Treasured Memories From the Past – More Photos of Smalley Relatives

On 7 Aug 2017 I posted some group photos of some of my Smalley relatives taken in about 1910 and also in 1944. Here are two more photos of some of my Smalley relatives taken probably in the 1940s.

This first photo appears to be taken at my grandparents' (O. J. and Lucie (Smalley) Albertson) house which was 4 miles northwest of Halsey Oregon and the second appears to be taken at the Joe Elliott residence in Brownsville Oregon. Lake (Smalley) Elliott was my grandmother's sister. I wonder if my father took the pictures since he does not seem to be in either one of them.

Both photos include my grandparents, my mother and me. I'm the one with the braids.

It Pays to Read Other People's Blogs

I use Feedly to read a number of other people's blogs. One I read almost every day is by Randy Seaver, at www.geneamusings.com. One of his weekly posts is about new and updated collections on Ancestry.com. Recently it included that they had added some Alberta Canada vital records indexes. Since some of my family had immigrated there I decided to check them out.

The Marriage Records Index was from 1898 to 1942. My grandaunt, Lenah (Albertson) Slaight and her family moved to Alberta in 1902 and returned to the United States about 1920. While they were living in Alberta their daughter, Blossom, was married. I had estimated a date of about 1915 for her marriage, so I checked this database and there she was, Blossom Slaight married Martin H. Brown in 1918 at Harmattan, Alberta, Canada. It is not an exact date, but is more information than I had before.

My 2^nd gt-grandaunt, Sophronia (O'Neal) Elliott, with her family moved to Alberta between 1905 and 1911. I discovered her husband Robert's death date in 1911 through a probate record here in Oregon. But I didn't know when Sophronia died. I checked the Ancestry data base for Alberta Deaths 1870 to 1966 and found just one Sophronia Elliott and she died in 1919 in Geoford, Alberta, Canada. However when I checked Google Maps for the location of Geoford nothing was found. I suspect that the name was misread since in an Alberta gazateer and directory for 1914 she was living at Yeoford.

I really appreciate Randy for alerting me to these newly added databases.

Who Comes First, Aunts or Uncles?

When I was growing up when we referred to aunts and uncles, sometimes we named the aunt first, but sometimes it was the uncle. Why was that?

From my parents' siblings we had these at family gatherings:

Aunt Vida and Uncle Fred (Johnson)

Aunt Buena and Uncle Walt (Severy)

Uncle Jerry and Aunt Ruth (Falk)

Aunt Violet and Uncle Mel (Moorehead)

Aunt Erma and Uncle Adolph (Grinde

From my grandparents' siblings we talked about:

Uncle Arthur and Aunt Della (Albertson)

Uncle Ernest and Aunt Ollie (Albertson)

Aunt Lake and Uncle Joe (Elliott)

Aunt Celia and Uncle Clarence (Pettibone)

Uncle Marvin and Aunt Evelyn (Smalley)

Aunt Julia and Uncle Roy (Everett)

Uncle Spike and Aunt Ruby (Smalley)

Uncle Roy and Aunt Grace (Bond)

In all these cases it was the sibling of parents and grandparents who was named first. I wonder if this is the same in other families.

Early Oregon Cousins - John S. Elliott

John S Elliott was a 1st cousin of my great-grandmother, Mary Ann (O'Neal) Bond, which makes him my 1st cousin 3 times removed.

John was the son of Robert M and Sophronia (O'Neal) Elliott, born in Nov 1864 according to the Canadian 1911 Census. He was born in Indiana, probably Bartholomew County. His mother Sophronia was a younger sister of Commodore Perry O'Neal. (I wrote about him 14 Apr 2017) I believe John's parents were married in 1860 in Bartholomew County, Indiana. The 1870 census from there shows 4 children in the family with John being the 2nd oldest at age 6.

By 1880 the family has moved farther west to Neosho County, Kansas and have added one more son. John is shown as age 16 an his occupation is works on farm. The family was still there in the 1885 Kansas state census and John was now listed as age 20. Sometime within the next 15 years some of the family moved to Oregon since John's parents and two of his brothers, Thompson and George, are on the 1900 census in Lane County, Coyote Precinct, which was a few miles west of Commodore Perry's land. John and his brother Archie (Archibald) were listed in the Blue River Precinct of Lane County, living in neighboring households of men, working as quartz (probably gold) miners. Blue River District was one of the Cascade Mining Areas most active from about 1898 to 1915.

The 1905 Lane County census showed Robert and Sophronia still in Coyote Precinct with the 35 year old son Archibald, a day laborer for mining. Thompson was in the South Eugene precinct and his occupation was miner. I haven't found either John or George for that census. John's father Robert received the patent for a homestead in Lane County in 1906, which would have been in the Coyote Precinct.

It was the next year, 1907, when the family moved to Alberta, Canada. But it was there that Robert died in Mar 1911, so John traveled from Yeoford, Alberta, Canada in Nov 1911 back to Lane County, Oregon to take care of estate matters for the property in Lane County. A resident of Lane County, A. E. Wheeler, was appointed administrator of the estate. The probate papers listed the heirs as: Sophronia age 66, Thompson 49, John 47 and Archibald 41.

Both Archibald and John S had received Western Land Grants in Alberta, probably 160 acres each as they are listed as quarter sections. Both John and Thompson have been found on the 1911 Census of Canada. The 1911 Alberta Gazetteer and Directory shows 5 Elliotts in Yeoford: Archie, John, John Jr, S.E. and Thompson. Only the John was not a farmer, as he was listed as an engineer. I don't know which John was Sophronia's son, but I suspect it was the farmer. The same 5 are in the 1914 Directory, but now all are farmers. The 1916 Canadian Census in Alberta showed an Elliott household with 72 year old Sophronia as the head and 3 sons: Tom, John and Archibald. It appears that the 3 sons had become Canadian citizens in 1912, but Sophronia was still an alien, an American. I have not yet been able to discover their death information.

I enjoyed finding John and his brothers since I don't believe I have any other miners among my relatives.

 

Early Oregon Cousins

Looking at my ancestor birthday calendar, I see there is only one birthday in the remaining 11 days this month. So I will be posting something else during the other 10 days. My plan is to write about my cousins who lived in Oregon prior to 1900. Today I will give a listing of those I plan to write about.

These are 1st cousins to my great-grandparents, John H and Mary A (O'Neal) Bond. Here is the proposed schedule.

Apr 20 -- Emma Bond, daughter of William and Hannah (Hayes) Bond

Apr 21 -- Irene (Bond) Clingman, daughter of William and Talitha (Starr) Bond

Apr 22 -- Amanda (Bond) Harlow, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Stillwell) Bond

Apr 23 -- Sarah (Bond) Coffinberry, daughter of James and Laura (Jewett) Bond

Apr 24 -- Ancestor Birthday -- Lydia Reynolds

Apr 25 -- Rebecca (Davis) Powers, daughter of Nelson and Elizabeth (Bond) Davis

Apr 26 -- John S. Elliott, son of Robert and Sophronia (O'Neal) Elliott

Apr 27 -- Jesse O Bunyard, son of James and Eliza J (O'Neal) Bunyard

Apr 28 -- James Monroe, son of Alexander and Rebecca (O'Neal) Monroe

Apr 29 -- Mary (Davis) Miles, daughter of Isaac and Rebecca (Bond) Davis

Apr 30 -- John Tong, son of James and Ann (Bond) Tong