Bi-Weekly Rewind

I know when I was stuck in rural upstate New York in the death grip of winter I really did not want to hear how nice the weather was elsewhere. So with apologies to my northern friends, the weather here in the Sunshine State has been phenomenal! It has just been too nice to not enjoy so I've been spending less time on my computer. Of course my husband is still telling me I need less computer time and more outside time.

As for genealogy, it's also been a great couple of weeks.

• After a brief correspondence with a gentleman in Michigan he very kindly sent me a photo of my great-grandfather. To my great delight, one of the other men in the photo who hadn't been identified was my grandfather!
• Did you hear the sound of tumbling bricks? I now know the name of  a 3rd great-grandmother, Helen Scott! Now that I have a name I'm looking for more information.
• I also have discovered where in Scotland the White's were from.
• I feel I have wasted a great deal of time with fruitless searches on both Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. Obviously I have a new learning curve when it comes to searching for Canadian records. Paging through record sets and searching sideways have paid off.

OK, my husband is right, I have been at my computer more than I'd thought!

I'm short on time so rather than leave out some of the great posts that I read over the last couple weeks I'll skip descriptions and just link them up so you can check them out.

Family History Posts

 A Birth that Didn't Go According to Plan by Cheryl Cayemberg at Have You Seen My Roots?

The Home Place Brought Home by Susan Clark at Nolichucky Roots.

The Great Ohio River Flood of 1937 by Kathy Reed at Family Matters.

Thriller Thursday - The Murders at Rocky Fork by Lori at Genealogy and Me.

An FBI Investigation??? and Anti-American hobbies by Linda Gartz at Family Archaeologist.

Mysterious Mrs. Munroe Grout by Heather Wilkinson Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy.

THOMAS, A SLAVE by Bill West at West in New England.

Walter M. Runyan - He Wasn't Born on Wednesday by Lisa Wallen Logsdon at Old Stones Undeciphered.

Madness Monday – The Mysterious Older Brother and Orphan Train Riders by Wendy Littrell at All My Branches Genealogy.

A Schmolke Chronology by Marlys at Hesch History

Purple Irises by Skip Murray at Our Tree Became A Forest.

Solving My Foley Family Puzzle by Ian Hadden at Ian Hadden's Family History.

1890 NY Civil War Widows by Norah Glover at Digging Our Family Roots.


History

Who Wrote the Pledge of Allegiance? by Matt Soniak at Mental Floss.

Barrage Balloons in the Adirondacks by Lawrence P. Gooley at New York History.

A Christian Nation? Be Careful What You Preach by Elementary History Teacher at History is Elementary.


Great Tips

Can't Read a Will? -- Tuesday's Tip by Barbara Poole at Life From The Roots.

I Think I Have it! Maybe... by Becky Wiseman at Kinexxions.

Say Cheese! Remember the Town Photographer in Your Genealogical Hunt by Amy Coffin at The We Tree Genealogy Blog.

Smiths in New York City by Leah at Leah's Family Tree.

White / Whyte - Surname

My White ancestors were from Scotland and emigrated to Canada around 1820. They  used both spellings, White and Whyte and some descendants can now be found using both.

Me
>Harvey Gordon Berry, 1926 Syracuse, NY - 2000 Haines City, FL
>>Mary Leith Kelly, 1900 Calabogie, Ontario, Canada - 1970 Syracuse, NY (married Kimberly Berry)
>>>Isabella White, 1865 Watson's Corners, Ontario, Canada - 1951 Syracuse, NY (Married James Kelly)
>>>>James M White, 1824-1907, both Dalhousie, Ontario, Canada (Married Isabella Craig)
>>>>>John White, abt 1800 Hawick, Roxburgshire, Scotland - 1877 Dalhousie, Lanark, Canada.

Related posts

Craig - Adam / Craig - White Marriages
White - Kelly Marriage
Kelly - Berry Marriage
Eliza? Jane? Mary?
Where Were They 100 Years Ago?
A Large Piece of Family History
Canadian Roots
Nameless Faces
16 Great Grands
Matrilineal Line
Middle Name Mysteries
Caldwell and Leith Connections Found?

McDonald's First Drive Thru?

You never know when or where you'll run into family history. My husband and I went to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge today and the sign below was in one of the trail parking lots.

I tells of the family that once lived here and how they lost their land to the government for Kennedy Space Center. I didn't transcribe all of it, just this part that caught me off guard and made me laugh.

Doctor and Mrs. George McDonald, cracker farmers, lived about 1.2 mile east of here. They raised chickens and sold eggs from a drive-thru window of their home.

Caldwell and Leith Connections Found?

On Monday I wrote about some of my middle name mysteries. I had four names that I hoped might lead me back a generation; Hurcombe, Goodwin, Leith and Caldwell.

With those names in mind I started looking at my tree and searching online for new information. It wasn't until I went searching through files that were already on my computer that I found something. This is far from the first time that I've had the answer all along had I only re-looked at what I had. I guess this is a lesson that I'm just never going to learn!

Just to recap. James C Kelly was the son of Michael Kelly and Mary ____. James married Isabella White, the daughter of James M White and Isabella Craig. Isabella Craig was the daughter of John Craig and Agnes Adam. The children of James C Kelly and Isabella White were; James Hurcombe Kelly, Mabel Adam Kelly, Phillip Goodwin Kelly, Alexander Craig Kelly, Mary Leith Kelly, Gordon ____ Kelly, Isabelle Caldwell Kelly, Joseph _____ Kelly. (Is that enough Isabella's and James' for you?)


Barbara Griffith has done extensive research on the Adam family. She was kind enough to share her transcription of my great-grandfather, James M White's, obituary. At the time I wasn't specifically looking for references to the middle names of his grandchildren!

For a long time Mr. White had employment with the CALDWELL firm, and his name had often been mentioned in the tales of the old lumbering days on the Clyde River.

There may or may not be a family relationship to the Caldwell's so I won't cross the name off my list just yet but it is possible that Isabella Caldwell Kelly was named to honor her grandfather's business associate.

Also from Ms. Griffith's work was some information about James M White's sister daughter, Ellen White [edited to correct relationship]. Ellen married Robert Leith. From the information provided I was able to verify that Ellen White and Robert Leith were married at Knox Presbyterian Church, Montreal, Canada on 4 Apr 1883. They had four children, Isabella C Leith, Annie Rae Leith, John Gunn Leith and Briar May Leith. Robert Leith's mother was named Ann Rae so daughter Annie was named for her paternal grandmother. I'd bet that Isabella was named for her maternal grandmother, Isabella Craig White, and that her middle initial C was for Craig but so far I haven't been able to verify that. I have no idea if the middle names Gunn and May were somehow significant.

I got a little side tracked there. Isn't that always how it goes? Anyway, Ellen White Leith died 20 Mar 1899 which was just a little more than a year before Mary Leith Kelly was born. Was Mary named to honor her? Was there another connection to a family named Leith? Robert Leith lived in Outremont, Quebec, a fair distance from Dalhousie, Ontario so how did they meet? Always more questions! Another thought that I had was that while I know that the Craigs were from Paisley, Scotland, I do not know where the Whites were from. Could they have been from Leith?

Of the four names that I have now found connections to, all four connect back to Isabella White Kelly's side of the family. Will the other two names lead in that direction too or are Hurcombe and Goodwin connected to the Kelly side? I still do not know the maiden name of James C Kelly's mother, only that she was Mary and was from Ireland.

Middle Name Mysteries

When I first started exploring my family history there were certain names that jumped out at me and I was certain that they held clues that would lead me to previous generations. .

First there was Isaac Ashley Carlisle. He always went by Ashley, or occasionally I. Ashley so surely I must of had an Ashley ancestor back there somewhere. Not exactly. He was named for his father's brother-in-law, Isaac Ashley of Rochester, NY. He was extremely generous to the family and naming a child for him was simply a way of honoring him for what he'd done.

My grandmother's brother was named Leroy Eastwood Camfield. I struggled with my Camfield and Graham lines for years and was certain that Eastwood was a clue. I learned through the family letters that Mr. Eastwood was a business man in South Bend, Indiana that my great-grandfather admired.

But there has been one success. David Glover was the son of Henry Glover and Hannah Lewis. He named a son Lewis E. Glover and a daughter Hannah Lewis Glover. For his other children I only have middle initials except for my great-great-grandmother. Her name was Lousia Lambert Glover. I still have no idea if Lambert is a hint but I keep it in mind as I work on this line.

My grandfather was Kimberly Powell Berry. Not only is he the only male named Kimberly that I've come across but I'm stumped on the middle name Powell. Grandpa's siblings were Mabel Gertrude, Esther Lillian and Thomas David, nothing that seems to be a surname for any of them. For now grandpa's name remains a mystery.

My grandmother and most (maybe all) of her siblings had surnames as middle names.
The children of James C Kelly and Isabella White were:

1. James Hurcombe Kelly
2. Mabel Adam Kelly
3. Phillip Goodwin Kelly
4. Alexander Craig Kelly
5. Mary Leith Kelly
6. Gordon ____ Kelly
7. Isabelle Caldwell Kelly
8. Joseph _____ Kelly

Isabella White's mother was Isabella Craig and her mother was Agnes Adam.

I have lots of work to do on this section of my tree. I'm hoping that keeping a post-it on my computer with the names Hurcombe, Goodwin, Leith and Caldwell helps me fill in some of the blanks.

Weekly Rewind

The week got away from me so I'm a day late but I figure better late than never.

I spent hours and hours chasing down leads, answering emails and sorting Berry's in the Cotswolds. Ask my husband and he'll tell you that I spent too much time in front of my computer. (He's right, but shhhh, I'd never tell him that.) Despite the number of hours I spent searching my writing muse is still missing.

I managed to read quite a bit too.

First up is a post from a garden blogger that most of you aren't familiar with. It's not far past Christmas and Lost Roses had shared some heirlooms and memories - Christmas tree as memorabilia cache? I think Dad's baby shoes may find a new home with my Christmas decorations.

If you have ancestors that worked in the coal mines, or even if you don't, check out Nancy's post, Once a Miner, Twice a Breaker Boy - Tuesday's Tip at My Ancestors and Me. Nancy provides some background on breaker boys and several great tips to learn more.

Harold Henderson of __ had a GREAT guest post at Archives.com, Learn from Experts Series, with Climbing The Spiral Staircase: Learning Genealogy. I love his analogy to a spiral staircase! Do not miss his tips.

At Family Archeologist, Linda Gartz discovered an unpleasant part of US history with War and Bigotry! I know my husband's family experienced a bit of this.

Kathy Reed shared a humorous tale, Things We Take for Granted, at Family Matters. Once again I know that my husband's ancestors had similar experiences and I know I'd be lost when I travel if I couldn't find someone who speaks English. (But others have found my attempts at Spanish hilarious.)

TV’s Castle Can Help Solve Your Genealogical Mystery. Skeptical? Donna Pointkouski makes the case at What's Past is Prologue.

Photography buffs will enjoy Susan Thomas' post,  WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY'S PHOTOS - The 1848 Cincinnati Riverfront Panorama at Climbing the Branches of My Family Tree.

Bill West found a letter from 1825 and received permission to publish it on his blog, West in New England. A LETTER FROM RETURN ELLINGWOOD JANUARY 1825 gives a bit of insight into the life of a single woman from nearly 200 years ago. It also brings up questions of how well families managed to stay in touch as people started moving west.

I love the Old Fulton Post Cards site and while there are a few papers from outside of New York I never thought much about using it to research events out of state. Dorene at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay set me straight with Sandusky References at the Fulton History Website.

With my passion for gardening I enjoyed reading The Carringer Gardens in 1935 at Randy Seaver's, Genea-Musings. Through the news article he found I can picture the garden layout and the fish swimming lazily.

Weekly Rewind

Weekly Rewind posts have come and gone here in the past. Right now I need something to get me back in the habit of blogging. I have no idea right now if I'll go back to making this a regular feature or not.


My Week

While I have maintained my trees at Ancestry.com, I haven't had a paid subscription for a long time. I took advantage of  a special deal they had and now have six months of access. The first day I pretty much sat at my computer for the entire day. The next few days were a little better but I will have to work a curbing the amount of time I spend online. In addition to the records available I've been pouring over other trees looking for hints and discrepancies. I have a Glover mystery that I spent a good deal of time on and found several surprises that simply added new mysteries ;-)

I found my grandfather's birth record! His name was badly mangled in the index (in fairness the hand writing was poor) but I was able to find him by search his middle name as first name, no last name and date of birth. The Ontario birth records are organized last name, middle name, first name and knowing this can make finding records easier.

I was contacted by the wife of a cousin from my Kelly line and was able to help her out and gain some new information on his branch of the family.

I found the marriage record of a Hollington cousin at FamilySearch.org. For her mother it lists her step-mother which I found interesting and noted in my file.

With the new subscription and several emails regarding different branches I found it very hard to stay focused on any one thing! But still it felt like a productive week.


Weekly Reading

The Carnival of Genealogy, A Dickens Christmas at Creative Gene.
The Carnival's in town. Check out all of the posts about Christmas past, present and future. I have to say I cringed when I saw the topic for the next edition. I did not make any resolutions this year but perhaps knowing that the iGene Awards come around once a year I should resolve to write at least one post each year for each category!

Calling It Like You See It In The 1880 Census at Detour Through History.
I've never run across a census entry like this!

Not All Wikipedia Pages Are Created Equal at Leah's Family Tree.
Great tip!

Beatrice Marie Hawver turns 111 at The Broersma's Ancestry.
Oral family history is always interesting even if it proves false.

Happy Birthday Travis at Journey to the Past.
A day in the life. We should all make records like this for our children!

The False Mother-in-Law at The Virtual Dime Museum.
I love a good mystery.

Creative Commons Images at Moultie Creek Gazette
Another great tip.

Diver finds woman's class ring lost in 1930s, returns it to her grandson at the Orlando Sentinel.
This is the second recent article about a ring being returned.

Follow Friday – January 6, 2012 at All My Branches Genealogy.
More posts for you to check out.

Death and Marriage Records in the 1875 NY Census

The 1875 New York State census is available at FamilySearch.org. Family Search made the images available before indexing them which worked to my advantage. (Some of the 1875 census has been indexed and is searchable, however Jefferson County does not yet show up in a search.) I had several families that I wanted to find in Adams, Jefferson, New York and so I started browsing page by page. I got lucky and found my great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother on image 7, page 13 of the 1st election district, Adams, Jefferson, New York.

Previously I had known that my great-great-grandfather, Michael Kelly had died between the 1870 and 1880 censuses. Now I had narrowed the date down to between 1870 and 1875. (Official death records were not kept in New York prior to 1881 so I will not be able to find a death certificate.)

I might have stopped paging through the census there, however there were many other relatives that lived in Adams so I continued on. Much to my surprise on image 23, page 45 was a record of Marriages that had occurred between 1 June 1874 and 1 June 1875.

The names, ages and previous marital status are included as well as where the wedding took place and who performed the ceremony. No members of my family were included but I was curious as to what else might be hidden in the census and continued to the next page.

Deaths were next and there was my great-great-grandfather on page 46, line 10. Recorded as Micheall Kelley, age 49. He was born in Ireland, worked as a general laborer and died 12 Nov 1874 of pneumonia.

If I hadn't continued paging through the census I never would have found what is most likely the only death record there is for Michael Kelly. Lesson learned!

The 1875 census also includes agricultural schedules. There are several pages for each group of names. My ancestors were not included but this could be treasure for others.