Collamer.

Mrs. O Snavely of East Syracuse, the mother of Anthony Ball, died at her home on Sunday morning, aged 82 years. The funeral was held to-day (Tuesday) at St. Mathew's R. C. Church and internment was made at Manlius.

Her name does not appear on the St Mary's cemetery transcription.

Syracuse Weekly Express: Thursday, February 4, 1892; page 4

East Syracuse

Elizabeth, wife of Oliver Snavely, who had been ill for four months, died on Saturday of pld age, aged eighty one years. She was one of the oldest residents of the town and leaves a husband, five sons and one daughter. The funeral was held at St. Matthew's Church yesterday.

Oliver A. Snavely is found on the transcription of Assumption Cemetery in Syracuse, New York. Snavely, Oliver A. 1831-1909. Section S.


In the St Mary's cemetery transcription I found:
Weber, Theresa (lot 19-I) b. 1795 d. 2/5/1884 aunt of Pius Ball. Pius was also known as Pierce Ball so it would seem that Theresa Weber must have been the sister of either Pancratius or Elizabeth. I have not been able to find Theresa in census records or through newspaper searches.

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Follow Friday - St John Nepomucene School

While working on my granddaughters family tree I ran across the St John Nepomucene School's Fifth Grade Family Tree Project. What a great project to get kids interested in their family history!

Each year the fifth grade students gather information on their ancestors. Students compile stories about different ancestors using various sources and present those stories to the class. The information gathered is added to a database that can be used by others in future years. We can trace most families from this area back to the 1700s and many even further back. Using this information, students are then able to identify all the other students to whom they are related. The information is also added to our ever-expanding database.

I love that they research stories for a presentation and I hope those are also being preserved for future generations.

Their tree at Rootsweb does not provide sources but it certainly has giving me a great start, especially since all I had was the state of Wisconsin.

What Does it Mean?

I have been working today to try and discover more about my 5th great-grandfather, John Furbush Turner (c.1735-1803). I've found a couple of trees that list him as the son of Andrew Turner and Sarah Read. Those trees list Redegil or Redicle Turner as John's sister. I found the following at Virginia Eastern Shore Public Library, Miles Files 10.0. I have bolded the part that I don't understand.

Thomas Savage III

Thomas was born circa 1688 at Northampton Co, VA. He was the son of Thomas Savage (II) and Bridget Robinson. Thomas was named in his father's will on 10 November 1721 at Northampton Co, VA. He was shown as a son Thomas in the will of Thomas Savage Sr., wife Bridget..1 Thomas witnessed a will on 15 December 1729 at Northampton Co, VA. It was on this date that Luke Johnson, John Smith, Jonathan [J] Savage & Thomas [I] Savage witnessed the will of Nathaniel Savage, wife Sarah, daughter Ansley..2 He made a will on 25 October 1747 at Northampton Co, VA. To my dau. Mary Johnson n. girl Tamar. To dau. Rhody Kellum n. girl Hannah and horse called "Biard". To dau. Agnes Joyne n. girl Sabro and horse "Batchelor". To my grandson Thomas White the colt that came of my son Thomas' mare. Also to my grandson Thomas White, Thomas Savage's oldest saddle. To Redicle Turner 500#t and all she has of mine upon the provisor that Andrew Turner will bear the Parish harmless of the child she now goes with, or else to return back. My son Thomas resid. legatee and extr. Witt: Nathaniel Rogers, Isaac Smith..3 Thomas died before 10 November 1747 at Northampton Co, VA. It was on this date that his will was probated..3

Does this mean that Redicle was pregnant with Thomas Savage's child at the time he wrote his will? Why would "the Parish" need to be held harmless? Does "or else to return back" mean that the legacy needs to be returned to the estate if Andrew Turner were to sue?

What do you think?

Grandpa's Ferrets

Last year I transcribed a letter written by my Aunt Tamerson to my grandfather in 1905. Grandpa was traveling "out west" and he saved a few of the letters he received from home. I wasn't at all surprised that he had a hunting dog but I was surprised to learn that he had ferrets. Having cute little pets just seemed out of character from what I'd been told of him. So I asked Mom about it and her response was that she didn't know that but she wasn't surprised. What more was there to say? I filed that little snippet away.

A couple of weeks ago while looking for information on a different branch of the family I found this little article that gave me a place of residence for Cleveland Horner in 1927.

The News-Palladium, Benton Harbor, Michigan, Thursday, December 22, 1927

Today's Live Michigan News

FARMER HUNTS WITH FERRET, IS FINED BY COURT

BUCHANAN, Dec. 22 - John Batten, a prominent farmer residing near Galien, paid a fine of $10 and costs before Justice Al W. Charles __ Buchanan for hunting with a ferret.

Batten, with a gun and ferrett, was scouting in the woods for game yesterday when he was met by Cleveland Horner, a deputy game warden. Horner placed Batten under arrest and took him before Justice Charles. Batten pleaded guilty.

Ferrets were used for hunting?! I always thought they were just pets. So I asked Mom if she thought Grandpa had used his ferrets for hunting. This time, clearly exasperated, she responded "Why else would he have ferrets!?" She'd never heard of having a ferret merely as a pet.

You know how annoying it is when a five year old continually asks why? Since I guess I don't always know when to ask why, I'll just have to pretend I'm five and ask why relentlessly - until she either runs out of answers or shoots me.

Now I'm wondering how many other perfectly reasonable, totally wrong assumptions I've made based on the difference between how things are now and how they were then.

A Bad Run of Luck for the Badgley's

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

Amanuensis Monday, hosted by John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch.

I was recently contacted by someone looking for more information on the Daniel Badgley family of Syracuse, New York. I think I have figured out how they fit in my tree but I will save that for another time. Here are three articles I found at Old Fulton Post Cards that tell of hard times for the family.

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The Post Standard, Syracuse, N. Y., Thursday Morning, January 7, 1915 (page number cut off)

CHILD SERIOUSLY BURNED BY SOUP

Leonard L. Badgley, 2 1/2. in Critical Condition at Hospital

BROTHER TIPS KETTLE OVER

Mother's Foot and Hands Scalded in Effort to Help Youngester - Boy Has Chance to Recover

Leonard Leroy Badgley, 2 1/2 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Badgley, was seriously burned at the family home, No. 1_08 Orange street, at 5:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon when his brother Floyd, 7 tipped over a kettle of broth which was on the kitchen stove, at the side of which the children were playing.

The child was taken to the Hospital of the Good Shepherd, where it was said late last night that his condition was critical. There is a possibility of recovery, however, it was reported.

Mrs. Badgley, mother of the family of eight children, was standing less than five feet from the stove talking with a woman when the accident happened.

Floyd left his Christmas toys on the floor and arose to go to his mother. As he arose from the floor his shoulder struck the handle of the kettle, which projected over the edge of the stove. The blow tipped the kettle forward and the boiling contents flowed over the edge of the stove.

Leonard, clothed in his light rompers, was playing with blocks when the hot liquid struck him in the back of the neck and down his back. He turned quickly and the steaming liquid fell onto his breast.

His mother turned at the first cry and in her hurry to help the child she stepped into the greasy fluid and slipped. Her foot was scalded and in falling she extended both hands, which landed in the soup and were slighty burned.

Mrs. Badgley was on her feet in an instant and tore the clothes from the boy's back. The other woman hurried from the house and called the ambulance from the Hospital of the Good Shepard.

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The Post Standard, Syracuse, N. Y., Saturday Morning, December 18, 1915; page 19

AID ASKED FOR FAMILY.

Plight of Badgleys Said to Be Unfortunate.

Because she feared Christmas will be without cheer for Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Badgley of No. 1_14 Park street, and their six children, a friend of the family has written the Post-Standard asking that something be done to aid them.

The plight of the family is said to be unfortunate. Mr. Badgley is unable to earn a salary suffient to provide the barest necessities of life. The children frequently are kept from school because they have not shoes or enough clothing to wear.

During the last few cold nights there has not been suffient bedding in the house to keep al warm and often times the children have been compelled to get up in the night to exercise to keep warm.

The children are expecting Santa Claus to stop at their home as he does at the homes of their playmates and the parents have not the heart to tell them otherwise. Neighbors have aided the family several times.

The children are a girl, 14 years old, five boys, aged 12, 9, 7, 2, and a baby boy.

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Syracuse Journal. Monday, September 25, 1916; Page Two

Suies for Injuries and Cost of Doctor; Son Run Down

Joseph Badgley, 7, who was run down by an automoblie owned by Cahill Bros. Bread and Biscuit Co., Inc., while watching the Sam and Tech Club members bound for their outing on July 26, has now brought suit against the Cahills for $1,000 damages for his injuries. The suit is brought by Daniel Badgley, his father, who asks $25 for the money he spent on his young son's physians bills. The Badgley boy was run over by a delivery wagon and had two teeth knocked out. Attorney Wilbur Van Duyn appears for both the father and son in the two suits.