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Post by myboysnme on Mar 21, 2016 15:04:09 GMT
Oh how terrible! My grandmother had an uncle who worked on the railroad. He was only 24 when he was coupling two train cars together and the train lurched causing him to be impaled all the way through. There were no phones or anything of course and they carried him home and laid him on the kitchen table where he died. His wife had a 6 month old baby. That's just awful!!! There's a quote that describe those days very well, to me. I read it in a book years ago: "The good old days were actually the bad old days". This was referring to how many children died young. At a pioneer museum in the Texas Hill Country there is a quote posted by a photo of an old woman and it says, "Just say born and worked to death. That's all. Save your breath." I was so moved by that quote. The summation of life for many I guess.
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Post by leftturnonly on Mar 21, 2016 16:20:23 GMT
I ordered my DNA kit last week, so it'll be some time before I have anything. I do know however, that I have four main lines - English, Scottish, Irish and German. I am interested to see what else might appear in there. It's funny - my mother and siblings have always been interested to hear stories, but lately they want to look at what I have. They are all becoming more interested. I posted awhile ago about looking for records of the death of my great-grandmother's only brother (12 girls and 1 boy in the family). The story I had always heard was that he was working on a train and was killed in a train accident - that there wasn't enough of him left to put in a bag. Come to find out that yes, he was killed on the train. He was the fireman and was shovelling coal (or whatever they shovelled in there) into the furnace (or whatever it is) on the train. Apparently to open the furnace door you stepped on something on the floor. So he had been shovelling coal or whatever into the furnace, when the train hit something on the track. This caused him to lose his balance, step on the thing on the floor that opened the furnace door and he was propelled into the furnace by this accident! He burned to death. Holy hell - what a freak accident! A relative sent me some photos of my GGG grandparents! I was so excited to get those. I am going to get a subscription to Newspapers.com, but not until probably next weekend. I won't have time to do anything this week. I'm hoping that there just aren't a token number of newspapers outside of the U.S. I have searched but without a subscription, it only shows me the top ones. Oh how terrible! My grandmother had an uncle who worked on the railroad. He was only 24 when he was coupling two train cars together and the train lurched causing him to be impaled all the way through. There were no phones or anything of course and they carried him home and laid him on the kitchen table where he died. His wife had a 6 month old baby. Yikes x2!
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Post by mikklynn on Mar 21, 2016 16:27:14 GMT
I have a cousin whose crazy father was sure we are descendants of JP Morgan. Yeah, I am sure we are more likely descendants of horse thieves!
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Post by leftturnonly on Mar 21, 2016 16:29:23 GMT
I just got my DNA results back and there were no surprises on my European roots since I favor my mother's side of the family. I was disappointed in that there was no trace of my supposed Native American roots. I am waiting for my brothers DNA test since he strongly favors our fathers side and looks Native American. I have been fortunate in not having to research 3/4 of my family tree since I inherited several printed genealogies dating back to their arrival in the US in the late 1700's. We are trying to prove that my father's great grandmother was indeed Native American (probably Delaware). Unfortunately that line had met with lots of tragic deaths and all I have to go on are family stories from people who's parents died when they were very young. After speaking with my mother yesterday about my results, and telling her the Italian was from her mother's side, she once again said that everyone always thought my grandmother must have some native American in her because she was darker than everyone else. In general, most family native American stories like this have no basis in truth. There are some new tests specific to native Americans, I believe. I heard something mentioned about them mentioned on the PBS show Finding Your Roots.
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Post by leftturnonly on Mar 21, 2016 16:33:18 GMT
I have a cousin whose crazy father was sure we are descendants of JP Morgan. Yeah, I am sure we are more likely descendants of horse thieves! Well, family wealth had to come from somewhere. That reminds me of when I married into my husband's family. His step-grandmother wanted nothing to do with family history. Never mind all the doctors and hard working farmers in her family, she was afraid of finding horse thieves and the like!
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 21, 2016 16:44:07 GMT
I have a few horse thieves in my line. I'm grateful for the black sheep - if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have nearly as much material. I have solved most of my brick walls through either heroes (civil war pension records) or zeros (prison/crimminal court records). Those records are way more detailed and informative than any census record!
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Post by scrapbookwriter on Mar 21, 2016 16:45:59 GMT
I am still stuck on my Berkey g-g-grandfather. He helped found the town of Colusa California but I cannot find him before he arrived. In the 1860 census he says he was born in Pennsylvania but I have not had any luck finding him there (even with all the great suggestions given here!). leftturnonly suggested I look at the people he worked with/partnered with as they might be connected to him before the California years. I found some interesting stories. My g-g-grandfather partnered with William Vincent to build the first hotel in Colusa, the Colusa House. I did some research on him. In the 1860 census Vincent says he was born in Pennsylvania too, so I thought that was promising. Vincent was appointed Colusa postmaster in 1851 but lost his job because of his alcoholism/mental illness. He ended up hospitalized for his alcoholism/mental illness in 1873 (really detailed medical notes there) and committed suicide in 1883. A tragic story. I wish I could use Vincent's info to further my own research, but I can't find anything on William Vincent before his time in Colusa, either. All the other William Vincents I can find are the wrong guys. My g-g-grandfather also owned a livery stable called Berkey & Dunlap. I believe they were brothers-in-law (Dunlap's wife and Berkey's wife's were sisters). When Berkey died (in 1862, at age 35, leaving behind four children ages 6, 4, 2 and two months) his wife and Dunlap could not agree on a price for the 1/2 interest. She had to go to court for permission to auction off the interest on the courthouse steps. Dunlap ended up buying that interest for the amount she had asked for in the first place - a valuation given by an independent appraisal. Berkey was also a partner in a stock ranch, but I can't find anything about his partners there either. My g-g-grandfather was quite an entrepreneur! I'm filling in a lot of info between 1850 and his death in 1862, but I still can't reach back to his past. Today I am going to call the Colusa Historical Society and see what they can tell me about the original Colusa House hotel, established 1851. Wish me luck.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 21, 2016 17:09:56 GMT
Hey scrapbookwriter - have you tried looking in Iowa. If you search California newspaper archives there is a mention of his marriage in 1853 and indicates he was formerly from Iowa. Good luck!
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Post by scrapbookwriter on Mar 21, 2016 17:36:53 GMT
Hey scrapbookwriter - have you tried looking in Iowa. If you search California newspaper archives there is a mention of his marriage in 1853 and indicates he was formerly from Iowa. Good luck! Darcy Collins !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is absolutely fabulous!!!!!!! Oh my gosh. Thank you so much!!!!!!! Which archive did you use? I have searched archives before but have never found anything on him. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 21, 2016 17:46:56 GMT
cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdncI just searched berkey colusa and narrowed it down to the 1850s and three articles popped up including this one. You might find more about him/his wife/children there.
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Post by scrapbookwriter on Mar 21, 2016 18:18:04 GMT
cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdncI just searched berkey colusa and narrowed it down to the 1850s and three articles popped up including this one. You might find more about him/his wife/children there. You are wonderful! Thank you so much. You have led me to the death date of their infant son, who died just four months after his father. My g-g-grandmother must have been a very strong woman.
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Post by melanell on Mar 21, 2016 18:20:55 GMT
I have a cousin whose crazy father was sure we are descendants of JP Morgan. Yeah, I am sure we are more likely descendants of horse thieves! Well, family wealth had to come from somewhere. That reminds me of when I married into my husband's family. His step-grandmother wanted nothing to do with family history. Never mind all the doctors and hard working farmers in her family, she was afraid of finding horse thieves and the like! Oh, but the horse thieves make it so interesting!
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Post by leftturnonly on Mar 21, 2016 18:31:31 GMT
Hey scrapbookwriter - have you tried looking in Iowa. If you search California newspaper archives there is a mention of his marriage in 1853 and indicates he was formerly from Iowa. Good luck! Darcy Collins !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is absolutely fabulous!!!!!!! Oh my gosh. Thank you so much!!!!!!! Which archive did you use? I have searched archives before but have never found anything on him. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!! I thought about adding Ohio to Missouri to look in last thread, but I didn't remember to do it. Go Darcy! I've never heard of that site before.
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Post by leftturnonly on Mar 21, 2016 18:33:52 GMT
cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdncI just searched berkey colusa and narrowed it down to the 1850s and three articles popped up including this one. You might find more about him/his wife/children there. You are wonderful! Thank you so much. You have led me to the death date of their infant son, who died just four months after his father. My g-g-grandmother must have been a very strong woman. Those are the really sad discoveries. I've seen that before, too. Sometimes, they're so sad, they make me cry.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 21, 2016 18:44:29 GMT
Darcy Collins !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is absolutely fabulous!!!!!!! Oh my gosh. Thank you so much!!!!!!! Which archive did you use? I have searched archives before but have never found anything on him. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!! I thought about adding Ohio to Missouri to look in last thread, but I didn't remember to do it. Go Darcy! I've never heard of that site before. It can be an absolute treasure chest if your relative happened to live in an area where the newspapers have been scanned. I had a few really tough branches as they had moved to California during the gold rush and had really common names, so trying to find them before moving to California with little more than a census records ie John Smith born in Ohio wife Mary was proving to be impossible. I found some crazy detailed stories with exactly where they had moved from - and extended relatives. You have to love old newspaper articles where someone's relative visiting is newsworthy!
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 21, 2016 18:45:32 GMT
cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdncI just searched berkey colusa and narrowed it down to the 1850s and three articles popped up including this one. You might find more about him/his wife/children there. You are wonderful! Thank you so much. You have led me to the death date of their infant son, who died just four months after his father. My g-g-grandmother must have been a very strong woman. I liked this only because I know it's satisfying to find more info - but I'm sorry for what your gg-grandmother must have endured!
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Post by scrapbookwriter on Mar 21, 2016 20:18:32 GMT
You are wonderful! Thank you so much. You have led me to the death date of their infant son, who died just four months after his father. My g-g-grandmother must have been a very strong woman. I liked this only because I know it's satisfying to find more info - but I'm sorry for what your gg-grandmother must have endured! Oh my yes. Her life had so many hardships. She married at 18. Her husband died when she was 27, leaving her with four children 6, 4, 2, and two months. The baby died a few months later. And with this goldmine of a newspaper site you have provided me, I have filled in yet more details! At age 23, while pregnant with her second child, she legally declared her intent to run a business in her own name, separate from her husband. " . . . hereby makes known and declares her intention henceforth to do business in her own name . . . Farming, Stockraising, buying and selling stock." That newspaper notice appeared in September 1858, just days before her second child was born. I have mad respect for this woman!! She remarried at age 30. Her first child with her second husband died in infancy. She had three more children with him. She was widowed again at 47. I really need to go. It's 2:15 and I have spent the entire day on the newspaper archive site. This stuff is so addicting. Thank you again, Darcy Collins !
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,987
Jun 25, 2014 23:13:23 GMT
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Post by Nanner on Mar 22, 2016 3:10:48 GMT
ok, since you ladies are so amazing, my husband's side has a wall, and it's fairly recent.
Birdie Fisher, married Alex Douglas in probably Oklahoma, somewhere between 1908 - 1910 (at least, we think they were married). We do know that Alex was born in 1887, probably in Oklahoma. We also know that Alex died in Oklahoma in 1914. He and Birdie had 2 very young boys.
Birdie did remarry and have more children, and I have lots of information on her. But I can find nothing on Alex Douglas. He has us stumped. I have found a Find a Grave for an A.T. Douglas with the same birth and death dates. There's nothing else. I search by Alex, Alexander and A.T (once I found the Find a Grave). I don't have anything relating to Alex's parents, siblings, town of birth or death, cause of death, or anything regarding his marriage to Birdie. It's like he didn't exist.
The two sons of Birdie and Alex both had very uncommon names, but nothing comes up for their birth records (1911 and 1914) although I find lots of other information on them. I'd been hoping to find their birth records so I could find out more information on their father. But no such luck.
This one has been a stinker!
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Post by melanell on Mar 22, 2016 12:01:24 GMT
Nanner do you know Alex's parents' names? Or are you willing to share when/where Birdie was born? I'm just looking for extra background info to check if anything I find could even possibly be correct, kwim? I have found an "Elix Duglass" in Stephens County, OK in 1910. He's listed as being born in Texas in about 1887. At this point (May 2, 1910) he is listed as single. If he did indeed marry in 1910, maybe it was after this point? But again, with what certainly looks like a misspelling of both names, it's hard for me to feel positive that this could be him or just someone else who had their name botched up. This one is listed with both parents (Alonzo & Louise), 2 younger sister, and 2 younger brothers. But between the name and birth year and the same county that your Alexander Douglas is buried, I felt it was worth a mention.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 22, 2016 14:30:23 GMT
Nanner where in Oklahoma? - Douglas is going to be too common without at least a general area of where in Oklahoma they might have lived.
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Post by melanell on Mar 22, 2016 17:25:48 GMT
Nanner where in Oklahoma? - Douglas is going to be too common without at least a general area of where in Oklahoma they might have lived. I was wondering that as well. I found what county the cemetery is located in, but I wasn't sure if that was where he lived. The possibility I found lived in the same county as the cemetery.
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Post by melanell on Mar 22, 2016 17:35:50 GMT
Oh, and 2 other things you could try, Nanner , if you haven't already. 1.) Search by his middle name. I have seen at least 4 or 5 people show up on census reports (during their childhood years), listed by only their middle name, even though in most cases I never again ever saw them use just their middle name. 2.) Try searching for variations of Alexander besides just Alex. Depending on the family's ethnic backgrounds or the background of the census reporter, they may have listed him by some nickname you never found him using again as well. I've seen that happen a few times, too. In my Italian branches, for example, Alexanders were called Sandy so exclusively that many people who knew them had no idea that their name was actually Alexander. Now, while Douglas certainly isn't an Italian name, it wasn't always up to the parents or child what was written on the report. The person documenting the names could write something different or just flat out wrong, OR, there's always the possibility that a boarder, neighbor, etc. gave the info to the census-taker instead of a family member. So if you have some time to kill one day, try Alisdair/Alistair, Alexi, Lex, Zander, Sasha, etc. along with the spelling variations such as Alix or Alezander.
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,987
Jun 25, 2014 23:13:23 GMT
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Post by Nanner on Mar 22, 2016 19:04:54 GMT
Nanner where in Oklahoma? - Douglas is going to be too common without at least a general area of where in Oklahoma they might have lived. Yeah. Therein lies the problem. We don't know where in Oklahoma. We can't find birth certificates/records for Alex and Birdie's sons, Orba or Gano. We don't have a marriage record for Alex and Birdie. We know that Birdie came from Texas and was in Missouri in 1920. Alex seems to be a ghost or something, with nothing to trace.
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,987
Jun 25, 2014 23:13:23 GMT
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Post by Nanner on Mar 22, 2016 19:07:27 GMT
Oh, and 2 other things you could try, Nanner , if you haven't already. 1.) Search by his middle name. I have seen at least 4 or 5 people show up on census reports (during their childhood years), listed by only their middle name, even though in most cases I never again ever saw them use just their middle name. 2.) Try searching for variations of Alexander besides just Alex. Depending on the family's ethnic backgrounds or the background of the census reporter, they may have listed him by some nickname you never found him using again as well. I've seen that happen a few times, too. In my Italian branches, for example, Alexanders were called Sandy so exclusively that many people who knew them had no idea that their name was actually Alexander. Now, while Douglas certainly isn't an Italian name, it wasn't always up to the parents or child what was written on the report. The person documenting the names could write something different or just flat out wrong, OR, there's always the possibility that a boarder, neighbor, etc. gave the info to the census-taker instead of a family member. So if you have some time to kill one day, try Alisdair/Alistair, Alexi, Lex, Zander, Sasha, etc. along with the spelling variations such as Alix or Alezander. We don't have a middle name. We have an initial T, if the Find a Grave is correct. I will search by all of those names you listed above. In my Scottish branches, the Alexanders were also called Sandy. And Douglas is a Scottish name, so Sandy is a good suggestion. I am bound and determined to find Alex! Thank you ladies.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 22, 2016 19:34:13 GMT
Well - total speculation - but it's at least a lead. Assuming Birdie hadn't wandered too far with her new husband in 1920 - there is an Elix Duglass in Stephens County on the 1910 census - with parents Alonzo from Tennessee and wife Louise born in Texas. Shows Elix with the right age born in Texas. I'd explore him as a possibility. I do wonder though with those extremely uncommon names if your Alex is Native American? Where did the name Alex Douglas come from if you have no birth records and no marriage records?
ETA - it looks like Birdie is on the same census with her brother Robert.
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Post by epeanymous on Mar 22, 2016 20:03:57 GMT
I had posted about mine a few weeks ago, but only that I had an unknown person pop up as a third-degree/first-cousin level relative. In terms of my regional results, it was surprising. My mother's family is supposedly 100% Portuguese and my father's family is supposedly 100% Swedish, but, even using the ranges offered rather than the averages, neither family looks anything like that. I max out at about 35% Scandinavian and 35% Iberian Peninsula at best. I am significantly Italian/Greek, north African, and middle Eastern, so I am guessing my mother's side of the family (which is from a bunch of islands that have been under Portuguese control) is more broadly Mediterranean than narrowly Iberian. I am also significantly British and Irish, which probably reflects that on one or both sides of the family, I have some Brits who traveled (I have immigration records on both sides that reflect that they indeed all immigrated from where they say they immigrated, so whatever accounts for the different ethnicities is probably further back in the tree). It has been fascinating.
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,987
Jun 25, 2014 23:13:23 GMT
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Post by Nanner on Mar 23, 2016 3:04:47 GMT
Well - total speculation - but it's at least a lead. Assuming Birdie hadn't wandered too far with her new husband in 1920 - there is an Elix Duglass in Stephens County on the 1910 census - with parents Alonzo from Tennessee and wife Louise born in Texas. Shows Elix with the right age born in Texas. I'd explore him as a possibility. I do wonder though with those extremely uncommon names if your Alex is Native American? Where did the name Alex Douglas come from if you have no birth records and no marriage records? ETA - it looks like Birdie is on the same census with her brother Robert. We got the name Alex Douglas from one of the sons, Gano, who has long since passed. DH has been told that Birdie was Native American, but we don't have proof of that. Lots of people think they have Native American in them when they don't. Birdie was born in Texas, so it may be that Alex was actually Elix. - In 1900, Birdie was 14 and living with her family, still in Texas. - We have Birdie in a lot of census reports, but not in 1910. Her father, (with the odd name of Napoleon Bonaparte Fisher!) was in Oklahoma in 1910, living with his son, John. So it would appear that the family all moved to Oklahoma, even though I can't find a census report with Birdie in it for that year. - In 1911, she was in Oklahoma because that's where her son, Orba, was born. - Alex died in Stephens Co., Oklahoma in 1914. - In 1920, Birdie was remarried and living in McPherson, Stephens, Oklahoma, according to the census. The census shows Orba with the last name of Pitts here, which was the last name of her second husband. - By 1930, they were in Missouri. Orba and Gano were listed with the last name of Douglas in this census. So if Birdie and "Elix Douglas" were both born in Texas, and Birdie married an "Alex Douglas", it's possible she an Alex/Elix were actually married in Texas and not in Oklahoma and that they went from Texas to Oklahoma along with her father and the rest of her family. We have to go out for a bit, but if I'm home in time, I'll log onto Ancestry and look some more for Elix Douglas and the other possible names. Thank you so much!!
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 23, 2016 3:18:44 GMT
You can find Birdie in Oklahoma on the 1910 census with her brother and mother. It's a few pages off the Elix Duglass family. She probably married in 1910 after the census was taken. Have you contacted the Stephens County historical society? They may have marriage records that aren't available online.
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,987
Jun 25, 2014 23:13:23 GMT
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Post by Nanner on Mar 23, 2016 4:13:31 GMT
You can find Birdie in Oklahoma on the 1910 census with her brother and mother. It's a few pages off the Elix Duglass family. She probably married in 1910 after the census was taken. Have you contacted the Stephens County historical society? They may have marriage records that aren't available online. I have not. I am off on Thursday, so will contact them then. There are a bunch of Birdie Fishers. I think the one in Stephen County in the 1910 census is a different Birdie. The one I think you were referring to: Birdie's mother's name was Willmina, and she went by Willie. Her grandmother's name however, was Elizabeth which is listed as mother on that census report, but my Elizabeth died in the 1880s - years before that census. Birdie did, however, have a brother named Robert who was born within 2 years of the year on the census. But because Elizabeth was long dead, I don't really think that the Birdie in this 1910 census report is our Birdie. If it was just one of two things off, I'd think it likely was, but there are too many things off. Birdie's mother Willmina's middle name had an initial M, so wasn't Elizabeth. And Willmina was not a widow, as indicated in the 1910 census report for Elizabeth. Willie predeceased her husband by 5 or 6 years. I'm still checking around on Elix and as I said above, I'll call Stephen County genealogical society to see if they have anything. Thanks for all this!
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Post by melanell on Mar 23, 2016 11:39:34 GMT
There are a few genealogical groups/pages for Stephens County on FB if you're interested in checking them out, Nanner . If nothing else, those people may know of other sources of information pertaining to OK and neighboring states.
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