Clark of Lowell, Massachusetts -- Tombstone Tuesday

Andrew J. Clark

1823  --  1875

Elizabeth S. Clark

1826  --  1901

George W. Clark

1846  --  1846

Lowell Cemetery, Lowell, Massachusetts

Brick Walls of My Readers on Surname Saturday

Permission given to use clip art by Bio Organics

Over the years, I have received hundreds of requests for help, I would say half of them I am able to help, which brings quite a bit of satisfaction. However, the others, if after my suggestions don't pan out, the person is usually left with a brick wall. This past week, I received two such requests and suddenly thought, why not post their letters. I have my own Brick Walls on a blog post, why not post theirs. I'll either use their entire letter or parts of it with pertinent information. If anybody has information on these unknown people, please write me and I will put you in touch with the appropriate person.

In addition, if anybody wants to write a piece on their brickwall, please do. Just send them to me, and I'll post here. This will be like a query board. Let's see what happens.

#1 "Hello Barbara,

It is me again. I had contacted you concerning the Lowrey / Grinnell Families and your help was so wonderful. I have followed your blogs ever since and find them so interesting. Again, thank you for all of your work!

Well, in reading the last few weeks, I noticed your connection to Momence, Illinois and the Hess family of the region. I've hit a stone wall with my great-great-great grandfather Andrew G. Hess who lived in  Iroquois County Illinois (near Momence). He was supposedly born in 1830 in Pennsylvania although I found in the 1860 Census his birthplace was listed "unknown". He was a drayman and married Sarah Sapp (born 1836 in Illinois, the daughter of Asa and Allie (Thomas) Sapp. Her nickname was Sallie.) The couple had children Ally (1854), Phebe (1856), LAVINA SEREPTA -my line (1859), twins Calvin and Benjamin (1866), Samuel (1868) and Andrew E. (1871). Andrew was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery when he died in Watseka, Illinois July 13, 1884( Find-a-Grave) but no mention of Sallie's burial there. 

I was just wondering if in your years vast research, if you ever came across mention of him, his parents or his family? Hess is a very popular name since a whole German part of the  country seems to have used this but the geographical location of the family and the early date of living in the same area may be coincidental  or they may actually tie in somewhere to the Scramlin - Hess Family that you have researched.

Thanks again for all your efforts!

Sincerely,

Bill"

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#2 "Hi Barbara,

I have started researching my Westover genealogy. My father was Orville Francis Westover (1915-1992). My grandfather was Thomas Francis Westover (born in NY in April 1885 or 1887). My great-grandfather was Stephen Westover. According to the 1900 Census, he was living in Oneonta, Ostego, NY. He was born in Canada in October 1857. He had been married to Josephine Shortsleeve Westover (nickname "Rina"?) for 22 years. Josephine was born in May 1861 in New York. Their children are Thomas, May, Della, Harry, Arthur, Roy, and Reva.There is one other child that I don't know the name of. Both Thomas and Stephen were boilermakers for the railroad and the family moved frequently.

I am wondering if this Stephen Westover might be the Stephen that is on your family tree (born 1859 in Canada, son of Orange Westover). Do you have any suggestions on how to figure out if these are the same people?

Thanks for your help!
Nancy Westover S."
___________________________

Do You Know?

How long does it take FindAGrave to add a million grave records into their site?

By my calculation it is now taking just a little over 3 weeks. I base this on my visual viewing of their site, since I am on it almost every day. The weeks between December 7 and January 1 took a little bit longer to reach the million mark, due to holiday activities. I say by August 15th they will hit the 100,000,000 mark. What do you think? (I now think June 5th.)

In November, I wrote, Have You Looked Lately? a short piece about FindAGrave. For each new figure, I updated my blog to reflect the stats.

** While I was working with FindAGrave today, December 7, 2012, the total went to 91 million  grave records.

** The total is now 92 million grave records as of January 1, 2013!

** The total is now 93 million grave records as of January 22, 2013!

** The total is now 94 million grave records as of February 13, 2013!

** The total is now 95 million grave records as of March 4, 2013!

** The total is now 96 million grave records as of March 24, 2013!

** The total is now 97 million grave records as of April 11, 2013!

** The total is now 98 million grave records as of April 26, 2013!

Charnley of Lowell, Massachusetts -- Tombstone Tuesday

Lowell Cemetery, Lowell, Massachusetts

Thomas Charnley 1781  --  1866	Sally Charnley 1789  --  1871
Matthew Charnley 1814  --  1843	Sarah Charnley 1828  --  1896
George O. Wickers 1826  --  1909	Margaret C. Wickers 1830  --  1923

James Charnley 1817  --  1896	Marinda F. Charnley 1822  --  1857
Matthew Charnley 1848  --  1855	George F. Charnley 1850  --  1855
John C. V. Halven 1829  --  1849

Growing up in Lexington, Massachusetts

When I began my 4th fourth grade at the Adams School in Lexington, Massachusetts, I knew nothing of my new town's history.  My parents moved there from two previous towns in Connecticut, and from my first fourth grade in California.  I consider Lexington to be my favorite town of all the places I've lived.

Many of us have ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, as well as ancestors who were born in Lexington. I've several who fought in the War and were born there, and even my "brick wall" person, John Adams was in Lexington at the time of the war.

During several of my school years, our local history played an important part in our learning. My early classes took field trips down the street to see and learn about what happened. My Girl Scout troop planted flowering bulbs in the fall at some of the historic homes, and the church we attended was the tall one at the Lexington green.

Every April 19th, my Girl Scout troop marched in the Lexington Patriot's Day parade, there were two parades, I marched in the one at 7 AM! Of course, being much younger, I didn't mind, but sometimes it was cold. My mother was ecstatic about one 2 PM parade, when Sen. John F. Kennedy marched. I remember her pointing him out, but I thought, "who is he?" Both the 7 AM and 2 PM parades marched just two blocks from my house, and it was a very big deal. Many years after we moved, my mother always went back on that date to see it and visit with old friends. She even did that on the day she died, on her return trip home from Lexington. And whenever I returned for visits from Virginia, I always visited Lexington. Even now, I take this 30 minute trip frequently.

For eight years, I was in the Lexington school system, until my 11th grade, then we moved again. During my 8th grade, our class got to rename our junior high school, as there was another junior high being built. It had to have a patriotic name. I can't remember what I wrote about and why I chose the name, but the two winners were Diamond and Muzzy, so there were new names for each of the schools.  Many years later, Muzzy Jr. High became condos. Always changing, but then, nothing looks changed. It is a beautiful town, see photos below.

The town, April 11, 2010.

Lexington Green

Cary Memorial Library

Afternoon parade, ca. 1960. I saw JFK march in one of these parades. 

Years after we moved, I had to show a boyfriend where I lived!

The house, photo was taken three years ago.

The post was originally posted on April 18, 2010.

Hamilton Cemetery, Hamilton, Massachusetts -- Tombstone Tuesday

FindAGrave site of Hamilton Cemetery

Hamilton Cemetery (states Searchable Cemetery Database (COMING SOON)!

Other photos from the Cemetery.

The Soldiers, the Runners and the Tourists

April is a busy month in Lexington and Boston. Instead of writing about the reasons, I'll show you in photos.

The famous swan boats begin operating in Boston.

State capitol gets visited a lot.

Boston Marathon Finish Line. Lots of runners, lots of tourists.
I was there last year and  saw a relative finish the race.

About 27,000 runners signed up to run the race on April 18, 2011.

Lexington photos taken two weeks ago, during a rehearsal for the "Battle of Lexington."
Lots of tourists show up for this too.

Originally posted 

Monday, April 18, 2011

Found after 7 Years and 100 Years (Continued)

The experienced genealogists know from my previous post, Found after 7 Years and 100 Years that there was much more research to be done regarding finding information on John Scramlin, the adopted boy. Since that post, I spent much of one afternoon trying to track down where I could get help explaining the legal notice which appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper Feb. 9, 1978. I was led on a wild goose chase, 4 helpful people tried to connect me with the right person at the First Judicial District Court. At last, I had Jill, since she was the one who could help me. Within minutes, she found the record, his probate. Yes, the probate! After giving her the information and asking a few meek questions as I held my breath, were, can I get a copy? Yes. How much are the pages? Each page was .25. The next day I called, and I was told she had printed the 32 pages and it came to $11.55 (she was certain I wanted them). I had to get a money order, and send a self-addressed stamped envelope. All easy, the worst part was the waiting for the record. I love doing business in New Mexico.

I called my cousin and shared this with her. My imagination went wild. Why would a state ward have a 32 pg. probate. Jill, the employee told me she thought if John, the adopted son, was in her family she would want the papers. So naturally, I thought he must have murdered his father, not his natural, nor his adoptive, but his step-father. Of course, that is why he was in the hospital. Finally, when my envelope arrived, I couldn't even open it, it was so tight, picture 32 pages in a #10 envelope, taped on 3 sides, and with a large stamp saying postage due, I owed $1.66.

After going through the nicely typed pages, I discovered a few interesting things. The state of New Mexico wanted to be reimbursed for John's care for 40 years, because he had an estate of $12,981. He was hospitalized from 1934 to 1974...40 years, and it took three years to get to probate. There were no known heirs. (He had a living sister and quite a few nephews and nieces.) John died August 11, 1974, there was no will, personal property valued at $1,751 and real property valued at $6,000. I learned where John's property (2 lots) on Candelario Street was, and looked up the site on Google Earth. The month following his death, his home was rented for two years at $25 per month. John's two lots were sold for $12,100 to Albert Gonzales and John Tena of Santa Fe.

Upon further investigation, I found discovered his step-father, William G. Hockman, was the father of three sons, Marvin Hockman, Edward Hockman and Albert Hockman. His adopted son, John Scramlin was the same age as Edward. There are things I don't know, like where did John receive his money to buy the lots, did his step-father die and leave him some money? But one thing I do know, is, he didn't kill his step-father.

Margaret Thatcher, February 26, 1981 -- Wordless Wednesday

 

I attended this ceremony, and every attendee received a copy of this program. I was lucky to have gone to two other welcoming ceremonies at the White House.

Found after 7 Years and 100 Years

Did you ever have the desire to help a friend find somebody? How about trying to locate a young child who was adopted? That is what I did, and my quest began in February 2006 when I responded to a query from Linda, she was looking for her great-uncle, John Scramlin, born on March 2, 1904, in Michigan, the youngest of eight living children. When his father died in 1908 (in a sawmill accident), young John was adopted by Charles and Susan Shoemaker, and John then became George Shoemaker and the new family moved to New Mexico. Not long after, Charles died, and Susan remarried a Mr. Hockman. This is pretty easy to follow, and it is basically what my friend and 6th cousin told me 7 years ago. In her initial letter to me, she said, "For 90 years our family has wondered about and prayed for John/George. We could like to know if he was happy, did he marry, did he have a family and where is he buried?"

Over the seven years, I tried to find George Shoemaker or George Hockman, and even George Scramlin in the 1940 census. Linda and I stayed in contact, even though there wasn't anything new to give to her. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I rediscovered newspaper collections online. My blog post explains several sites HERE.

One of the first searches I did was for all the above names, then I threw in his original name of John Scramlin. Wow, a legal notice appeared From the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper Feb. 9, 1978. That indicated to me he had gone back to his original name, and was still living in New Mexico. Through Ancestry, I found him in the 1930 and 1932 city directories for Santa Fe. Three new sources within 1/2 hour! I've never done research for New Mexico, so went to the San Miguel County site, and what a page that is...the top 3 tabs provided everything I needed...where John died, the date and his listing in the 1940 census! Why couldn't I find him in the 1940, well his name is spelled incorrectly, instead of Scramlin, it was Scromlin, now 34, single, and living in a state hospital.

I mailed the information to Linda, and even called her to discuss the next step. In her email to me, she wrote, "Miracles of Miracles!  This time it came through. THANKS!!!!!! Our family has looked for him for over one hundred years. At least now we know, even though it appears he had a pretty difficult life. He must have had some functioning skills because he had been a laborer and janitor at the hospital.  I hope he was content there.  Thank you so much for all your work.  We've been wanting to know what happened to him for over a century.  I’m very disappointed, not for me, but for him.  We had hoped better for him."

But, I wanted to know more....so, stay tuned for the next post.