Posts Tagged 52 Ancestors Challenge
#52Ancestors: Week 11 – Uncle Eddy – A Bigamist or a Serial Marrier
Posted by Caroll in Genealogy Blog on March 18, 2015
This is week 11 of the 2015 #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of u
s blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
The State of Michigan recently released Marriage, Divorce, and Death Records from 1926 to 1952. I have several great aunts and uncles that needed tending to find spouses maiden names. I spent the past two nights plugging in various family names and hit the jackpot on a few.
The marriage index can be accessed at Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org (free). You’ll have to do a little digging at SeekingMichigan.org to find the death records from 1926-1952. Use “Advanced Search” and check the box for Death Records, 1921-1952 OCLC LOADING.
Uncle Eddy a Bigamist or Polygamist?
I started my search in the marriage records index on Ancestry with the Budny surname. When Uncle Edward Budny’s name came up twice and the marriages were only a year apart, I thought he was a bigamist. Then I recognized the third wife’s name and it was “Oh My!” Is Uncle Eddy a “serial marrier?”
Ancestry.com screenshot of Edward Budny’s marriage index
Now the first step in an analysis would be to check if these three Edwards were the same person. Then check to see if the person is your relative. I knew right off the bat that this was my Edward. The Budny surname is not common in Detroit. There are a few Budny families in the area. Strangely, none of the families were related to each other.
Uncle Eddy was not mentioned a lot in my house. We hardly ever saw him. I knew growing up that there was some type of back story to Eddy and no one talked about it. I knew he wasn’t married (anymore) and he had a daughter. My only strong memory of him is at my 16 birthday party that fell on the same day as Father’s day. It was a great fun day with Eddy, my grandfather, and my aunt’s father-in-law. Who are all Polish and telling tall tales for sure.
Ancestry’s pop-up view of the record showed the parents’ names. All three records for Edward Budny listed the same parents, Adam Budny and Mary Borucky (Borucki). Those two are the progenitors of my Budny line.
So…was Eddy a bigamist? No, he wasn’t. The Michigan Divorce Index through 1952 are listed at Ancestry. What a relief to see two divorce listings for Uncle Eddy. Even though I could see the marriage and divorce dates online, I had to write them down on paper just to double check that the marriages didn’t overlap.
Ancestry.com screenshot of Edward Budny’s divorces listings
Edward married Lillian Connor first in August 1939. Their divorce is granted on 16 September 1940. The marriage must have a rocky start from the beginning. Six weeks after the divorce, Eddy marries Victoria Podgorski on 26 October 1940. Vitoria and Eddy’s divorce is final on 21 January 1942. The first marriage lasted 14 months, the second; 15 months.
Third Time is Not a Charm
Another walk down the aisle less than three months after his second divorce. Lois Castle becomes Eddy’s third wife on 11 April 1942. Maybe this marriage has a fighting chance. Eddy enlists in the Army in March 1943 and musters out November 1944. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, so they say. The couple are still together in 1958 according to a city directory. A non-amicable divorce does occur sometime later. I think someone mentioned he had lady friends after his divorce. You know how family gossips.
#52Ancestors: Week 10 – Grafting the Adcock Branch to the Howes Family Tree
Posted by Caroll in 52 Ancestors on March 15, 2015
This is week 10 of the 2015 #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
Yes, I know I am late with this post. I have outlined it several times in my head and finally have the words down to the blog. Week 10 theme was Stormy Weather. Whether personal crisis or weather related events that affected our ancestor’s lives. My take was grief. Our ancestors were flooded with grief at various stages in their lives. Especially those who crossed an ocean or trekked overland from the east to west of the continent. They endured countless hardships along the way. The following story is about a family that continued to lose a parent early in their lives.
Grafting – taking a branch of one tree and inserting onto another so that the two branches may join together.
The Adcock branch was grafted to the family tree through marriage by my Aunt Pat. She married Noah Adcock in the 1950’s. Noah’s family hailed from De Kalb County, Tennessee. The Adcock’s served in many of the early wars, including the Revolutionary War and Mexican War of 1812. Two generations served on the confederate side of the Civil War.
Noah Adcock unexpectedly passed away at the age of 45. This early death, unfortunately, is pattern in the Adcock family history. The Adcock line is flooded with much grief in the past. Noah lost his own parents when he was quite young.
His mother, Ada L. Duncan, died a few weeks after his birth in December 1928. She was 28 years old and left five small children under her husband’s care. At 12 years of age, Noah loses his father, William M. Adcock. William Adcock (1884-1940) was 55 years old at the time of his death of myocarditis. Noah died of a heart attack.
Noah’s grandfather, Perry Green Adcock (1853-1927), died of mitral regurgitation at age of 73. Perry Adcock lost his father at the age of 11. William Adcock (1823-1864) died in the Civil War. Most likely of sickness.
William remarries circa 1939 to Alice Todd Willis. A widow herself with young children. Alice finds herself a widow again, when William dies in 1940. Noah has now lost both his parents and finds himself back at his grandmother’s home.
In 1928, William’s mother, Mary Jane Love, steps in to take care of Noah and his siblings. She does the same after William dies. Alice Todd Willis with small children of her own does not take custody. Mary Jane Love was nearly 70 when she takes over the care of William’s children. In 1940 she is nearly 80.
The flood of grief does not stop. Mary Love Adcock passes away in 1941. Leaving Noah without close times to his parents. Who provides the nurturing care after her death is not known to me. His oldest sister, Mary Lou Adcock, just recently married to James E. Judkins, is only 19 years old.
Noah joins the military in 1947 and serves until 1952. He does not return to Tennessee and settles in Michigan, where he marries my aunt.
Anomalies
1930 Census, Mary Jane Love is most likely misidentified as “Sarah” in household of William.
A daughter, Grace, is listed in William’s household on the 1930 Census. If this is William’s daughter, she may be from a prior marriage. No record has been found of this marriage, as of yet. Some online trees list Ada Duncan, as her mother. Ada would have been 12 when Grace was born in 1912, and could be dismissed as her mother. Ada and William were married in 1919. Grace could have also been a niece or cousin who lived with William.
The 1920 census, for William and Ada, lists a son named Robert. He does not appear on the 1930 census. I not located a death record for him. I did find one for his brother, Willie T. Adcock (1924) who died at birth.
Final Resting Place
William Adcock shares a headstone with Ada Duncan at the Faulkner Cemetery in Warren County, TN. His mother Mary Lou Adcock lies there too. A sweet grave epithet is engraved on her headstone. It reads, “Having finished life’s duty she now sweetly rests.”
Photograph Citations
James Hill, “Find-A-Grave” database. (www.findagrave.com) for Mary Jane Love Adcock (1861-1941), Faulkner Cemetery (Pike Hill), McMinnville, Warren Co, Tennessee; Memorial# 34255261; accessed 15 Mar 2015.
James Hill, “Find-A-Grave” database. (www.findagrave.com) for William Adcock and Ada Duncan Adcock, Faulkner Cemetery (Pike Hill), McMinnville, Warren Co, Tennessee; Memorial# 34255153 and 34255195; accessed 15 Mar 2015.
#52Ancestors: Week 9 – Sarah Vina Howes – Last Chance at Love
Posted by Caroll in 52 Ancestors, Genealogy Blog on March 6, 2015
This is week nine of the 2015 #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
Two blocks from Sarah Howes’ house lives a middle aged man, Ira Bridges, recently widowed. How long did she know him before they got married? Were they attracted to each other from afar and waiting for the day they could be together? Or, did they marry for convenience?
Sarah V. Howes is my paternal great grandfather’s sister. She opted for the single life until she entered into a marriage at the age of 53. Born in 1855 in Warrick County, Indiana, she died in Farmersburg, IN at the age of 60. Married in 1908, two years later she is widowed, and on her own.
Sarah may have waited for marriage because she was busy raising her younger siblings. Her mother, Lusina Hedges dies at the age of 39, her father, Lewis Charles House/Howes four years later. Sarah had six younger siblings that need care. Her youngest sister is just four years old at the time of her mother’s death.
The family moves off the farm to Evansville, IN. Her brothers are miners, she herself is a seamstress. The siblings marry, but not Sarah. Every few years, she moves to various rooming houses in her neighborhood. Houses come and went in Evansville, the houses she lived in no longer are no longer standing.
Ira Levi Bridges is a few years older than Sarah. Born in Kentucky, his family moves to Newburgh, IN. A growing coal mining and port community. Ira’s first wife is Nancy Jane Buston. Their union produces four sons. Ira works in the coal mine like so many others at the time.
Nancy Buston Bridges, age 62, dies on April 18, 1908. Eight months later on December 23, 1908, in Warrick County, Ira marries Sarah Howes. Such a quick marriage after the death of his first wife.
The new couple move out of the city to Farmersburg where Ira operates a mine. Four years after their marriage, Ira dies of liver disease in 1912. He is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, in Evansville, IN.
Sarah remains in Farmersburg where she passes away. She shares her gravestone with her parents in Union Cemetery, Newburgh, IN.
With just a few facts one could create a story of torrid love affair or an ordinary union of two people. It would be interesting to know why Sarah waited to marry, but alas, the story has been lost to time.
#52Ancestors: Week 8 – Elizabeth Thomas – Free Woman of Color
Posted by Caroll in 52 Ancestors, Genealogy Blog on February 24, 2015
This is week eight of the 2015 #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
Black History Month
February is Black History Month. African Americans have a difficult time tracing their ancestors. I believe genealogists have a fiduciary responsibility to pass along any information that can be gleaned to help others find their roots. I knew that some of my ancestors owned slaves. Could I find anything information about them to pass along.
Searching Google eBooks, I found a court case involving a known ancestral cousin.
Elizabeth Thomas, F.W.C v Generis & Al
Elizabeth Thomas’s emancipation case was heard in the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1840. She was suing for her right to be a free woman of color. She won her freedom by Ipso facto.
Thomas had lived in Illinois, a state that prohibited slavery, prior to being taken to Louisiana. While in Louisiana, she was sold to another slave owner for $1,000. Thomas’s story starts in Virginia. In her suit, she states that she was born free in the state of Virginia. Around 1814, as a child, she was somehow acquired by Oliver C. Vanlandingham, Senior. Vanlandingham is my fourth great grand uncle. From there, Thomas was taken to Kentucky.
Elizabeth remained at the Vanlandingham farm in Muhlenberg County, KY until 1832. She had been ill for some time and wanted to go to the doctor in Shawneetown, IL. Vanlandingham’s overseer brought Thomas to the Illinois doctor for treatment. Vanlandingham had a merchant store in Shawneetown at the time. He also owned a plantation in Baton Rouge, LA. It is because she lived in Illinois, that Thomas asserted that she was emancipated due to Illinois law.
Thomas lived at the Vanlandingham home for about five years. While living there, she was under the care of Dr. Posey. In 1837, she was transported down to the Louisiana plantation. Shortly after that, she was sold. Thomas then files a lawsuit stating she is a free woman of color (F. W. C) and cannot be made a slave again simply by being conveyed to Louisiana.
Illinois law stated that slavery could not be introduced into the state. Judge Scates opinion of Illinois law is that a slave states that a slave held in involuntary servitude becomes immediately free by the constitution (Illinois). Thomas resided in Illinois with the consent of her master. Being free previously, Ipso facto, by that very fact; she could not be made a slave again.
Vanlandingham’s counsel tried to say that Thomas was taken to Illinois without his knowledge. That she was allowed to see a doctor for humanitarian reasons. That he owned a business there, but not a home. However, Thomas had to live somewhere for five years. And, it was the Shawneetown home belonging to Vanlandingham. The warrantor to the purchase of Thomas contradicted the counsel testimony. The Judges sided with Thomas.
I don’t know what Elizabeth Thomas did after gaining her freedom. Vanlandingham passed away in 1856. He owned over a hundred slaves at one point in his life.
Ownership of those slaves passed to his son, O. C. Vanlandingham, Junior. Junior joined the Confederate Army during the Civil War. When he return home to his plantation after the war, he found his home, and crops destroyed. The slaves had run off.
With the Louisiana property gone, O.C. junior, returned to Paradise, Kentucky to the other family property. On the 1870 Census, he is enumerated among several black families in the area.
Sources:
Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana …, Volume 16 Louisiana. Supreme Court, Branch Walthus Miller, Thomas Curry, A. T. Penniman & Company, 1841 (Google eBook)
Alternate source: http://bit.ly/1A5iLAk
A History of Muhlenberg County, Otto Arthur Rothert, J.P. Morton, 1913 – Muhlenberg County (Ky.) (Google eBook)
1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Paradise, Muhlenberg, Kentucky; Roll: M593_490
#52Ancestors: Week 6 – Tracing the Josselyn Line Across Time
Posted by Caroll in 52 Ancestors, Genealogy Blog on February 8, 2015
This is week six of the 2015 #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
This week’s inspirational theme is So Far Away. The object is writing about an ancestor so far removed to you in generations, or, maybe an ancestor that you traveled a great distance to research. Though I have traveled across the ocean to England to half heartily research the Howes family line. I chose to write about one the earliest ancestors in my tree.
The ancestor furthest from me in generations is Jeffrey Josselyn, my 17th great grandfather. He lived circa 1375 to 1425 near Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England. The patriarch of the family line and name is attributed to Gilbert Jocelyn. A Norman invader from Normandy, who arrived with William the Conqueror in 1066. If the descendancy is true, then one branch of my family tree can be traced back to that time period.
The Josselyn’s are affluent both in land ownership and at the royal court throughout the years. However, England is fraught with wars with from European armies and internal claims to the English throne. The England is in the middle of the Hundred Years Wars (1337–1453) with France and the War of the Roses with royal cousins claiming the throne for themselves.
Jeffrey Josselyn served in the service of King Richard II during the Hundred Years War. His son, Ralph, was created Knight of the Bath, by King Edward IV in 1465. During the War of the Roses (1455-1487), Sir Ralph raises forces to fight insurgents trying to free Henry VI from the Tower. The Josselyn’s are able to keep their heads during the changing reigns in the late 1400’s in the fight for the throne of England.
Hyde Hall in Sawbridgeworth, England was the family residence during the 16th and 17th centuries. Members of the family are buried at Great Mary’s Church. The church is known for its engraved brass plaques of its members. The grave marker of Jeffrey Josselyn (1420-1470/71) has a brass etching, of him and his two wives.
Jeffery Jocelyn Brass Engraving circa 1470
I am related to the Josselyn line through Rebecca Nichols (b. 1641), my 8th great grandmother, who married Samuel House (1638-1702). Rebecca is the daughter of Thomas Nichols and Rebecca Josselyn who emigrated from Essex County, England in 1635. Rebecca Josselyn is the daughter of Thomas Joslin.
Outline Descendant Report from Jeffrey Josselyn to Rebecca Nichol
I have cited the work of H.F. Waters below. I have not personally verified Mr. Waters sources and citations. Please reference the data accordingly.
- Jeffrey Josselyn b: Abt. 1375 in England, d: Abt. 1425 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England
- Jeffrey Josselyn b: Bef. 1420 in England, d: 02 Jan 1470/71 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England
- John Josselyn b: Bef. 1455 in Essex, England, d: Bef. 1524 in Sheering, Essex, England
- Ralph Josselyn b: 1475 in Great Canfield, Essex, England, d: Bef. 1540 in Great Canfield, Essex, England
- Ralph Josselyn b: Abt. 1503 in Essex, England, d: Bef. 1546 in Fyfield, Essex, England
- John Josselyn b: Abt. 1525 in Fyfield, Essex, England, d: 18 Feb 1578/79 in Roxwell, Essex, England
- Ralph Josselyn b: 1556 in Chelmsford, Essex, England, d: 19 Mar 1632 in Roxwell, Chelmsford, Essex, England
- Thomas Joslin b: 1591 in Roxwell, Essex, England, d: 03 Nov 1660 in Lancaster, Worchester, Massachusetts
- Rebecca Josselyn b: 1617 in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, d: 22 Sep 1675 in Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts
- Rebecca Nichols b: 1641 in Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Sources:
The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vols. 37-52 (1883-98) include section: Genealogical gleanings in England, by H. F. Waters.
Sawbridgeworth and Great Mary’s Church: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawbridgeworth
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