The Will of Joseph Frith

Posted on by Kathleen

The Will

This will of Joseph Frith was found through FamilySearch’s Full Text Search*. There were multiple scans of the will, making it appear a few different times but I chose this copy as the most legible to transcribe.1

* The images for these records are still viewable on FamilySearch but are no longer able to be downloaded. The images can now be downloaded on Ancestry.

The Transcription

In the Name of God Amen I Joseph Frith of Werneth in the County of Chester being sick and weak in body but of sound disposing mind and memory do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following that is to say I Give devise and bequeath unto Hannah my loving wife during her natural Life the occupation of a small dwelling house and its appurtenances , situate , standing and being in Werneth aforesaid which is now in occupation together with the use of all my household goods furniture and other usables whatsover provided she be not married again but if she shall happen to be married again then instead of the said premises and goods I give and bequeath to my said loving wife the yearly sum of Ten pounds to be paid her out of all my Houses Lands and Tenements during the then remainder of her natural life by half yearly and equal portions I give and Devise all those my messuages, dwelling houses , lands , tenements and hereditaments situate and being in Werneth aforesaid with the rents , issues and profits of all and singular the said premises ( except the above dwelling house and its appurtenances now in occupation unto Hannah Frith Thomas Howard and John Boyer as my Trustees and Executors and Executrix

To have and to hold the said messuages , dwelling houses , lands , tenements , hereditaments and premises ( except before excepted ) unto them the said Trustees and Executrix and Executors their Executors , Administrators and assigns from and immediately after my decease for and during the term of ninety years from thence next ensuing and fully to be complete and ended In trust nevertheless and to the intent and purpose that they the said Trustees above named their Executors , administrators and assigns do out of the Rents , Issues and profits thereof or thereby arising or by assignment of the said premises or any part or parcel thereof during the said Term or by Mortgage or grant of the said premises or any part thereof raise and levy so much money as shall be sufficient for the discharge of all my lawful debts , funeral expenses and charge of the probate and execution of this my last will and testament and that they may and discharge the same therewith and after payment and the discharging thereof that they then upon this further Trust that they the said Hannah Frith Thomas Howard and John Boyer Their Executors and administrators do take the overplus of the said rents , profits and levies ( if any ) as the same may arise until the decease of my said loving wife ( if she hapens to be married again ) and the same to improve in the best manner their prudence may direct during that time . And at the decease or marriage of my said loving wife as the same shall first happen the same overplus so improved to pay equally amongst and to my seven children Harriet the wife of Thomas Booth, Charlotte the wife of Alexander Oldham, Joseph Firth , Hannah the Wife of John Cartright, Amelia Frith , Mariah Firth and Sarah Firth or their representatives . And from and immediately after and as soon as my said wife shall have been married again ( if that happens) I do hereby give and devise all and singular the premises aforesaid and the remainder and remainders reversion and reversions of all and singular my said messuages , dwelling houses , lands , tenements , and hereditaments aforesaid with the appurtenances together with my said Household goods furniture and usables equally amongst my said seven children Harriet Booth , Charlotte Oldham , Joseph Firth , Hannah Cartright, Amelia Firth , Mariah Firth , and Sarah Firth their heirs and assigns for ever share and share alike charged nevertheless and I do hereby charge the whole of the same premises with the payment of the said yearly sum of Ten pounds the same to be paid unto Hannah my said wife during the then remainder of her natural life by half yearly equal portions But if my said loving wife shall not of happen to be married again then immediately after her decease I do hereby give and devise all and singular the premises aforesaid and the reversion and reversions remainder and remainders of and in all and singular my said messuages , dwellinghouses , lands , tenements and hereditaments with the appurtenances together with the said household goods furniture and usables equally amongst my said seven children Harriet Booth , Charlotte Oldham , Joseph Firth, Hannah Cartright, Amelia Frith , Mariah Firth and Sarah Firth their heirs and assigns for ever share and share alike And further in case the husbands of my said daughters or either them or any person or persons to whom any legacy or benefit might or may accrue out of from or by reason of this my Will shall commence any suit or suit in any court of law or Equity or other court whatsover or by any ways or means sue or disturb or cause to be sued or disturbed my Executrix and executors or trustees hereinafter named or any other person or persons whatsoever to whom any thing is by me given in this my will from the receiving , quiet enjoying and possessing what is by me herein given as is therein mentioned in order to obtain more for themselves than what is hereby grant to be given or devised to him her or them , then it is my will and mind that such disagreeing legatee or legatees share or shares , benefit or benefits , in this my will shall cease , determine and become void and his , her or their share or shares , benefit or benefits herein which might otherwise have accrued to him , her or them be equally divided amongst such of my legatees as shall remain contented and satisfied herewith . And I do hereby nominate and appoint my said loving wife executrix and the said Thomas Howard and John Boyer Executors of this my last will and testament hereby revoking all former and wills by me heretofore made In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal ( this wrote on two sheets of paper to one of which I have put my name and my name and seal to the other ) Eight Day of March 1823 Joseph Frith Signed Sealed Published pronounced and declared by Joseph Frith the Testator as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence and in the presence of each other have set to our names as Witnesses thereto John Booth Henry Booth Peggy Booth

The Family According to the Will

I created this chart by just adding in the names of the seven children listed, no other research done. I added in the husband’s names since the will specifically mentioned them. The will is dated in 1823, so before the 1841 UK Census but still in the time frame where our favorite Reverend was creating gorgeous baptism records. So my next step was to see if I can add in any children of these seven children from those baptism records.

Now you see why I kicked myself for not creating a separate file for the parish as I went page by page for the Booths. 😂

The Family After Searching for Baptisms and Census

The fun thing with wills, is I’ve noticed they usually, but not always, list the children in birth order. I wasn’t going to assume that about the children of Joseph and Hannah but it was interesting to see it play out through the records. Now full disclosure, only about 90% of the baptisms came from our dear Reverend Brooks. The rest are from different parishes. This means I don’t have such detailed information on the mothers. However, because Joseph and Hannah’s children were having children right before and during the time civil registration began, when I put things together with census records. I was able to have some real fun with these guys.

It has also taken a lot of time to get this entry done because of the amount of information flowing. 😂 It was also interesting for me to find all the daughters before Joseph Frith Jr. There are a few Joseph’s hanging around Cheshire at this time but I can’t be sure of which one is the correct one. I’m hoping once I fill in the others it will give me more clues about Joseph.

Joseph Frith Family after searching baptisms, birth records, and quick census searches.

For the first time I’ve even updated the database section of the site to show my sources for all those people in the chart.

What Is Next

  • Birth Records: Make a list of the children who would be born during the civil registration period and order a few at a time. I tended to overdo it on the ordering and then fall by the wayside. My goal is to have a list of main line records to order, then collateral lines. If I have no main line records to order that month, I will spend my records budget on the collaborative ones.
  • Census Records: Fill in the census records I can for all these families.
  • Check the big sites for Official and Church Records.
  • Probate Records: Check for any wills that will add to what I’ve already found.
  • Tax Lists: Learn more about tax lists and how they can help me. I see many results for Tax Lists in the FamilySearch Full Text Search but I don’t know how to use them so that’s next on the list to learn.
  • I need to look into the Booths that served as witnesses to Joseph’s will. It’s very likely those are Thomas’ relatives.

Source Citations

  1. Cheshire, England, Probate Records of the Diocese of Chester, 1547-1857, will of Joseph Frith, dated 08 Mar 1825; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 22 Jan 2025). ↩︎

Paul Sutcliffe, It’s Your Turn!

Posted on by Kathleen

Who Were Paul Sutcliffe’s parents?

This is the question I’ve been asking for a long time. In search of the answer I’ve been collecting records like they are Pokémon and each one just adds to the confusion. I shouldn’t be surprised, it is the way it goes in genealogy research. Paul is one of my immigrant ancestors so any information I can find about him can help me narrow down the search.

What Information Did I Start With

I know Paul was born in England around 1839 to 1842. This comes from various sources. His tombstone gives the date of 1839. The other sources just give his age in years and I’ve calculated from that. I also have some Civil War Records that I ordered through CivilWarRecords.com. Those put his age in the general 1841 range.

We know Paul died in 1874 of consumption1. He is only present on one United States Census, which was the 1870 census2. This census while useful for many reasons, is very unproductive in terms of a birth month/year or even his parents birthplaces like other censuses. It does however give us some information. So we are all grateful for that. From his death record, I know his parents names are John and Elizabeth Sutcliffe3. That’s it, that’s all I’ve got. Genealogy is fun right?!

What Searches Have I Done

I did do a quick passenger list search and there is a Paul Sutcliff, who was born about 1839, arriving in New York City on July 25, 1859 from England4. Of course that is all the information the record gives, so it isn’t really a great start. Once I saw that passenger list date I tried to find any Paul Sutcliff/Sutcliffe in the 1860 United States Census and wow, I’ve never seen so few results on such a generic search. 🤣 If anyone has any better luck, please let me know!

My next try was baptism records in England. It was the best I could think of and I happen to really enjoy looking through them.

This entry for Elizabeth Sutcliffe and her son Paul was very interesting for me. Usually they will give the father and mother’s name in a baptism record. When there is no father’s name, it most likely means that she was unmarried. The key detail to show she was not married is that her “Quality, Trade or Profession” listed her as a “spinster.” This was term they used in this era for unmarried women on records.

The information we get from this record is Paul, son of Elizabeth Sutcliff who lives in Black Abbey was born Aug 1, 1839 and baptized on Aug 18, 1839 in the St. James, Accrington Parish Church, Lancashire, England5.

It was at this point I got overwhelmed and took a break from the Sutcliffes. I tend to jump around on which family I’m researching quite a bit. I think anyone who actually is still reading my blog at this point knows that. 😂

Then Came the DNA

What brought me back to them you ask? It was the DNA of course. Right now, I am working through the Shared Matches of Matches DNA class from Your DNA Guide. I don’t even remember how many times I’ve worked through this class at this point. It’s not that I didn’t understand, I just didn’t understand completely. 😂 So I keep working through it again when I get the urge to try. I won’t go into the whole process, because I am nowhere near qualified to teach it for one. Also, the classes there are so top tier, I think everyone should invest in them when possible. I’m saving up for my next one already.

Once I started using Pro Tools on my Shared Matches in Ancestry, I noticed a Wilson family kept popping up. Not the one I was used to from Yorkshire. Its very vital to mention that Paul Sutcliffe’s mother-in-law was Elizabeth Wilson, whose family is from Yorkshire. This means I wasn’t shocked to see a ton of Wilsons pop up in my matches, but I was shocked to see them in Lancashire. That’s when I decided to check my Dad’s Thrulines.

You will have to use your imagination a little. When I first came into this ThruLine the Wilson kids were green dotted line connections and showing as half siblings. It’s a bit of a spoiler that they are no longer showing as half siblings now that I added them to my tree, but that’s alright, we are all friends here. 😂 Basically, 16 cM and 11 cM are low amounts and according the Shared CM Project and What Are the Odds? it’s not impossible that Paul is either the full sibling or half sibling of these two Wilsons.

I started to build out the Wilson siblings trees to see if more matches would populate. There are 12 children total, including Paul and only one died as a child. That’s a lot of genealogy to do. It’s also worth noting that all of the Wilson children were baptized and many were married in the same church that Paul was baptized in. Just more circumstantial evidence to add to my case.

These two ThruLine matches trees did check out. That’s another green check in my column.

It’s Complicated but Not Really

When I say it’s a bit complicated, it’s really only because I am still missing some gaps at the beginning of Paul’s life. That’s not a complete shock since he was born before his mother was married. Let me give a timeline to show what I have found so far.

1839 Birth Certificate

On the 10th of August 1839, Elizabeth Sutcliff registers the birth of her son, Paul. He was born the 1st of August 18396. The location was given as Black Abbey in New Accrington. At first I had trouble finding this certificate until I realized that the General Register Office indexes the name of the child as the father’s name if the father’s name is given. Searching for Paul Wilson is what got me this certificate. Interestingly, it did not give the mother’s maiden name in the index.

1839 Baptism

On August 18th, 1839, Elizabeth has her son baptized in St. James Church, Accrington7. The location and birth date all match the official birth certificate.

1840 Marriage Record

One year after their sons birth, John and Elizabeth are married in Manchester on August 31, 18408.

1841 England Census

In the 1841 Census, we should see Paul with his parents if I’m right, but I just couldn’t find a match. We only have John and Elizabeth by themselves9. I did find a one year old named Paul Sutcliff living in the household of a Betty Sutcliffe in Black Abbey🤪 10. I’m going to dig deeper into both families before I will confirm it is a family member. So this is more like a yellow pending checkmark for my case.

1841 Birth Certificate

In September of 1841, John and Elizabeth had another child11. This certificate differs only slightly from the last one. You’ll notice Elizabeth is now listed as “formerly Sutcliffe”. They had a lot more children if I’m honest, but I haven’t gotten all the certificates yet. 😂 This one is basically to show the difference between Paul’s certificate before John and Elizabeth’s marriage and what one looks like after.

1851 England Census

In 1851, I found the family together in Accrington, except for John12. I believe I found him in another Wilson household, but I got overwhelmed with so much new information and decided to not investigate it yet. The big win is that Paul, aged 12, is in the household after being absent in 1841. Once I started filling in this part of the tree, there is a lot of information coming in very fast. I’m doing my best to go through it methodically and not make any mistakes. Hopefully this means I have a few more generations back I can go.

1861 England Census

Like I said, lots of kids. 😂 John is back, but on the previous page so we will have to just use our imaginations again13. Paul is now missing, which actually adds weight to the passenger list I mentioned earlier in the entry. Maybe that was actually him immigrating to the United States.

1870 United States Census

Paul married Mary S. Senior in 1863 in Bloomfield, New Jersey14. Mary’s mother was also a Wilson, so this is why I’m trying to be very careful as I go. I want to make sure if the lines cross, I get it correct and don’t get things too messed up. In 1870, Paul’s family is recorded living in Bloomfield, New Jersey15. His daughter, Alice, is on the next page. This family sure knows how to end up on the bottom of a census page. 🤣

1871 England Census

Our last census for John and Elizabeth is the 1871 England census and 6 of their 11 living children are with them16. Both John17 and Elizabeth18 died in 1879 and the children spread out after.

My Conclusion

I think it’s fair to say I believe that John Wilson and Elizabeth Sutcliffe are Paul’s parents. When I first discovered this I thought that maybe Paul immigrated to America to escape the stigma of being illegitimate. His parents did end up marrying but he did go by Sutcliffe in America. I’m not positive but I think for all intents and purposes that his English surname was Sutcliffe too unless they went to court and changed it. I know in America in the 1800s, they weren’t exactly checking birth certificates for identification, but I have no idea about England in that era. I can’t imagine Elizabeth would have put John’s name on Paul’s birth certificate unless he was the biological father.

My first thought of Paul escaping England due to stigma, I’m not so sure anymore. At least four of his siblings also came to America, so maybe they were just looking for fresh starts overall.

What’s Next?

Next is to keep researching Paul’s siblings down the line and see if I can identify more DNA matches. I’m sure there is plenty more to find and maybe I’ll cover the DNA aspects in its own entry. I also want to check out the parents of John and Elizabeth. The tree tangles and twists quite a bit together at this point. It reminds me a bit of my Mom’s Kentucky side. Where the same 5 or 6 names repeat a bit.

Below is just a rough graphic showing my progress on the siblings research.

  1. New Jersey State Archives, Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1711-1878, AW 1874: 172, 14, Paul Sutcliffe; digital image, “Deaths, Atlantic-Hudson Co.,” Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: 18 Jan 2025). ↩︎
  2. 1870 U.S. census, Essex County, New Jersey, population schedule, Bloomfield township, p. 77-B, dwelling 428, family 482, Paul Sutcliff household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Jan 2025); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M593, roll 860. ↩︎
  3. New Jersey Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1711-1878, AW 1874: 172, 14, Paul Sutcliffe. ↩︎
  4. Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957, online images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Dec 2025), manifest, Guy Mannering, 25 Jul 1859, Paul Sutcliff. ↩︎
  5. St. James (Accrington, Lancashire, England), St. James Parish (Accrington), Births and Baptisms, 1813-1909, “1830-1839,” Paul Sutcliffe baptism (1839); digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 Apr 2026). ↩︎
  6. England and Wales, birth certificate for Paul Sutcliff, born 1 Aug 1839; citing 21/399/153, Sep quarter 1839, Haslingden registration district; General Register Office, Southport. ↩︎
  7. St. James (Accrington, Lancashire, England), St. James Parish (Accrington), Births and Baptisms, 1813-1909, “1830-1839,” Paul Sutcliffe baptism (1839). ↩︎
  8. Cathedral (Manchester, Lancashire, England), Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930, “1840,” John Wilson, Elizabeth Sutcliffe marriage (1840); digital images, Ancestry (http://ancestry.com : accessed 31 Mar 2026). ↩︎
  9. 1841 census of England, Lancashire, Accrington, folio 28, page 7, John Wilson household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 Mar 2026); citing PRO HO 107/506/2. ↩︎
  10. 1841 census of England, Lancashire, New Accrington, folio 10, page 14, Betty Sutcliff household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Apr 2026); citing PRO HO 107/506/4. ↩︎
  11. England and Wales, birth certificate for Mary Ann Wilson, born 8 Sep 1841; citing 08E/410/357, Sep quarter 1841, Haslingden registration district; General Register Office, Southport. ↩︎
  12. 1851 census of England, Lancashire, New Accrington, folio 601, page 10, Elizabeth Wilson household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Apr 2026); citing PRO HO 107/2250. ↩︎
  13. 1861 census of England, Lancashire, New Accrington, folio 33, page 27, John Wilson household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Apr 2026); citing PRO RG 9/3064. ↩︎
  14. New Jersey State Archives, Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1711-1878, J: 237, 9, Paul Sutcliff, Mary S. Seniour marriage (1863); digital image, “Essex County, Marriages, Deaths, 1848-1867,” Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: 18 Jan 2025). ↩︎
  15. 1870 U.S. census, Essex County, New Jersey, population schedule, Bloomfield township, p. 77-B, dwelling 428, family 482, Paul Sutcliff household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Jan 2025); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M593, roll 860. ↩︎
  16. 1871 census of England, Lancashire, Old Accrington, folio 59, page 3, John Wilson household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Apr 2026); citing PRO RG 10/4142. ↩︎
  17. England and Wales, death certificate for John Wilson, died 16 Jun 1879; citing 08E/125/289, Jun quarter 1879, Haslingden registration district; General Register Office, Southport. ↩︎
  18. England and Wales, death certificate for Elizabeth Wilson, died 1 Mar 1879; citing 08E/157/87, Mar quarter 1879, Haslingden registration district; General Register Office, Southport. ↩︎

Identifying Some of Llewellyn’s Friends

Posted on by Kathleen

One of the goals I’ve had for a long time is to identify the un-named people in the collection of pictures I inherited. I’ve always known this is a very uphill battle. Every now and again though, I make a bit of progress. I told my Dad tonight that even if I only identify 15%, it’s better than nothing and a huge deal. The second part of that goal would be to put faces to all the names in the Diary of Llewellyn. Today I will add four identities to that goal! All thanks to Ancestry’s Yearbook Collection if I’m honest. All these people are also added into my Public Ancestry Tree under my Diary of Llewellyn Network.

Identity One: Roswell Winans

It’s hard to tell from the group shot but I was able to spot Roswell Winans and Walter Wilkes from this image. I didn’t know it at the time, I just knew they were familiar from Llewellyn’s images. It wasn’t until I found their individual pictures that I was able to identify who they were. I will be clear, so far I have not been able to make the Face Search find anyone in my images. I think it is possible but I think the people who I am searching have high quality images available yet in the Ancestry database to really find them. Once I had already identified Roswell, it did identify him. However, I made the connection first.

I will be using these two images from Llewellyn a couple times, as there are numerous people identified in them. Roswell is easy to tell in both images once you’ve seen his Senior Picture. He is a regular participant in Llewellyn’s Epworth League and is mentioned in her diary many, many times: here.

Identity Two: Ernest Smith

Ernest wasn’t identified with a yearbook. I actually was curious if I could find him after having such great success with the others. I stumbled on a member photo (the third image) of Ernest and thought I for sure recognized him from Llewellyn’s pictures. He makes many appearances in Llewellyn’s diary.

The first image is the best image I have of any of the group I think. It contains L to R: Ernest Smith, Llewellyn Thorward, Roswell Winans, Unknown Girl, and Hugh Long. The middle image is actually on one of the church trips and that is Grant’s Tomb in the background. The group is on a boat in the Hudson River going past the Memorial.

Identity Three: Hugh Long

I will admit I was just paging through the Caldwell High School yearbooks when I noticed Hugh in the group picture. Then I found his name once I went into the Senior Pictures. I quickly identified him in a few of Llewellyn’s pictures and he too has made some appearances in her diary related to the Epworth League.

Identity Four: Walter Wilkes

For Walter, I cropped him out of the big image so we could see what struck me so much about this group image. This was my last identification and I think it was his posture that made me stop and take notice first. I was actually looking up people from Llewellyn’s wedding gift list and noticed Walter and his parents listed and decided to see if I could find him. The group picture came up for me first. His class picture isn’t as convincing, but I think it’s hard to argue with the other two pictures once placing them side by side. Walter appears in Llewellyn’s diary one time that I know of and of course the wedding gift registry.

This is fun right? 😂

Alice Hackett-Hammell, A Little More Info

Posted on by Kathleen

In the process of researching another entry, Welcome to the Family Hammells!, there was a little bit of information going further back that didn’t quite fit into that post. It involves the mother of Jennie Hammell-Featherston. I do find it a little interesting I’m filling in the information for generations after and before Jennie before I am able to do it for her. I’ll take whatever information I can get though, so no complaints here.

Where We Left Off

In the previous entry we really only knew the names of Jennie Hammell-Featherston-Nagel’s parents. Bernard Hammell and Alice Hackett. My next steps are to try and gain as many records as I can that will give me more information on her parents. Even a little bit of new information will help me start narrowing things down and maybe even finding people who went missing in the census in later years. Here is where the family stood at the end of that last entry:

Author’s Note: For the purpose of keeping this family easier to follow, I will refer to Jennie Featherston-Parkin as “Jennie” and her mother Jennie Hammell-Featherston-Nagel as “Jane”. With quotes, to further distinguish who we are talking about. Not just for this entry but all entries going forward.

New Record – But Unreliable For Now

I was able to find a church birth index entry for “Jane” on both Ancestry and FamilySearch1 but I still need to try and see the actual record for that. It seems to be a very robust Catholic Church register though, so I have quite the to do list for that record set. The original record set isn’t searchable on FamilySearch but it is included in the New Jersey Births and Christenings record set. This index has actually been very beneficial to me for getting the exact location of my New Jersey records to order from the Archives. This exact one will have to wait until I can make it to a FamilySearch center, which I should probably try to do soon.

This record set also found a brother named James2 who is five years younger than “Jane.” This led me to fill in some more information. It turned out that James married a woman named Louise Widasech in 18833. They had one child named James. He also formed a “James Hammell Association” which really confused me for awhile until I realized it was some sort of club that James formed, they gathered regularly, formed a shuffleboard team, and took annual rides. The earliest mention I saw of it was 1888, and one last mention in 1904.

In the 1885 New Jersey State Census, Alice is even living with James, his wife and son4. Sadly James’ son would pass away in 1888 of diphtheria5. After his death the family would take in a foster daughter, but I haven’t been able to track down much information on her and where she came from. She appeared in the household in the 1900 United States Census6 and would live with Louise for a short time after James’ 1903 death78.

How Do I Know This James Is Connected?

You might be thinking I’m in danger of adding a random family to the tree without verifying things just based off this information. That’s not the case though, there are a few more things helping me to decide this James is the actual brother of my “Jane”.

In Jane’s second marriage certificate to William Nagle, the witnesses to the marriage are a Louise and John Hammell, whose address is 163 Summit Street9. I am inclined to think John is meant to be James. It is about 8 months before James’ 1903 death and I haven’t found any evidence of a John Hammell but it’s still possible I am missing something. 163 Summit Street is associated with James and Louise for a very long time and he ran a pub at the location10. This address is also where the James Hammell Association would have their regular meetings.

The 1890 Death of Alice Hammell

The biggest piece of evidence I found linking James Hammell to “Jane” and Alice is the loose probate papers found in the FamilySearch Full Text search11. In those papers we have first James Hammell, son and Jennie Featherston, daughter informing the Surrogates Court of Essex County that their mother died intestate. This means she had no will.

The second is a hand written letter from Jane. I repeat. A handwritten letter from “Jane“. In the letter Jane is protesting the letters of administration being assigned to anyone before some other legal matters are settled. This letter is dated the 31st of January 1890. Then finally, just one day later we have James and Jane both renouncing their rights to be appointed as administrators of the estate.

Lastly we have Alice’s death certificate12. It gives us a little more information and another new address. If you were wondering if I’m logging these addresses and who is living with who in what years, you’d be thinking the same thing I am. 277 Warren Street is new for me in my tracking but it’s possible it’s a hospital, especially considering there is so little information given about her personal circumstances. The cemetery where she was buried is an Irish Catholic burying ground which fits with the Catholic baptismal records we found before.

My Next Steps

I am currently waiting for two more marriage records from the New Jersey archives. They will maybe help clear up “Jennie” and Sadie’s timelines but we won’t know until the records come!

Footnotes

  1. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Catholic Church, “St. Patrick’s Pro-Cathedral Parish registers, 1850-1926,” database, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 30 Oct 2025), entry for Ann Jane Hammell baptism (1852). ↩︎
  2. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Catholic Church, “St. Patrick’s Pro-Cathedral Parish registers, 1850-1926,” database, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 30 Oct 2025), entry for James Hammell baptism (1857). ↩︎
  3. New Jersey Bureau of Archives and History, New Jersey index to records of births, marriages, and deaths, 1848-1900, 8 1883-1884: Louise Widasech, James Hammell marriage; digital image, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, “Marriage, Atlantic-Warren,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/312728: 1 Nov 2025). ↩︎
  4. 1885 New Jersey State Census, Essex County, New Jersey, population schedule, Newark, Ward 4, p. 193, dwelling 727, family 1118, line 5782, James Hammell household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Nov 2025). ↩︎
  5. New York State Department of Health, “New York, U.S., Death Index, 1852-1956,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61535 : accessed 1 Nov 2025), James Hammell death (1888); citing City of Yonkers Register of Deaths, 1884-1889, p. 75. ↩︎
  6. 1900 U.S. census, Essex County, New Jersey, population schedule, Newark Ward 7, enumeration district (ED) 66, sheet 12-A, dwelling 160, family 281, James Hammell household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Nov 2025); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 964. ↩︎
  7. “Hammell,” Newark Evening News, 30 Apr 1903, p. 13, col. 1; digital images, Newark Public Library (https://newark.historyarchives.online/ : accessed 1 Nov 2025). ↩︎
  8. 1905 New Jersey State Census, Essex County, New Jersey, population schedule, Newark, Ward 6-8, 4th and 5th District, p. 14-A, dwelling 204, family 310, line 38, Louisa Hammell household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Nov 2025). ↩︎
  9. New Jersey New Jersey Bureau of Vital Statistics, marriage certificate 12738 (1901), Naegel-Hammell; New Jersey State Archives, Trenton. ↩︎
  10. “Office of the Board of Excise Commissioners of the City of Newark; list of names applying for liquor license,” Newark Evening News, 19 Aug 1902, p. 14, col. 3; digital images, Newark Public Library (https://newark.historyarchives.online/ : accessed 1 Nov 2025). ↩︎
  11. Essex County, New Jersey, Probate Records, 1794-1902, unrecorded estate papers of Alice Hammell (1890); digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 17 Feb 2026). ↩︎
  12. New Jersey Bureau of Vital Statistics, death certificate H197 (1890), Alice Hammell; New Jersey State Archives, Trenton. ↩︎

Finding Sarah Booth’s baptism and the Friths of it All

Posted on by Kathleen

In my last entry, Thank You Reverend Cooper and Reverend Brooks, I talked about how Reverend Brooks style of logging baptisms was unusual for the time but also a huge help in advancing my research.

Context, I am guessing you are wanting some

It all really started with the family history “book” I am writing. My family members have always been so supportive of my genealogy journey, and so interested in seeing the records and findings. I had been wondering how best to share it with them. One random day I just opened Power Point, yes Power Point 😂, and just started making a book. This allowed me to start actually putting my research together and see things taking shape. I noticed things I either didn’t see before or I was seeing it again after a long time.

Sarah Booth

When I’ve been entering my records into my clean file, I’ve added any addresses or identifiers of places. I also know that you are supposed to look a few pages around each family to make sure that there isn’t someone important very close. However, 😂, I don’t always have access to the image version of the England or Scottish censuses. So I can’t even say how many times I have looked at the actual census record for this, I know I’ve seen it, just not often. When you are using just indexes, it’s almost impossible to really know who the neighbors are. So this time, I’m making sure to see the actual images.

Below is the 1851 England census1 image for William and Sarah Travis. Their daughter Frances Wright Travis is my 3rd great-grandmother. I know from Frances’ birth certificate2 and death certificate3 that Sarah’s maiden name was most likely Booth. I also knew that William and Sarah had a son named Thomas Booth Travis and that name was used more than once by their descendants.

If you look at the 1851 census, right next to William and Sarah Travis is Thomas Booth and wife Harriet with their children. What I noticed first about this Booth family was the 14 year old son Ammon Booth. William and Sarah had a son Ammon Hayden Travis born in 18604. Ammon is enough of a unique name that it made me stop and take notice. I decided to go back to the 1841 England census and find this Thomas Booth family and see what information was there.

1841 England Census

The Thomas Booth family was living in Hyde at Mount Pleasant House5 (I think) in 1841. When we look back to Frances’ birth certificate it lists her place of birth as Mount Pleasant Hyde! WHAT!? Frances and her parents are living with the Travis side of the family in 18416 at Ralph Fold, now called School Lane next to the Hyde Chapel where the baptisms of all these children will take place. I plotted these locations into Google Maps and they are 9 minutes walking distance apart. Maybe what happened is Sarah stayed with her parents while she was waiting for the baby and then once the baby was born they moved to her husband’s family home. I’m not sure of the circumstances but it seems plausible to me.

Okay But Where Do The Friths Come In?

Right, back on track. How did this all lead me to the Frith family. Here is where FamilySearch’s Full Text Search came in.

I started with just a simple search for “Thomas Booth” and Ammon. Notice I did not even try using Sarah. When there is a unique name that stands out for a family it really is best to use that to cut down on false positives. Yes, you will eventually want to search every nook and cranny you can. I was just on an adventure down a rabbit hole while trying to write up a family history. I didn’t want to dig too deep yet. In hindsight, I probably went too far but c’est la vie, am I right? 😂

Thomas Booth Will

You might wonder why I am breaking things up so much? It’s because WordPress tells me I get too wordy and this improves readability. Anyway, Thomas Booth’s will is the first record that came up for my full text search. What did I find there?

I found Sarah, wife of William Travis, that’s what I found and also the married names of Sarah’s sisters and the names of her brothers and a nephew. I do love when they are all listed so clearly. I know this is for sure the same Thomas because this 1864 will starts off with Thomas Booth of Bowker Street and I have the family recorded in the 1861 census7 at Bowker Street, right down to the grandson Henry Booth living with them.

I’m Still Not Seeing How The Friths Are Involved

I know, I know. 😂 Like I said, WordPress does not get me and my writing tone. Further down on the Full Text Search Results was a result for Ammon Booth’s baptism8. From the same book as, the Thank You post.

There it is! Harriet, the daughter of Joseph and Hannah Frith. The problem remaining is that Ammon is not Sarah. However, Reverend Brooks took over records in 1806, and started recording baptisms this way almost immediately. Thomas Booth and Hannah Frith were married in January of 18179. So, on to the records for me and yes. I went page by page. Full Text search does pick up some of the children but not all. So I went full speed on doing a full search. My only regret is not creating a new file and documenting the whole parish. In fact I don’t rule it out for later.

The Children of Thomas Booth and Harriet Frith

I’ve never felt the true meaning of “If it was easy, everyone would do it” before this moment. I went page by page, found 8 children of Thomas and Harriet Booth. Susannah is missing because she was born after the FamilySearch images ran out. That’s understandable but why, oh why is my Sarah missing. 🤦‍♀️ Have I spent all this time on the wrong family? Did I miss something?

So What Did I Do?

I went back to Ann’s 1818 baptism record and I looked closer at each one and I was determined to go all the way until I reached Mary in 1822. To be really sure that I hadn’t missed her. What would I have done if I didn’t find Sarah then? No idea, because I found her10. 😂. I most likely would have checked one more time the whole record set between 1817 and 1838. If she still wasn’t there I would have checked other surrounding parishes. After that I would have added this event to a growing list of bad luck when it comes to records of my ancestors surviving.

Let’s Unpack What Happened Here

Rev. Brooks was amazing, but also still human. If you look, it gives Thomas’ name as Thomas Hyde but the wording is very strange. Usually he would say Sarah daur. of Thomas Booth of Hyde by Harriot his wife daur. of Joseph and Hannah Frith… In this record, he has just missed adding in the “Booth of” part of the transcription. Anyone just skimming will just assume this is Sarah Hyde, daughter of Thomas Hyde. The addition of Joseph and Hannah Frith as the parents of Thomas’ wife was the bit of information that made me see that this is very likely my Sarah.

Without Rev. Brooks making this change and sticking to it for so many years, I have no idea how long it would have taken to figure out that this is my Sarah, if ever. In fact who knows, maybe new information will come to light and I will learn it’s not my Sarah. Genealogy is Fun isn’t it? 😂 The rollercoaster of emotions is so exhilarating for me.

What’s Next?

Well, I have found the 1831 Will of Joseph Frith which also lists his children, including Harriet Booth. So that is next to analyze. Including what might be a connection between a Frith daughter and the Mount Pleasant House that Frances was born in. I also need to hunt down leads on the Booth children that I was given clues for in the Thomas Booth Will. A family historian’s work is never really done and I would have it no other way. So now you guys know why I was so inspired to write a Thank You post for a Reverend in a long ago parish in England that wasn’t even related to me.

Footnotes

  1. 1851 census of England, Cheshire, Werneth township, folio 640, page 9, William Travis household; digital images, MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com : accessed 15 Jan 2025); citing PRO HO 107/2154. ↩︎
  2. England and Wales, birth certificate for Frances Wright Travis, born 10 May 1841; citing 19/274/170, Jun quarter 1841, Stockport registration district, Hyde sub-district; General Register Office, Southport. ↩︎
  3. California Department of Health Services, death certificate 5899 (1921), Frances W. Redford. ↩︎
  4. England and Wales, birth certificate for Ammon Hayden Travis, born 6 Sep 1860; citing 08A/20/275, Sept quarter 1860, Stockport registration district; General Register Office, Southport. ↩︎
  5. 1841 census of England, Cheshire, Hyde parish, folio 7, page 8, Thomas Booth household; digital images, MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com : accessed 21 Jan 2025); citing PRO HO 107/111/8. ↩︎
  6. 1841 census of England, Cheshire, Hyde township, folio 14, page 21, William Travis household; digital images, MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com : accessed 15 Jan 2025); citing PRO HO 107/111/14. ↩︎
  7. 1861 census of England, Cheshire, Hyde parish, folio 153, page 34, Thomas Booth household; digital images, MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com : accessed 21 Jan 2025); citing PRO RG 9/2558. ↩︎
  8. Hyde Chapel (Hyde, Cheshire, England), Hyde Chapel Records: Births, Baptisms, and Burials 1710-1838, record for Ammon Booth baptism (1836); digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 Jan 2025). ↩︎
  9. St. Mary’s Church (Stockport, Cheshire, England), Marriage Registers, 1584-1901, “Marriages, Oct 1800-Feb 1819,” Thomas Booth and Harriott Firth marriage (1817); digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 Jan 2025). ↩︎
  10. Hyde Chapel (Hyde, Cheshire, England), Hyde Chapel Records: Births, Baptisms, and Burials 1710-1838, record for Sarah Booth baptism (1820); digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 Jan 2025). ↩︎

Thank You Reverend Cooper and Reverend Brooks

Posted on by Kathleen

When researching in the 1800s, you inevitably come across the issue of trying to find out the maiden name and parents of your women ancestors. It’s just a fact of genealogy that it wasn’t well recorded for a very long time. When you can find any glimpse of information, it’s so exciting. There are tons of work arounds and tricks you can use to determine the name but nothing beats something that gives you the information without having to spend years finding it… I mean, that’s fun too, I won’t lie to you.

Baptism and Christening Records

Of the types of records where I would tell you to look for a mother’s maiden name. Baptism records usually would be very low on the list for the early 1800s.

The above image is from the Hyde Chapel parish records on FamilySearch.org. This group of images spans from 1705-1838. It contains mostly births and baptisms. It’s wonderfully legible, gives the first name of both parents and the date of birth, which wasn’t always given in English baptism records. The image above shows Reverend Bristowe Cooper is the clergy member who is keeping record of the baptisms in 1785.

“A Register of Christenings commencing among the Protestant Dissenters of Hyde Meeting, under an Act made in the twenty third year of the reign of GEORGE Third, & bearing… Date from the first Day of October, One thousand, Seven Hundred and Eighty Five._

Bristowe Cooper._”

February the 1st, 1805

I start with Reverend Cooper because without his meticulous record keeping, I’m not sure I would have had the fortitude to page through every. single. page. of these records. Yes, every single page. For 20 years, Reverend Bristowe Cooper kept beautiful records.

On February 1, 1805, Rev. Cooper passed away after a lingering illness. His successor, Rev. James Brooks, finished recording the last baptisms for his predecessor. For about one year after Rev. Cooper’s death other clergy members filled in at the church and Rev. James Brooks made note of that also. If I hadn’t been paging through one page at a time, I don’t think I would have even noticed these events unfolding until Rev. Brooks next decision.

January 1806

It’s obvious once you see how organized the baptisms are after a change of clergy that they were tracking the baptisms elsewhere and this was the final product. After so many years of having these kind of records jump around in dates and not keep any kind of order, it’s really so refreshing. Anyway, the fact that this is information transcribed from another source is important to note because it means there is chances for errors when the transcriptions were being made. This comes in handy to know when I found a small error in the baptism record for one of my ancestors in this record set.

In January of 1806, Rev. Brooks marks down that he has taken over the baptisms for the parish.

Going by the handwriting, I can’t even be sure when Rev. Cooper ceased keeping his own records. The handwriting never changed dramatically. I couldn’t even really see signs of the illness that eventually claimed Reverend Cooper’s life. Rev. Brooks continued using the same exact format as Rev. Cooper used for about 5 pages… Yep 5 pages in he made a huge change. A change that I will be forever grateful for.

Absolutely Necessary… I agree!

“Having lately had the Register consulted on very important business, and finding a more particular form of Registry in many cases absolutely necessary to a clear distinguishing of names, I have for the future resolved to notice the maiden name of the mother, and the names of her Parents, & also the places where the father and mother of the child were registered.”

Excuse me, I’d like all of us to take a moment and just let that sink in. He did not always record where the parents were registered but I’m not even worried about that. I’m too grateful for the wealth of information and context that we are getting just knowing the maiden name of the mother and her parents names. I don’t know what important business inspired him to make this change, but I am so thankful it did.

You might think to yourself, wait, I’ve seen English baptism records and they have those boxes to fill in. Not just a blank piece of paper.

Yeah, Rev. Brooks wasn’t a fan…

One page. He got through one page of that and decided it just wasn’t for him. If you can see on the bottom right there is a hand pointing to another note from him. Why am I falling in love with a minister who was alive in 1827. If you want to see it bigger, No worries! I have it right here.

“I shall for the future write through the lines, and enter the Baptisms as above (namely the same as in my former register) putting down the time of birth as well as baptism and also noticing the parents of the wife. In this country where the same surnames are very common, noticing the maiden name of the wife & comes quite necessary.”

I agree Reverend Brooks. I definitely agree. Me and my 5 Thomas Booths and 5 William Travis’ absolutely find it necessary as well. Reverend Brooks continues this all the way through where the FamilySearch images stop in 1838. Do you want to know why it’s not devastating to have it end in 1838? Because civil registration began in England in 1837. Which means I can use the General Register Office website for anyone born after 1837.

So if you have anyone you are researching who used Hyde Chapel then have some fun searching through Reverend Cooper and Reverend Brooks meticulous notes.

Because of him, I need to introduce you to the Friths…

Using these records and FamilySearch’s Full Text Search, I have been able to go back another generation past Sarah Booth, to her mother Harriot Frith, daughter of Joseph Frith and his wife Hannah. Oy vey. I really have to update the blog on my research. Soon! You can bet I’m also searching through these Hyde Chapel baptisms for William Travis and Thomas Booth!

Welcome to the Family Hammells!

Posted on by Kathleen

You might be wondering who the Hammells are. That’s because I have never mentioned them before! They are new to you and me. That means I’ve added another surname to my direct family tree. This is really exciting! It’s always exciting to go back another generation but it’s even better when you can rediscover a female line. To get you familiar with where the Hammells will come in. I’m giving a little tree as a hint on where they fall into the family.

The last time I posted about this family was way longer than I realized. In 2017, I was working on figuring out what happened with the four Parkin children. I’m still trying to find some records that might help me learn exactly what happened with the children. I contacted the Orange Orphan Society, who said they no longer hold records for the orphanage as they are now a foundation who assists non-profits and not the actual orphanage.

I also asked the New Jersey Archives, and they do not have records for that orphanage or the Newark one. The archives was also concerned I might run into some privacy issues when trying to research. Needless to say, this will require more learning about the available records sets before I take another shot at that.

Where do we go from there?

Well, there is still so many question marks surrounding the Featherston daughters and their parents. So my next step was to search newspapers on the Newark Public Library website. If you have any kind of Essex County, New Jersey research, this website is a godsend. The years between 1904 and 1919 are missing from the New Jersey death indexes. Which happen to be the ones I am most in need of. This means finding obituaries or anything that can narrow my search down is a big deal. Once I have at least a small window, I can send to the archives for a record search.

I found news of William Featherston’s death by chance, searching for mentions of Parkin. It gave a new address for Jennie Featherston-Parkin in 1901. My last known mention of her is the 1900 US Census. There she was living at 568 Orange Street. Just down from her mother at 578 Orange Street. At the time of the 1900 US Census Jennie’s mother listed herself as widowed. Looks like William didn’t pass away until January of 1901. Looking at the articles it seems they were separated at the time of his death. So with these articles, I’ve gotten the date needed to send away for a death certificate for William. I also have a new address to search for Jennie in the 1905 New Jersey census. Hoping to get more information about her. Remember in 1905, Jennie was missing from the census and 3 of her children were living in an orphanage. Their father was living with his mother with the fourth child, but Jennie was missing from the household.

*Note: I do have William’s death certificate now but as it has no information regarding the Hammells, I am not posting it on this entry. The certificate does confirm the new address for Jennie though.

How does this say anything about the Hammells and who they are?

I’m glad you asked. I am showing the thought patterns that I had for getting one more generation back. Once I realized that the family was announcing things in the paper, I got more creative with my search terms. Trying to pick up every piece of information I could think of. Sometimes you do generic searches and think to yourself, well my family just wasn’t in the newspaper. How can you really be sure though. You can’t.

This image shows the events I’ve recorded for Jennie Featherston-Parkin’s mother, Jennie. So many Jennie’s I know.

Looking at the 1900 US Census entry for her had some interesting results. You can see a son Charles Fetherstone listed for her. Not impossible of course. However, we already know that Jennie had 3 daughters and her children born, children living columns match that. One line down from Charles is Sadie, the middle daughter. If you look at her marital status, it lists her as widowed and having 1 child with 1 child living. So let’s dig deeper into Charles and see if we can’t figure out what was going on with him.

Charles

Oh. So we have Sadie Featherstone as the mother of Chas. Jas. Acker. Sadie is interchangeable with Sarah/Sallie, so this is a good sign that we are on the right track. You are probably thinking to yourself, you should look for a marriage between Charles Acker and Sadie Featherstone!

I’m right on top of that Rose!

Sadie Featherstone. ✅

William Featherstone. Born in England. ✅

Jennie Hammell… Oh that’s new!

If you were wondering if I plugged that name into the newspaper website to search… I sure did!

Oh dear. We have a Jennie Nagle now. We have a new address of 46 Hunterdon Street. She is the wife of the deceased William Nagle?? William Featherston? I’m confused.😂

Let’s check out some census information to see what it will tell us about Charles Acker, Sadie, and Jennie. We might as well look up this new address as well and see what happens.

At that address, 46 Hunterdon Street, in 1915 and 1920 we have Anna/Jennie Nagel/Nagle living with her grandson, Charles Acker. In 1915, they have no relationships provided but in the 1920 census, he is listed as grandson. All this is fitting for Jennie Hammell/Featherston/Nagel to be the same person. We just need to something to bridge the gap between names.

I will say this. It never gets old does it. Seeing it come together in records. It doesn’t always happen like this. You can’t always just hop from one vital record to the other. When it does though. It’s amazing.

So now we have potential parents names for Jennie as well. I am still looking for her marriage to William Featherston and any birth records for her children. Those are elusive still.

Jennie’s final record. I’m know that something must have happened to Sadie, as she is not listed in the census with her son or mother after 1900. Whether she re-married or she passed away is still not known at this time. I will have to do some more looking for those answers.

I’m Not Done Yet

So now we know that Jennie Hammell, Jennie Featherstone/Featherston, and Jennie Nagel/Nagle are the same woman. So lets see if we can’t find some more information about that third daughter.

Here we have Carrie Jenneta “Nettie” Fetherston getting married in 1900. Her address of 578 Orange Street fits right in with known family information and we also have Hammell listed as her mother’s maiden name.

Where does this leave that family tree we started with?

We’ve added quite a bit to it with plenty more left to work on. I have a few more findings for the Hammells but I’ll save that for another day.

But Where Is Catherine From?

Posted on by Kathleen

One thing I can say with confidence is that most genealogists at some point, have to correct mistakes from when they first started researching. Eventually we all learn to make sure everything is sourced and you don’t just copy anything from the internet. Unfortunately, that time is now for me. There is no more just avoiding the problem and hoping it solves itself later.

Newsflash: It is never going to solve itself. 😂

No Really. Where Did I Get Catherine From?

As I systematically make my way up the family tree again, I’ve not had to question much. It’s all very straight forward. I’ve redone my family file one time already, so most of the inaccuracies on my Dad’s side of the tree were gone. It meant not “officially” being as far back as I thought, but that’s okay. I’d rather be accurate. This time though, one thing stood out to me on the redo.

In the image above, you see my 4th great-grandmother Sarah Catherine Bush in my old Ancestry tree, my old family file, and the FamilySearch family tree. No problem, right? Right? Right… about that. I can’t seem to find where the Catherine part of her name came from. There is definitely a C, which I will outline for you with my sources, but yeah… No Catherine. 🤣

Sarah’s Official Records

There is no official record of Sarah’s birth. New Jersey birth returns started in May of 1848 and individual certificates started in June of 1878. It’s safe to say that is well after Sarah’s birth. Her next official record would be her marriage to John Doremus sometime between 1850 and 1854. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find their marriage record yet. Her next official records are the birth of her children with her first husband. They had three children, Josephine, Adeline and Mary Ida. I have found the birth return for Josephine and Mary Ida. On both of them Sarah is either referred to as Sarah or Sarah C. On her marriage return to John Ward in 1867 she is called Sarah Doremus.

The final official record I’ve found for Sarah is her death record. The informant on the record is her husband John. The middle initial is so prominent all through her life. Her daughter Josephine never used a middle initial, so any reference to a middle name for Josephine has been rejected in my mind and research. Sarah is much different though. She uses her middle initial regularly. I wonder if that is to distinguish herself from others of the same name. Josephine wouldn’t have needed the middle name as her name was fairly unique in her area at the time.

Variations of Sarah’s recorded name on records

Sarah BushSarah DoremusSarah Ward
Sarah C. WardSarah C. DoremusMrs. Sarah C. Ward
Mrs. John Ward

Unofficial Records

There are very few family records that survive in my family. We do have a picture of Sarah and her second husband from Llewellyn’s archive. She even wrote names on the back. In her obituary and tombstone, she is also listed as Mrs. Sarah C. Ward.

So where did I ever get Catherine from?

This doesn’t mean Catherine isn’t her middle name but I definitely have zero evidence of it. This is why we all have to be careful and even question things we thought were rock solid. When you line things all up and actually see what they say, where did we even get Catherine from?

Filling Out the Menzies

Posted on by Kathleen

Today I am working on my Menzies family line. It’s still been a struggle to get back in the swing of what I was doing. Mostly I’m struggling to keep focused for long periods of time. To combat this, I’ve been doing short bursts to try and work up to longer work sessions. This means sometimes I work on one small family one day, and someone completely on the other side of the tree the next.

This screenshot is from my “clean” file where the only things that live in it are things attached to a source.

James Menzies and Anna Parks family

Today I am trying to fill out the census records for this family. I have a few here and there but I’ve never fully researched them. The Municipal Archives in NYC has a invaluable resource for records in Manhattan, so now is a good time to start filling out these branches of my ancestor’s siblings.

Gathering the Information

Right now I have James and his family in the 1860 and 1880 United States Censuses. I wanted to also fill in the New York State Censuses but unfortunately, Manhattan is missing from these. So 1870 is my new target. I have tried basic searches for this, (I know because I made notes of it!). None of the searches worked and I knew I was going to have to change strategies.

If you notice, one of their children was born in 1870, so I checked to see if I had that birth record. I did.

James was born in October of 1870, which is perfect for me. This means the address given as residence on this record is probably where they were living in June when the 1870 census was taken.

Side Note: This record also says James is the 6th child of his parents, and I only have 5. This means I need to look further for another child. Maybe the 1870 census will help!

Working with Maps

Now the problem comes of where to search for them? Manhattan is a very big place. I know I want to look for 320 Tenth Avenue, but where was that? What district was that in 1870?

A quick Google map search shows me the general area where the address would have been. How do I then translate that to 1870 districts?

Thanks to Wikimedia, we have a November 1870 Hardy Map of Manhattan.

Breaking Down the Hardy 1870 Manhattan Map

This map says a lot. The red outline and number indicates the Ward. The blue outline and number gives us the Assembly District. The last breakdown on this particular map is Election Districts. When you are looking at a state or federal census, they will be using one of these designations to distinguish each area they are counting. So going off our Google Map, if I’m honest, the election district is not exactly clear. I don’t know where exactly my address will land. I’m going to say either the 6th or 7th district. Mainly because of the side of the street that even numbered addresses are on in all the NYC maps I’ve looked at.

Ward: 20
Assembly District: 15
Election District: 6 or 7

Does this narrow things down for me to one exact place? No. Does it eliminate thousands of pages of census? Yes. This is what we call a win. No it wasn’t tied up in a quick indexed search. However, we are talking about Scottish and Irish immigrants, maybe they had thick accents or no accent. Maybe the census taker had horrible handwriting and the name was not legible. There are just as many scenarios there as districts in New York City. 😂

We could keep trying to find it in the index, or we can take a Saturday afternoon and check Election District 6 and 7 and see what we find. Can’t hurt to try!

The Search is On

In order to not have 1,000,000 images in this post, I’m just going to document what I find as I start browsing.

  • Opened to first page of Ward 20, 6th Election District on FamilySearch. Location description on the side of the page says 10th Avenue between 26 and 27th street.
  • 8 pages in, 10th Avenue between 27 and 28th street. I find a James Parks family, from Ireland.
  • 11 pages in, 10th Avenue between 28 and 29th street. I start noticing that maybe the dwelling number is the street address? There was not a second family number indicated for each family. Just a bunch of families, under the same dwelling number.

12 pages into my targeted search. James Menzies family, written as Menses. We have James, his wife Anna, the three living children. James will be born in just a few months. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon I would say. Indexes are nice, I use them a lot but I have to say the payoff of this targeted search feels so much more satisfying.

End of Summer

Posted on by Kathleen

Here we are, at the end of another summer. My summer has been busy, busy, busy. As all summers are I guess. I’ve traveled to see family quite a bit, had family visit me. All in all, it was a very fun summer. I spent some time in Florida with my brother and his family and went to the annual family reunion in Upstate New York. I’m home for a long stretch now and ready to get back to work on my projects. Here is what I’m working on currently.

Family History Book

For the last 6 months or so, I’ve been working on writing up the family history on my Dad’s side of the family. My Great Aunt Barbara and her family are always interested in what I’m finding and I never really put it all together on that line before. So I did! It was really fun for me, so I am now trying to do it for each line. It’s a bit of a long process, and I’m not sure what I’m doing with it after I’m done, but I figured I can work that out later. Everyone who has read the work in progress has loved it and also given me some really good suggestions and inspiration. So I’m excited to get back to this project.

Organization

When isn’t a genealogist working on their organization? I’m still sorting through computer files and trying to make sure I don’t have 7 copies of the same image. Sometimes it feels like I do. My computer files just keep exploding into a file dump. I’m hoping just chopping away little by little is going to finally work for me. So far so good. It’s still a mess but a large percentage of my photo scans are now organized by person or family group.

Identifying Pictures

I will have some posts up soon about how I’ve been able to verify some of my previously un-identified pictures. This project has been one of the most fun ones and pretty rewarding. I really didn’t think I would ever identify some of these pictures and now I’m starting to think it will just take a little more determination. By the way, only one person in the picture above remains unidentified! Just one!

Website Organization and Overhaul

I’m still working behind the scenes to learn how to seamlessly integrate all the various sections of the website. It’s a little difficult for me to focus on coding and design these days, but I’m really inspired after talking with cousins and friends about the possibilities. One of the things I want to do is have a Diary of Llewellyn section. Where the entries are easy to navigate and there is biography pages for people mentioned and pictures integrated to help tell the story. I also still have to work on the database section of the website. My list is certainly getting longer.

I hope everyone’s had a great summer and I hope to update here at least once a month on my progress. If I’m making any cool genealogy discoveries those will be posted as well. It’s just a see how it goes situation around here right now.