Sarah Ann Camfield, 29 Oct 1884

letter no 2 Noble Centre Oct 29th 1884

[upside down, top of page]
love to all write soon

wel I will begin again weare gathering Apples there is a small crop and no sale hardly Mr Bogardus has gone to Coldwater with a load he was here and Father got him to go down with aload he knew better where to sel them Father hates to take any thing to market the worst of anything I believe we sold 4 head of Cattle last week for 85 dollars and 4 hogs for 44 dollars and 50 cts now I have 8 hundred laid up for the payment on the farm we have to pay 1 thousand the first of march I dont know the rent on this place is not half paid yet we have stock enough if we can sel it for what it is worth but there seems to be nothing

page 2

doing in that line there dont seem to be much business any way that is not much buying and selling you would think there was something doing if you could see how they are building up Bronson since the fire
we went to Burr Oak two weeks ago last sunday we went to Geries the Irishman the old woman and man both are looking better than they used to they was so pleased to see us she the old woman hugged me almost in to she shook Father all most to pieces she said give me both hands to shake I thought she was going to kiss him he said she squeezed his hands til they was sore for 2 days
Old Boyles wife has left him the Plants have gone to Decota except Will and his family

page 3

Billy Davison and all Will lives north of Burr Oak he put in apiece of corn there by geries this summer Rob and Morrice has bought twenty acres of the plant farm astrip on the north side rite through to the Boil rad so they have 30 acres there in one piece and you know Rob had 40 so now they have 70 acres I guess hey are doing first rate the girls was all at home the one that married that Simpson had only been home from cansas 2 weeks they had been gone 2 year Emma Grave has gone back to the asylum they say there is no hope for her
O I must tel you we saw Old Harvey and his wife and daughter but he did not have on his smock or he had it poked in side

page 4

now Franky Grandma wants to know how you are getting along then she wants you to give three times three cheers for Blain and Logan loud enough so we can hearit

S A Camfield

PS Mr Seaver family are in Burr Oak yet Julia is teaching in the Brick school house in that town and Bev is clerking in the hardware and the rest go to school they live across the creek some where they say they dress terrible fine but he dont work I guess they must have got Aunt lucys money

side margin of page

am alone yet have had no girl for more than a month

upside down, top of page

We have not heard from South bend since june I think I am hinders to write to morrow if nothing


Gerie the Irishman may have referred to Jerry Donahue, born about 1814, Ireland. The reason that I am not sure is that he would have been only three years older than Sarah. Jerry's wife, Maragaret, would have been younger than Sarah, Margaret having been born about 1830, Ireland.

The Boyle's, Plant's and Seaver's have been mentioned in earlier letters, as had Emma Graves. I'm not sure how Billy Davison fits in. Rob, Morrice and Harvey are mysteries.

Three cheers for Blain and and Logan refers to a political song of the time. The sheet music can be found here. Also see: Lives of Blaine and Logan (1884)


For more see:
Camfield Family Letters
Descendants of Sarah Ann Wisner
Michael Camfield
Henry Bogardus, Shirt-tail Cousin


Camfield, Sarah Ann Wisner. (Noble Center, MI) “letter no 2” [Anna Camfield Carlisle]. Letter. 29 October 1884. Digital Images 1-4. Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Snowville, New York. 2008. [Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1884 - 1886, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]

Death Certificate Challenge- John W. Davis

My sister hosted Thanksgiving this year and with my brother and his family visiting from out of state I was able to force the conversation to genealogy, if only briefly. My brother-in-law, Ron did some research into his family history a few years back and actually had great luck tracing back many lines to early New England. Living on a farm out in the country, he has only recently been able to get high speed internet at an affordable price so he doesn't have very much experience searching online and does not have any subscriptions to any pay genealogy sites. So we logged onto Ancestry and played around a bit but there were people to visit with and food to eat so we didn't get very far.

There is one line that he has been stuck on. He has a death certificate for his 2nd great-grandfather but had not been able to go back further on that line. Before I left he gave me a copy and asked me to see what I could find. We didn't have time for him to fill me in on what else he knew about the line and his tree is not online - all I had was the information on the death certificate. Being in a funk due to being housebound for weeks and not making any progress on my family, a new challenge was just what I needed.

Death certificate information
John W. Davis died in Springboro, Crawford, PA, 17 December 1942 and had lived in that community 2 yrs, 4 mo.

His age at death was 92 yrs, 2 mo, 3 days and his birth date 14 October 1850, Crawford County, PA

The box giving his marital status is illegible however the box for spouse age simply has a check mark and her name is given as Clara Sheldon.

Parents are listed as John W. Davis, born Crawford Co, PA and Cerena Whipple born Crawford Co, PA.

Informant was Thomas W. Davis, Cambridge, Spring, PA.

Burial was 20 December 1942, Springboro Cemetery.


What I found

John and Clara were easy enough to find on the 1920 and 1930 censuses but I could not find them (together) prior to that so I started looking for cemetery records. The Conneaut Valley Area Historical Society has a transcription of Spring Cemetery that also has the plot number and John and Clara are interred in different plots! So I started looking for other buried near them.

Clara is in plot #240:

240-1; Shaver, Arminda Irvin; 7 Aug 1827 - 20 Sept 1902, age 73, W of Phillip; M of Mrs. Edgar Sheldon; D of Thomas and Clara Irvin

240-2; Shaver, Phillip; 10 Jan 1822/1823 - 3 Nov 1896, age 73, S of William; H of Arminda Irwin

240-3; Sheldon, Edgar C; 1844 - 19 Nov 1910, age 66; H of Clara Shaver

240-4; Davis, Clara E; __ - 26 Apr 1931, age 82; (no further info)

240-5; Sheldon, Clyde E; 1872 - 20 Apr 1937, age 64; S of Edgar and Clara Shaver Sheldon

So it appears that John W Davis' wife as listed on his death certificate was actually Clara Shaver Sheldon Davis. This would be a later marriage for John and Clara is not Ron's ancestor.


John is in plot #246 and these are the others I located in that plot:

246-1; Whipple, James S; 5 Jan 1874 - 4 Jun 1878, age 4; S of Robert and Matilda

246-2; Quimby, Cerena; (no further info)

246-3; Whipple, Matilda Davis, 9 May 1848 - 16 Aug 1875, age 27; D of Isaac Davis, W of Robert

246-4; no record found

246-5; no record found

246-6; Davis, Berthonia Haney; 1 Jul 1847 - 8 Dec 1897; W of John W

246-7; Nicolls, Lizzie R; ___ - 15 Apr 1916, age 53; ( no further info)

246-8; Nichols, William J; ___ - 6 Mar 1925, age 61; H of Lizzie Joslin Stancliff, H of Anna Slade

246-9; no record found

246-10; Davis, John W; 1852 - 17 Dec 1942, age 92; H of Berthey Haney

Cerena is actually named on the cemetery transcription twice.
250-6; Quinby, Serena Caroline Nicholes; 1830 - 1869; W of Amos M.
250-?; Quinby, Amos M; 1808 - 1888; H of Serenea Caroline

Once I started looking for all the people buried in this plot I was able to start putting some of the family history together using census and other records. It appears that John W. Davis was the son of Isaac Davis. So this was another mistake on the death certificate. I believe that Cerena was John's mother and that Whipple was probably her maiden name.

I think Cerena married 1st, Isaac Davis abt 1847-1848, most likely in Crawford Co. but possibly Erie Co, PA. In 1850 they are listed in Cussewago, Crawford, PA with daughters Matilda b abt 1848 and Nancy age 6/12.

Isaac Davis apparently died between 1854 and 1860 when I find Wm D and Serena C Nichols in Elk Creek, Erie Co, PA along with John W. Davis, age 8.

By 1870 it appears that Cerena is a widow once again. She is found in Cussewago Twp, Crawford, PA. The hand writing is very difficult to make out but she seems to be listed as Syrenne Nichols. With her are children Lydia C Nichols, age 12; Willie C Nichols, age 6; Hattie M (W) age 3. I believe that Wiilie C is the William J Nichols in plot 246-8. On this census Cerena's household is listed just after the family of Francis Whipple, born about 1819 NY. I'm not sure if he was an older brother or perhaps an uncle but it leads me to believe that the death certificate did in fact record Cerena Whipple correctly as the mother of John W. Davis.


Conclusion

So, the death certificate has John W Davis' correct name, death date and mother's maiden name.
Incorrect information was John's date of birth (which should have been 1851 based on census records or 1852 based on cemetery records), his father's name was Isaac rather than John W. and his last wife's maiden name was Clara Shaver and Sheldon her name from her previous marriage. The informant, Thomas W. Davis was John's oldest son.

Even though some of the information on the death certificate was incorrect there was enough information to allow me to fill in many blanks for Ron. He still has much work to do to verify what I have found but I think I have given a good foundation.