Before I Forget

I learned a really helpful census trick when using Ancestry dot com's database, and did not record from whom I copied it. It has come in really helpful when I want to quickly find relatives of someone who I knew lived in that area. As an added bonus, you'd be surprised at the number of times that future spouses' names appear living in nearby households. 

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ANCESTRY QUICK TIP

Sometimes I could not read a last name on a census record. 

My paternal third great-grand uncle, John Ackley, is my hero du jour.  Meet Dr. Daddy Hague:

--FROM THE ATHENS MESSENGER AND HERALD newspaper, Athens, Ohio,  8 AUG 1895, p. 5.

TRANSCRIPTION READS: 

      JOHN ACKLEY DEAD

     Everybody was startled and surprised when it was announced Saturday morning that John Ackley died Friday of apoplexy at his home a short distance south of Mechanicsburg. He had been apparently in his usual health until within a few hours of his death. Mr. Ackley was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania May 31, 1825. His mother died when he was but 11 years old and he lived with his father until he was twenty years old, working on a farm and attending common school in the winter. In 1846 he entered the Ohio University and took an irregular course, studying and teaching till 1849 when he was elected Surveyor of Athens County and continued in office six years.

     However, on account of his superior knowledge of the plat of the county, he has been engaged in surveying in this county ever since quitting the Surveyor's office. In his later years he amused himself by sending contributions to his party paper, calling attention to the eccentricities of the Republican leaders and displaying no mean ability as a humorous writer. These letters always appeared over the signature of Daddy Hague, MD. Mr. Ackley was a good citizen, and a public servant whose advice and knowledge of the surveys of the county will be greatly missed.

     He was a member of the State Board of Equalization for the ninth senatorial district, composed of Athens, Hocking And Fairfield Counties for the last decennial period.

     The funeral services occurred Monday afternoon and the remains were interred in the Haning Cemetery. 

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FYI to my relatives: John Ackley was an older brother to Samuel Ackley-- both sons of Jehu Ackley (b.1798 New Jersey) and Elizabeth (Ator) Ackley (born in the Netherlands). Yes, that's right. My father's third great-grandmother was allegedly born in Holland, according to our cousin, Adolphus W. Ackley, Jr. 

Those of us who descend from Eva (Baker) and Sam Childers might recall John Ackley's little brother, Sam Ackley (1827-1908). THAT same Sam homesteaded in Oklahoma Territory after the 1893 Cherokee Strip land run, made his final home in Keystone, Oklahoma, and was the grandfather to Sam Childers (1881-1962).

BTW, I'm STILL looking for old letters to the editor signed by Daddy Hague. Will update should I find some in newspaper archives. What a guy!

It is the day after the attacks in Paris. Twitter is thick with supportive memes for our French allies. This one cracked me up.

Shorpy Historic Picture Archive this week shared a great photo of a family from Arkansas seeking better luck elsewhere during the Depression, with this intro below. I appreciate Shorpys for sharing this image. Photographer Dorothea Lange's work is a treasure trove. 

Seven children and eldest son's family. Father was a blacksmith in Paris, Arkansas. Son was a tenant farmer. 'We're bound for Kingfisher (Oklahoma wheat) and Lubbock (Texas cotton). We're not trying to but we'll be in California yet. We're not going back to Arkansas; believe I can better myself'." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Admin.

Tenant farmers and America's "Great Depression" were on my mind this week. I had just learned of a friend's death and wondered about his ancestry. Found his parents on a couple of federal censuses during the Depression. Their occupations were given as "orchard pickers." This family had moved from Iowa to Kansas to Texas to New Mexico and on to California--in search of seasonal agricultural work. The parents had about eleven kids--five of whom were taken by "the State" in New Mexico. Reasons unknown. The children were almost all later reunited as adults. But I find that nearly all had died before age 75. Some passed on when in their early 60s. I consider that young, people! Might their early diet and lack of good nutrition have affected their longevity? I found a notation from my friend's sister of how a baby brother had died because the parents hadn't the money to seek medical attention. I can't grasp how difficult a time the Depression was. Cannot. 

      I work in the Brady District in downtown Tulsa, and am fascinated by its history. Steve Warren shared a short clip to Youtube prepared by Tulsa's Historical Society of a meeting of Confederates at what is today known as the Brady Theater, adding: "The national reunion of the United Confederate Veterans was held in Tulsa in September of 1918."

      Among those veterans, I recognize several names of Tulsa's white pioneers. (Many Creek Nation cattlemen and their families had lived for decades in this area that was later "discovered" by white businessmen and lawyers) This reunion must have helped push the new city into prominence. Discovery of oil had already given Tulsa its first boost.

      Tate Brady's Theater is just a few blocks west of the site of one of our nation's worst race riots. Oklahoma's "Black Wall Street" and hundreds of homes were demolished by fire brought by white rioters just three years after this 1918 reunion. 

 

      New to Tulsa's sordid history? My old friend Lee Roy Chapman best describes events leading up to our city's most shameful occasion:  http://thislandpress.com/2012/04/18/tate-brady-battle-greenwood/ 


      

Dick Eastman's newsletter today brought interesting news of Ancestry.com's third quarter profits:

Third Quarter Revenues $171.5 Million, Up 10.9% Year-Over-Year

•    U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007

•    U.K. City, Town and Village Photos, 1857-2005

•    U.K. Apprentices Indentured in Merchant Navy, 1824-1910

•    Germany collections totaling 60 million new records."


From URL: http://ir.ancestry.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1575319-15-7&CIK=1575319

Ancestry's release of Social Security Applications made my heart sing, as it helped solve several mysteries in my own family research. How? Applicants were asked for parents' names. 

      My maternal great-grandfather's first wife, Daisy, is difficult to trace. Records show her with varying names. Census sheets list her as both "daughter" and adopted daughter. The potential for error in censuses can be high due to the many volunteers who've transcribed notes from enumerators. But clues can be helpful when taken as a whole. A wider picture is needed. And Daisy's mother Susan is the focus of this post.

      Susan was born October 23, 1837 in Dayton, Ohio to David and Susan Margaret (Waitman) Neff. I believe she was their sixth of seven children. After the death of his first wife (and mother of 12 children!), Lemasters Martin Boggs, age 70, married 41 year old Susan in Franklin, Iowa, about 1878. By the 1880 census, Susan and Lemaster appear with a three year old named "Daisy Johnson" in their household. She is described as "daughter" yet both her parents' birth locations are listed as "unknown."

      Did Susan have Daisy with an earlier husband or is Daisy a foundling they adopted?

      Notice a few irregularities? Daisy and John appear to be married--and were so on November 21, 1897. But contrary to custom, Susan does not refer to John as son-in-law to the census taker--but "boarder." Daisy is back to being listed as adopted daughter. Susan's three year old grandson has a different surname than his two year old sister. But both children have the same birth year. And why the name Price for little three year old Guy? He was born January of 1896. Was Daisy married prior to her 1897 marriage to John Coffee? A search in this county finds an "Elwyn Price" living in nearby Versailles, and his 26 year old son, Guy Price. A Morgan County history of notable figures described Elwyn Price as a "stockholder and director of the Bank of Versailles." Was there a relation? Or did Daisy--on a whim, name her child after the banker's son? Oh, the joy of deciphering censuses!

      By 1905 Susan is living in Kansas City, Missouri. A city directory page shows her name, marital status as widowed, first name of husband, and her residence address:

                    Boggs Susan wid Lamaster M r 4115 Flora

      Susan Boggs passed away the next year, and her grave is in the Elmwood Cemetery, Kansas City. Just recently Ancestry.com/ uploaded new probate cases, and Susan Boggs' case was among them. 38 pages' worth. Only a few are shared below. Click on each within the gallery to view or to enlarge. She died intestate (without a will) at age 68.

--"Missouri, Wills and Probate Records, 1766-1988" via Ancestry.com/ originally from "Kansas City, Missouri and Jackson County, Missouri Probate Records and Case Files, 1853-1955." Woo hoo! Don't you love new databases!

--Neff/Boggs marriage date: via researcher Ed Woodyard

      Earlier I mentioned Ties That Bind by Tiya Miles, a favorite resource for Indian Territory history. I learned today that Dr. Miles published a new novel in April: The Cherokee Rose. One reviewer described it as "luminous." An interesting term for a difficult period of history. I'm anxious to read her book.

      Google directed me to a lovely interview with Dr. Miles and Krista Tippett. If you've an interest in Oklahoma history, have a listen or read the transcript from 2012:

http://www.onbeing.org/program/toward-living-memory/transcript/1347

      This. Did you see this? I can't imagine some buffoon telling me this if I were to make inquiry as to a library's holdings. Thankfully she sulked only for a short time before turning it into a challenge. 

http://tiyamiles.com/2015/03/31/writing-the-cherokee-rose/ 

      Thanks again for following!

Little is known of one of my ancestors, and so I search for articles about "Childers" who once lived in Indian Territory. Before Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the northeastern part of that state was land given to various tribes after being forced out of their homes in the South. There were many newspapers in the Territory and later, published in the new state of Oklahoma--several of which have been made available online. I find mention of Childers in articles about schools, marriages, city government, plenty who were cattle dealers, and those who ran ads looking for lost mules or horses. 

Some of the more interesting news items:

      First, Nola Childers' 1909 land dispute:

      And another article on Nola Childers that displays the strong racism of 100 years ago:

      Dick Childers appears in a Tulsa, Oklahoma paper on September 5, 1922. NOTE TO COUSINS: Our Dick Childers died in 1891, leaving one son: our Uncle Sam's dad. 

      My paternal second great-grandmother Hannah allegedly immigrated from Hamburg. Or Bremen. Both were popular seaports in what later became Germany. The first documented proof I have of her existence is an 1853 marriage to Sam Leeper in Galveston, Texas. On their marriage certificate the surname "Wosta" is handwritten. What appears to be WOSTA, that is. What spelling do YOU see? From a previous blog post, here is Hannah and Sam Leeper's marriage certificate:
http://treepig.posthaven.com/1853-marriage-of-hannah-wosta-to-samuel-leeper 

      Because it is an unusual name, I wonder if Hannah might have:

(1)  Been unaware of the correct spelling due to illiteracy;

(2)  Spoken a language that was not understood by the clerk who prepared the marriage certificate;

(3)  Been subject to clerical error. The clerk might have written phonetically what she heard the young bride say. Or what her older husband SAID was his new wife's maiden name.

      So many possibilities. Accompanying Hannah were her four young sons, whose names appear on census, guardianship and land records as WISER. (Yes, and Weiser, too. But predominantly spelled WIser) I therefore assume that the 29 year old Hannah told the Galveston court clerk her MAIDEN name--not her legal married name of Wiser. That was a custom--but not always a requirement in various jurisdictions. After all, I've no proof she was married to a Herr Wiser. Assumptions are not proof, Dear Reader. 

      WITH THAT IN MIND: Familysearch.org/ recently updated their New Orleans Passenger Lists. Attached are a few WOSTE immigrants who came to America at a time my Hannah might have arrived. You see, I've yet to find an immigration record for Hannah and her Wiser boys. These young Woste passengers require further study, as they might give clues to a family my Hannah once belonged. Might my Hannah have had family in America before she crossed the Atlantic with young children? New Orleans and Galveston were busy ports of entry for Europeans. From WHERE did you come, Hannah?