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Monday, March 25, 2013

A Genealogical Legacy

Recently I was reminded that we don’t live forever. So I began wondering what type of genealogical legacy I would be leaving behind.

In considering this, I thought of at least four ways that genealogists can leave a legacy.
  1. Photos—Have they been identified, preserved and shared?
  2. Publishing—Are our research findings published in either print or digital format?
  3. People—Have we inspired and mentored new genealogists?
  4. Problem solving—Have we done real research, not just collected names from other people’s work?

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

A Mysterious Obituary

Last week I wrote about Annie Clark Collins, who lived to be 99 years old. I closed that blog with information obtained from her obituary that she "was survived by her two daughters, Velma Redmer and Rachel Starr."
I determined that I wanted to know more about these daughters, so using the Oregon Death Index, found that Velma had lived until 2011 and Rachel had died in 1983. A friend at our Society collects obituaries from some of our local papers and was able to supply me with these two obits.
Velma's obituary was similar to what I expected: she had lived to age 98, had 6 surviving children, 9 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Her parents were named as well as her husband who had preceded her in death in 1993. Her sister Rachel was not mentioned since she had died over twenty years before Velma.
But Rachel's obituary really surprised me. Her birth, death and marriage information seemed fine. But her survivors were really not what I expected. The husband, two sons and four grandchildren were OK. However, it listed five brothers and five sisters, none of which were Velma. The brothers listed were: Charlie Walter, Frank Walter, Elden Walter, Clifton Walter, and Howard Hance. The sisters were: Lyrl Pryor, Myrna Anderson, Adele Jones, Vi Van Tassel and Dottie Vaughn. If Rachel was the daughter of William and Annie (Clark) Collins, why would her brothers be named Walter or Hance? Did I have the wrong person? She was born about the right year, 1922. She was born in the right place, Seal Rock. She was raised in Cottage Grove. Was she adopted or something? I needed to try to resolve this question.
I tried a number of searches in various databases to see if I could solve the problem. I checked Ancestry, Find A Grave, Roots Web, Family Search, and Oregon State Archives. I tried many of the names listed as brothers and sisters of Rachel. Finally on Find A Grave I found a clue. I found that both Rachel and her husband Lloyd Starr were on that site buried in Blachly Cemetery. I clicked on the side bar for all the Starrs in that cemetery, including maiden names. One of the entries was Viola B. (Starr) Walter. One of Lloyd's sisters had married a Walter, so Viola's husband would have been a brother-in-law. Now I checked further on the family trees on Ancestry and found that she had been married to two men named Walter: first to Charles where she is listed on the 1940 census living with her parents and then about 1943 to Frank. Finally I found the 1930 census for the correct Walter family living in Swantown, Washington. This family included the following Walter children: Lyrl, Myrna, Opal A, Charley, Frank, Violia, Elden and Clifton. This includes the four Walter brothers named in the obituary and at least three of the sisters, probably four. There are still a couple of names in the obit I have not identified, but it is clear that most of those listed were not siblings of Rachel, but those who were siblings of her sister-in-law's husband.
This shows that obituaries cannot always be trusted to give correct relationships.



Friday, March 8, 2013

Annie Clark Collins' Birthday--She lived to be 99.

My first cousin twice removed, Annie Clark, was born on March 8, 1875, probably in Linn County, Oregon. Her mother, Lydia (Bond) Clark, was the oldest sister of my great-grandfather, John Howard Bond. Annie lived to be 99 years old, lacking about 9 months of reaching her 100th birthday, dying on July 17, 1974.
It is probable that Annie lived with her parents, Oren and Lydia Clark, until the time of her marriage to William D Collins November 10, 1897. She was listed with them on the 1880 census in Elk Precinct, Benton County, Oregon. She and William were married at Seal Rock, Lincoln County, Oregon. By the 1900 census the William Collins family, including their 1 year old son Wilbur, was living in the Alsea Precinct, Lincoln County. In 1910 they had moved to Newport, Lincoln County. Annie reported that 4 children had been born, but only 2 were living: Wilbur age 11 and Esther age 6 months. The family had moved into the Willamette Valley by the 1920 census and were living in East Gaston Precinct in Washington County. Their two children Wilbur now age 21 and daughter Velma age 7 were living with them. It appears that Esther had passed away during those ten years betwen 1910 and 1920. Annie had at least one more child, because Rachel Grace was born in 1922 and was living with her parents along with Velma in 1930 when they were living in the Silk Creek Precinct (near Cottage Grove) Lane County, Oregon. William and Annie moved back to the coast between 1935 and 1940 and were in the Glenada Precinct (near Florence) Lane County, Oregon on the 1940 Census.
The year 1942 would have been sad for Annie, since her husband William of over 40 years died in June and her son Wilbur died in September from a logging accident. At the time of William's death, they were living in North Bend, Coos County, Oregon. By the time Annie herself died in 1974, she was living in Blachly, Lane county, Oregon and was survived by her two daughters, Velma Redmer and Rachel Starr.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Ancestors' Wedding Days 150 years apart


Two sets of ancestors were married on March 2nd, 150 years apart. My 3rd great-grandparents, William England and Mary Walker were married in 1827 in Gibson County, Tennessee. My 8th great-grandparents, Joseph Jewett and Rebecca Law were married in 1677 in Rowley, Essex County, Massachusetts.