Tag: Redford

Lillian Redford, you’ve been found!

Posted on by Kathleen

It’s been awhile since I’ve made a surprising brick wall breakthrough. One of the biggest ones was Lillian Redford. It was a little bit harder because her brother named one of his daughters after her. So things always got a little confusing. Until 30 minutes ago. I was just going through some California City Directories, clicking the green leaf reluctantly in Family Tree Maker.

California Death Index, 1940-1997 via Ancestry.com

My only question is, “Why now?” I have searched for Lillian a million times over the years and it’s never yielded a result. They must have done an update of some kind that added new records or maybe a refined search algorithm. I don’t quite care though, because I finally have something on Lillian after 1920!

Clifford and Jane Redford’s Wedding

Posted on by Kathleen

This scan was sent to me from my Aunt a few years back. It was one of my first and only clues about the Parkin family. Their name has constantly changed through all my years of researching them.

Family Record of Clifford and Jane Redford’s marriage

Having this allowed me to send away to New Jersey for an official record of Clifford and Jane’s marriage.

Official Record of Clifford and Jane Redford’s marriage

This record had much more information for me to digest. I already knew Clifford and Jane’s estimated birth years and residences. I had known from the 1930 census that Clifford was a plumber by trade. I also knew that his father’s name was Herbert and his mother’s was Sadie. However I did not know that his mother’s maiden name was Putcliff or is that Sutcliff? To this day I’m still not sure!

On Jane’s side it was all knew information. This record actually broke down my Parkin/Parker/Perkins brick wall. It most definitely is Parkin now and I learned that her parents names were John Walter Parkin and Jennie Featherson. I have a lot more information on John Walter Parkin now, but before her marriage Jennie is still a mystery to me.

I’ve had this record for a number of years and still I come back to it for clues every once and awhile. It’s always good to look over things you’ve had awhile. You never know what you might have missed in the excitement.

Tombstone Tuesday: The Mays Family

Posted on by Kathleen
Mays Family Tombstone. Bethel, Ohio.

There are a few reasons that I chose to highlight this tombstone. In all my hijinks into my family history, I have stumbled onto learning how to do certain things. One of the first things I realized is that even official records can be wrong. I’ve also learned that spelling doesn’t matter in the early and late 1800s.

Continue reading “Tombstone Tuesday: The Mays Family” →

Surname Saturday: Redford

Posted on by Kathleen

I’m almost finished highlighting the surnames on my father’s side of the family!

Where does the Redford name originate from?

My Redford line came over from England about 1870 or 1871. I haven’t found them in any passenger lists yet but I haven’t looked very hard yet either. Once they got to America they settled in Essex County, New Jersey.

Did the Redfords stay in New Jersey?

For the most part, yes. There were quite a few that moved to California.

Overview of the Redford Family

Father: Samuel Redford (about 1843 – 28 Sep 1897[1. Records of Births, Marriages, and Deaths of New Jersey, 1848-1900, v51 p277] ).

Mother: Francis W Travis (about 1841 – ? )

Children

  1. William Redford ( Jun 1869 – ? )
  2. Herbert Redford (14 Nov 1872 – 11 Sep 1940 [2. California Death Certificate]) My 2nd Great Grandfather
  3. Sarah E Redford (07 Oct 1874 – 18 Apr 1959 [3. California Death Index])
  4. Samuel Redford (about 1877 – 30 Sep 1877 [4. Records of Births, Marriages, and Deaths of New Jersey, 1848-1900, v BE p197])
  5. Lillian L Redford (23 Apr 1879 – 07 Dec 1958 [4. California Death Index])
  6. ? Redford (03 Aug 1882 – 1882 [5. Records of Births, Marriages, and Deaths of New Jersey, 1848-1900, film 494195])

Of all the children William and Herbert were the only ones to have children that I know of. William’s son Harry William Redford (01 Aug 1894 – 17 Nov 1979[6. California Death Index]), moved to Los Angeles and was living with Sarah, her husband, and Francis in 1920. In 1930, he was married and living in a house with his wife. I am unsure yet if they had children.

Herbert Redford would marry Sarah Ann (Sadie) Sutcliffe and have 4 children (Clifford, Howard, Edith, and Lilian). Herbert’s family stayed in Essex County, New Jersey. Herbert on the other hand, moved to Los Angeles around 1925. I think it was either right before or right after Sadie’s death. I haven’t found a death record for her yet.

Records to get for the Redfords

  • Birth Record and Death Record for Clifford Herbert Redford (my Great Grandfather)
  • Birth and Marriage Record for Herbert Redford (my 2nd Great Grandfather)

Redford Links

Sources

Treasure Chest Thursday: Marriage Records

Posted on by Kathleen
Marriage Certificate of Clifford and Jane Redford

In my eyes, marriage records are a beautiful thing. I could say it’s beautiful to know a couple started their life together. That’s very true. However, my favorite part of marriage records is that they have maiden names and parent names for the women. One of my oldest and most often gripes is trying to figure out where the girls in the family disappeared to, or where they came from. It’s a common one among all genealogists.

This particular marriage record really opened up doors in my research. The biggest one being Jane’s last name. We knew it was Parkins/Perkins something. This verified for me that it was in fact Parkin. The great thing about this is it even went a step further and gave me her parents names. I’m not always so lucky to get all these facts. In fact, I was hesitant about this record when I got it because my Aunt had told me she always understood that Jane led a hard life and was orphaned young. That is all true. So I was worried that the information on her parents wouldn’t be known at the time of her wedding. From this record, I was even able to find that Jane and her siblings may have been orphaned and they did bounce around a lot, but it was always to other family members. I can’t speak for what happened in those households, but at least the family names were kept in memory so that I could find them today.

Treasure Chest Thursday is a daily blogging topic from GeneaBloggers that I occasionally participate in.

Mystery Monday: #004

Posted on by Kathleen

Another Monday, Another Mystery picture.

Clifford H Redford and ?

What I Know:

  • Clifford Herbert Redford (my great-grandfather) is sitting in the front row on the left.
  • The back of this picture has Clifford’s name and William Herbert Moore
  • No one in the family believes that Moore is connected to our Moores. I beg to differ. There are no coincidences.
  • It would be Clifford’s daughter, a Redford, who would marry my grandfather,  a Moore.

What I Want to Know:

  • Is this William Herbert Moore related to my Moores? Since I don’t believe in coincidences, I find it hard to believe the William H Moore coincidence. If I’m right and my William H Moore had brothers who moved to America with him, wouldn’t it make sense if there was another line of Moores living in Essex County? Maybe that’s the reason my William retired to Caldwell, New Jersey. Maybe he had family close.
  • Who are the others? Are these school buddies? Work buddies? It does certainly look like a bunch of guys having a bit of fun for the afternoon, dressing up.