More About Milo

     

Map showing Wolcott, Lyons, Newark and Phelps, NY

     Well...I haven't found anything more that definitively proves that Milo Galloway was the son of  George and brother of George's son Russell Galloway, but on the other hand I've found nothing to disprove a relationship either.  Let's review shall we--

1. George Galloway was found as a head of household in the 1800 census in Bennington County, Vermont and Milo Galloway was born about 1800 in Vermont
2. George was in Arcadia, NY in 1840 as was Milo
3. George was in Phelps, NY in 1850, Milo was still in Arcadia, (not far from Phelps) but I did find a news article stating Milo owned land in Phelps
4. This is a new bit of information--in 1832 there was an unclaimed letter at the Newark, NY post office for Milo Galloway (Newark is in the township of Arcadia), at the same time and same post office there was an unclaimed letter for (drum-roll) Russell Galloway!
5. This is also new, in researching land records I find in 1856 Arcadia--Milo selling land to a George R. Galloway of Detroit, right next to a lot owned by (another drum-roll) Russell!

     I know this is all circumstantial evidence, but you have to admit  it keeps adding up.  My working theory is this--George left Massachusetts, where he told the 1850 census taker he was born, and moved to Vermont with his wife. There Milo was born circa 1800.  The family then moved to Brownsville in Jefferson County New York where we see them in the 1810 census.  It is here that Russell was born about 1807.

     George ran into some financial difficulty in Brownsville and left town, heading south to Wayne County where we find him in Lyons in 1820, now with a third son.  I can't locate George in 1830, but Milo is at that point in the town of Arcadia, which was part of Lyons until it was taken off  in 1825.  I found no land records for George, but finding Russell and Milo in the same town is very encouraging.

     In 1840 George reappears in Arcadia as does Milo.  Russell is about 24 miles away in Wolcott, but by 1850 he is in Phelps as is his father George.  Milo is still in Arcadia, a little over 10 miles away.  I don't think I'd bet the mortgage that Russell and Milo absolutely were brothers, but I believe they were.  Now where is that other Galloway brother???? Could he be in Detroit?

An Irish Family In The City By The Bay

   

   
     I've been reading a book I picked up at a library sale last summer whose subject is the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Naturally this caused my thoughts to turn to my 4th great-uncle Edward O'Hora. Edward was born in County Carlow, Ireland in 1829 and sailed for America during the famine era.  After landing in New York he made his way to Auburn, NY like his siblings. Unlike them Edward paused long enough to start a family and then kept going.  He packed up his wife Sarah Frazier and their three small children and joined a wagon train heading west.

     They settled first in Columbia, by then a declining gold mining town.  They stayed there only a few years then moved the twenty-seven miles to Copperopolis, where in 1860 a large deposit of copper ore had been discovered.  Fueled by the demand for copper for bullets during the civil war, the area grew and prospered.

     The end of the war in 1865 signaled the end of mining in Copperopolis, and the family moved on to Sutter Creek, another gold town, around 1869.  Edward never hit it big in the mines and remained a laborer all his life.  By 1870 he and his growing family were renting a flat at 223 Beale Street in San Francisco, a rundown area sandwiched between Chinatown and Irish Hill.  

      California was not kind to this family, tragedy hung over them like a cloud. Of Edward’s nine children, only five passed their 16^th birthday and of those five, only three saw their 30th.  Edward

Edward O'Hora

himself contracted meningitis and died in January of 1872 at the age of 43, perhaps never knowing his wife Sarah was pregnant with a daughter who would be born seven months after her father's death.  Little Agnes would not long survive him, she died at the age of one when in January of 1874 an epidemic of scarlatina (scarlet fever) swept San Francisco.  Sarah passed away twelve years later. In fact, with the exception of the three children mentioned above, the entire family was gone by the middle of January 1889.  From death records it appears the O'Horas became what was known as a "consumptive family", of the six causes I've found, four were from TB.

     The surviving children, Mary Jane, (Humphries), Sarah Jr., (Sheahan) and James W. were on hand for the quake in '06.  Mary Jane was living on Hampshire St and her sister Sarah was a short distance away on Army St., now renamed Caesar Chavez.  It's hard to imagine the terror they must have felt, for themselves and their children as the earth began to move that morning.  Then the fires started-- it must have felt like the world around them was being annihilated.

     In yet another case of, "I wish I had known then, what I know now", I spent a month in San Francisco in 1988,  ten months before the 1989 quake. ( I absolutely loved SF, but I'm glad we missed that.)  This photo of my adorable children was taken at the corner of California and Grant in Chinatown. Had we continued less than a mile down California and hung a right on Davis we would have come to Beale St. sigh...go know.

     Much of the information I've turned up on this branch of my family came from this site http://www.sfgenealogy.com/ cemetery records with cause of death are here along with city directories and much more.

 

 

 

 

Surname Saturday/Galloway

     

     George Galloway, my 4th great-grandfather, lost everything he owned.  The Sept. 28, 1810  edition of The American Citizen reported-- 
    By order of hon. Moss Kent, esq. first judge of the court of common pleas, in and for this county of Jefferson.  Notice is hereby given to all the creditors of George Galloway, of the town of Brownsville, in the county of Jefferson, an insolvent debtor, that they shew cause... 
 
      George was in a world of trouble with a wife and two sons to provide for.  The answer?  Get outta Dodge, or in this case Brownsville.  George was born in Massachusetts just as the Revolutionary War commenced (if the 1850 census is correct). 
I'm not sure who George's parents were.  The 1790 census contains two possibilities, Samuel Galloway in Salem and William Galloway in Ipswich.  George is still living with his parents or with an employer in 1790 and so not enumerated except as a tick mark.  I first find him enumerated by name in Shaftsbury, Vermont in the 1800 census with a wife and young son.
     The 1865 census of New York State, available at the Family Search website, asked individuals the county of their birth. George's son Russell indicated he was born about 1807 in Jefferson County in the far northern section of New York, and indeed, we find George Galloway in 1810 living in Brownsville, Jefferson Co.  After his financial woes, George and his family which now consisted of a wife and two sons, moved south and by 1820 had arrived in Lyons New York in Wayne County.  He may have had another relative living there as well, the local post office placed a newspaper ad informing an Erastus Galloway that  he had an unclaimed letter waiting for him.

     I cannot find George in 1830, since it is another head of household only census, he may have been living with another family, though probably not Erastus--I can't find him either.  George resurfaces in 1840 in Arcadia, very close to Lyons, and in 1850 he is residing in Phelps, New York, Ontario County about 11 miles from Arcadia. Here for the first time we are able to read his wife's name--Armenia, also born in Massachusetts.  His son Russell is nearby with his family.  George and Armenia both died sometime before the New York State census of 1860 was conducted, though an exhaustive search, of cemetery databases in both counties failed to turn up a headstone for either of them.

     The 1850 census holds another clue to this family.  In this census we find Milo Galloway living in Arcadia--born in Vermont around 1800!  We know George was in Vermont in 1800, Milo could very well be the missing brother of Russell. Better still, Milo named his first son George and his second William.  And wait, it gets better still!  Milo owned a woolen mill in Arcadia, his possible brother Russell operated mills also, one in Phelps and one in Wolcott.  Coincidence??

     After searching the NEHGS databases I've found no trace of a baptism or marriage for George Galloway in Massachusetts or any other New England state for that matter, and I still don't know Armenia's last name.  I have a hunch it may have been Russell since their son bore that uncommon name.  I believe the family was Scottish, and Russell is a common surname in Scotland.

     I'm off to start researching Milo, if anything turns up you'll be the first to know.

Wordless Wednesday/Irish Neighbors

Tombstone Tuesday/Bridget Hogan Ryan

     This is the tombstone of my 3rd great uncle Andrew Ryan's wife Bridget Hogan in St. Anne's Catholic Cemetery in Palmyra, NY.  Andrew and Bridget were married at Palmyra on August 23, 1856.  Bridget was born in Ireland (likely Tipperary) to Thomas Hogan and Catherine O'Dwyer.  She may have been a cousin of Andrew, whose mother was Alice O'Dwyer, though that surname is very common in Tipperary where Andrew and his mother Alice were from.  

      The Monroe County Mail July 17, 1902
Mrs. Bridget Ryan of this place, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. James Driscoll of Victor,: July 10th. The deceased was 68 years of age and is survived by five sons, and two daughters. The funeral was held from the Victor St. Patrick's church, Friday morning, at 8:30, Rev. J. J. Donnelly officiating, and burial at Palmyra.

Proceedings Of The Old Bailey

     
     Irishmen and women have been migrating to England for employment and other reasons for centuries.  They have been finding themselves in the custody of English  officialdom for centuries also.  Offenses that today would perhaps merit a small fine, in the 17th century could earn one detention, transportation or even a penalty of death.  I found this interesting website this morning, Proceedings of the Old Bailey.  This site contains the accounts of nearly 200,000 trials dating from 1647 to 1913, all searchable.

      Though the Old Bailey is located in London, using the word Irish for a search term brings up hundreds of records pertaining to Irish prisoners.  For instance, on April 21, 1680:
     Daniel Macarty an Irish man being Indicted upon the Statute of 27 Eliz. for having taken Order from the See of Rome, and coming over into England being Impeached by one Alice Turner who had formerly been his proselyte. And upon Information one Mr. Stiff a Constable in St. Giles's taking with him some other Neighbours, went to Apprehend him, and having entred the House where he was said to lodg, They found him Confessing a Sick Woman, who no sooner seeing them begin roughly to handle her Priest but cryed out, O what will you rob me of my Salvation, upon search of him, They found about him... a Purple Ribon with three Crosses upon it, with which all Popish Priests do usually give the Secrameot with in private wearing it about his Neck with a large Chrystal Crucifix; a Letter in Order to the more efficacious carrying on the Plot; as likewise saying Mass and giving the Sacrament was proved by the said Alice Turner , not only at the Venetian Embassadnrs, but at Wild House, and confessing likewise to Dr. Oats the same, he was found Guilty of the said High Treason as a Popish Priest or Jesuit.
     In case you were wondering, Father Macarty was executed for the high crime of being a priest.

     On the historical background page you will find information about the history of the court along with topics like gender in the proceedings and types of offenses heard there.  Petty Treason was an interesting one, it was the crime of a servant killing his master, or a wife her husband (you see the connection, no doubt) and it was punishable by death.  In the case of men, hanging and quartering, convicted women were burned at the stake...alive.  If they were fortunate their executioner might strangle them before lighting the straw.  Of course, these are very early records, things gradually became a bit more civilized as the years progressed.

   A valuable section for family historians is one called the Ordinary's Accounts.  Condemned prisoners were taken to Newgate Prison to await their executions.  While there, their spiritual needs were attended to by the ordinary or prison chaplain.  The Ordinary recorded accounts of the prisoners--their last speeches, how they acted on the scaffold, information about their lives and crimes, basically a short biography such as this one from 1736:
     Thomas Dwyer, 28 Years of Age, of honest Parents in the County of Tipperary in Ireland, who gave him good Education at School, in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetick, to fit him for Business, and had him instructed in Religion in their way. When of Age, he was not put to a Trade, but did Husbandry-work about the Country. Eight or nine Years ago, the Officers of the Irish Regiments in France, who are always a recruiting in Ireland, as they often do in Britain, though in both Kingdoms in an underhand-way, seeing young Dwyer, who was of a roving, unsettled Disposition, fit for their Purpose, and he ready to comply with their Proposals, though his Father could have provided for him pretty well at Home; yet by their Promises of Preferment, which possibly they never thought of after, they persuaded him to take on, and go along with them to France, where he serv'd in that Regiment, now General Buckley's, eight Years. He was in the French Army commanded by the late Duke of Berwick, on the Rhine, at the Siege of Fort Keil and Philipsburg He continued in the Service some Time longer, but... he at last deserted, and went to Ireland to his Father, who kept him, and would have got him provided for, had he been patient, and taken right Methods. But he having a young Wife, and not any Business, came to England without the Knowledge of his Friends; and being at London, met with his Countryman, James O Neal, and agreed to go out on the Higway with him; and on the 31st of July, they met with Mr. Maintrew, in the Evening, not far from Kensington, whom they robb'd...
  
    To earn a little extra cash, the Ordinary would sell these accounts to the public. The condemned were most often people of the classes who did not get mentioned in newspapers.  Nameless faces in the crowds of London and environs who generally lived and died in obscurity, making these accounts an important resource.  If you have a little time to spare, I think you'd enjoy reading through this site.

Church Record Sunday/Confirmations 1871 St. Felix Clifton Springs, NY

      This is a list of confirmations that took place in 1871 in Clifton Springs, NY.  My two O'Hora aunts and an uncle, the three oldest children of my 2nd great-grandfather James and his wife Maria McGarr, have an X by their names.  They were 14, 16 and 17 years old, I would think most of the children shown here were in the same age group.  

     The Kinsella children in brackets were their cousins, and were aged 13 and 15.  Maria's sister Bridget McGarr was their mother, and Martin Kinsella their father.

June (?) 9th
Robert Farrell
Agnes Moon
Mary J. O'Brien
Edward Dalton
John O'Brien
Mary Baily
Rose Baily

June 11th The following named children were confirmed by Right Reverend Bishop McQuaid on this day at Clifton
Ann O'Hora   X
Mary Rine?
Mary Farell
Mary O'Hora  X
Edward Deveraux
Edward Benham
Mary Ann Kinsalo [Kinsella]
Wm Boyle
Esther Kinsalo [Kinsella]
Mary Curran
Michael Driscoll
James Cross
Robert Murray
Lizzy Benham
Mary Donovan
Richard Deveraux
Julia A. Curran
Stephan? O'Brien
Michael Riley
John Cross
Thomas Curran
William Nary
James O' Farrell
William M Connell
James O'Hora  X

Mary Green
Abraham Hawkins
John O'Brien
Bridget Flanigan
Ellen O'Neil
Mary O'Neil
Mary MGrath
Cathleen Kennedy
Martin Moon
Edmond Tobin
Margaret Daily
Francis Fisher
Mary Keyes
Rose Baily
Mary Baily
Mary E. Dalton
Margaret Barry
Mary Driscoll
James Brophy

Boston Pilot Missing Friends Ads And An Offer

     Awhile back I blogged about the missing friends column that ran in the Boston Pilot, and the benefits of looking for the original entry after finding a person of interest in the online index.  I now own the published volumes covering 1831-1850 and 1854-1856.  The previous blog outlines the background of the newspaper and the column, so I won't go into it in this post.  The history is pretty interesting, so you might want to take a look

     I've been reading through the books and I'm amazed, first at how many people lost track of each other, and secondly that some of them were still missing years later when a second ad ran.  Some of the ads are quite short, just a name, place of origin and place last known to be.  Others are longer, with parent's and sibling's names along with physical descriptions.  Some offered rewards, and some hinted at good news awaiting the searched for individuals.

      This is what the page from the website looks like, after plugging in the name John McLeer. About what you'd expect from an index--

     This is the actual entry as it appeared in 1854--
        Of JOHN MCLEER, peddlar, co Donegal, who came to this country 7 years and 7 months ago, having left a wife and 4 children there who have lately emigrated to this country, and are in Minersville Schuylkill co. Pa, with her sisters and brothers in law; when last heard from was in Massachusetts.  Left Minersville in Nov. 2 years ago, was about 5 feet 9 inches in height, had sandy fair hair between white and red, eyebrows and lashes nearly white and lost 2 front teeth.  Information of him will be received by his wife Ellen McLeer, Minersville, Schuylkill co, Pa. 

     Or Patrick Callahan--

     Original ad--
 Of PATRICK CALLAHAN, a Tipperary boy, about 33 years old, 5 feet 6 inches in height, blue eyes, dark brown hair, rather thick lips, and a figure well in proportion to his height.  He is by trade a carpenter and joiner.  On the 20th of Jan. '54, this Patrick left his lawfully wedded wife Ellen without any cause or provocation whatever, with an infant son then 2 months old, his own and my child; since which time I have obtained no tidings of him, and have been obliged to support myself and the child, basely deserted by the father whose sacred duty it was to provide for us both.  Any person giving information of this Patrick will confer a great favor upon his wife Ellen, by addressing Thos. B. Montague, Shelburne Falls, Mass.

    You can readily see the wealth of information contained in the original ad as opposed to the index.  When searching the index keep in mind, these ads were placed by persons who were often illiterate.  The ads were written for them by neighbors, priests and others who may not have known how to spell the places mentioned in the ads.  An ancestor of mine from Coolaclarig, was from Coolarig in the ad seeking him.  Another spelled Macedon, NY as Massedonville.
     
      In closing, a free offer from the headquarters of Ellie's Ancestors! If any of you should find an entry of interest in the online index,
my assistants I'd be happy to check the volumes I own to see if more information was contained in the original ad.

Funeral Card Friday/Marguerite Scanlon

     Marguerite is not an ancestor of mine, so I haven't any information on her.  The above card and photo are up for sale on Ebay and I thought someone might know who she is and be interested in acquiring it.  The back of the photo on the right is stamped Kansas City MO.

They're Watching You

    

     This morning before work I sat down to check any new genealogy postings I might have missed, and I came across this on Family Search-- United States Public Record Index.  Naturally I tried it out and I was amazed at what I found.  My name  wasn't included, probably because in 1970, when the database begins, I was still a pre-teen groovin' to that great Eric Clapton guitar riff at the end of "Layla", (I still love that).  The data supposedly goes up to 2010 so I should be in there, but it's not complete yet so I may make it yet.  That's not what shocked me though.

     When I typed in my name, an aunt who lived in the same town and shared my surname came up on the screen instead--along with every address she ever had, her phone number and the names of  her suspected cohorts.  I was not expecting that, in fact it left me dumbstruck.  Who put all this information together and why?  And how?  I didn't much like the answer.  Some of it came from credit applications.  I never realized credit apps were public information, but they are.  You know, the ones with names and SS numbers?  Companies sell and trade them like baseball cards.

     I'm aware of the slightly sleazy sites online that sell that sort of information, but Family Search?  Collecting the personal information of deceased relatives is one thing, but I have to ask why anyone would need to know so much about living persons?  Maybe they could stick to indexing Irish records.   Rant over.

Matrilineal Monday/You, Me and DNA

    I've been wary of this ever since I started down my matrilineal Cowan-Hunter path...Scots Irish!  It looks like I have Scots-Irish ancestors!  I certainly mean no disrespect to persons of this background, but the S-I's were part of the Plantation of Ulster; England's evil plan to suppress the native population of Ireland. Namely my beloved McGarrs and O'Horas and Ryans and O'Dwyers, so you can understand my conflicted feelings.  This will take a little getting used to, though I did finally come to love my English ancestors too. (But I still think they should have been nicer to my Irish ancestors)
    
      I guess I really shouldn't be too surprised at this development, scientists studying human genetics estimate that if you go back say 5,000 to 10,000 years, we all share a common ancestor.  Below is the best explanation of our female ancestor and mitochondrial DNA that I've come across.  By that I mean, it's simple enough for even me to understand.  My apologies to whoever wrote it, I would give you credit for your article, but I neglected to record your name when I cut and pasted it into my notes last year:
     
"One of the misconceptions of mitochondrial Eve is that since all women alive today descended in a direct unbroken female line from her, that she was the only woman alive at the time.  Nuclear DNA studies indicate that the size of the ancient human population never dropped below tens of thousands. There may have been many other women alive at Eve's time with descendants alive today, but sometime in the past, those lines of descent included at least one male, who do not pass on their mother's mitochondrial DNA, thereby breaking the line of descent.  By contrast, Eve's lines of descent to each person alive today include precisely one purely matrilineal line."

     Now that's some food for thought, huh? In the final analysis we are each of us, one line on one humongous family group sheet.  (Please take note world leaders.) Our nationality depends more or less on where our ancient ancestors finally decided to put down roots.  Seen in that light, welcome to my tree Cowan and Hunter ancestors, but behave yourselves!

He Got Away With It, But The Apple Falls Nearby

     After writing yesterday's blog about the unfortunate Nettie Garner, my curiosity was piqued about what became of her husband and killer Jacob Henry Livingston.  You will recall, three years after Nettie's murder Jacob tried to kill his second wife.  I did a quick search on Ancestry for Jacob in the next census, the 1900, and found nothing in Wolcott or statewide. Today I rechecked the 1900 census and found him under the name "Henry Livingston" with wife Mary and son Roy.  I was astonished, this man killed one wife and tried to shoot the second and not only did he get out of the asylum in a ridiculously short time, (if indeed he ever made it there, the newspaper said he was being taken there, not that he had arrived), SHE TOOK HIM BACK!

1900 Census Wolcott, NY

     I'm sure Mary is in fact the second wife and not a third one acquired after his release, in the column for years married it says 8 for both of them.  By the time of the next census in 1905 Mary is not shown in the household.  A newspaper search for her name turned up an estate settlement in 1905 but no obituary. 

1905 Census Wolcott

     You can see in 1905 he has resumed using the name "Jacob Henry" and Roy is still living with him.  Sorta makes you wonder what happened to Mary doesn't it?  In 1910 this reprobate is again calling himself "Henry" and identifies himself as widowed,( I'll just bet), and Roy is still included in the household.  1915 is about the same though now he is "Jacob".  
 

1920 Census Red Creek, NY

     The 1920 census is interesting, here we see "Henry Jacob" aged 65 living in the household of his son Leroy and Leroy's family.  What were these people thinking?  Newspapers at the time of Nettie's death reported Jacob to be a vile man with no control over himself who even abused his own mother. I can't imagine him around children?  But keep reading, it gets more awful.

     When Jacob died in July of 1926, his obituary was very short, not the obituary of a man respected or beloved by his community:
     Henry Jacob Livingston died at his home west of this village early last Wednesday evening aged 69.  Funeral was held at the home on Friday.  He is survived by one son, Roy Livingston.  Burial was made in the Livingston Cemetery,

    This next discovery blew me away!  I did a newspaper search for Roy Livingston, and found this in the April 6, 1943 edition of the Oswego Palladium:
     Double funeral services for Roy Livingston, 50, and his wife Hazel, 45, will be held Thursday...  The couple met death Sunday morning in the Livingston home, two and one half miles northeast of this village, in a double tragedy resulting from an argument when Livingston shot his wife in the back with a shotgun and then shot himself in the right side of the head.  A verdict of homicide and suicide was entered yesterday by Acting Coroner S. W. Houston of Wolcott.  

      What more can I say?  I'm just glad I'm only related through marriage.

The Murder of Nettie Garner

     

     My great-great-grandmother Aurilla Garner was born in 1844 in Wolcott, NY.,the fourth child of Jeremiah Garner and his wife Clarinda Wood.  Aurilla had an older brother named Alfred, who was the father of Bernettia Garner, called Nettie by her family and friends. Nettie is the subject of today's blog. 

     In 1884, Nettie married a local man, Jacob Livingston  whose father was one of the wealthiest men in Wayne County.  No doubt she and her family considered him a real catch.  As it would turn out, Jacob was anything but. Not long after their marriage rumors began circulating through the small town they lived in, of frequent fights and even beatings.  In one instance, as Nettie fled the house she fell, her husband upon catching her smashed an earthenware platter over her skull in front of passersby.  Jacob was arrested, but nothing came of it, and his mistreatment of Nettie continued.  Jacob was arrested again in 1890 for beating his wife but as before, the case was not pursued and things returned to usual -- until June 5th of 1891.  

     Nettie kept a flock of turkeys and that morning as she stood in her yard feeding them she accidentally stepped on a young bird, killing it.  Upon seeing this Jacob flew into a rage and attacked his wife, hitting her in the head and kicking her in her abdomen.  Typical behavior for him, but this time Nettie happened to be pregnant.  Within a few hours she began experiencing severe pains in her stomach and a doctor was summoned, the next day she miscarried.  Nettie's suffering did not end with the miscarriage, she began to hemorrhage and developed an infection.  She lingered three days before losing consciousness and dying.

     The doctor Jacob had sent for refused to issue a death certificate believing, and rightly so, that this was no ordinary miscarriage and notified the county coroner.  He could have saved himself the trouble, the coroner didn't even do a post- mortem. Instead he empaneled a jury to review the facts, then adjourned the inquest until the following Tuesday, five days after Nettie's death.  You can imagine the condition of a body after five June days, the local paper described it thus, "The body commenced to bloat and turn black in spots and at the time the coroner's jury viewed the remains they emitted a horrible stench."  The jury decided no cause could be determined and the OK was given for burial.  

     Word was sent to the family's minister, but he was nowhere to be found.  Given the state of the corpse, burial could not be delayed any longer and so to add insult to injury Nettie was buried without a funeral; her mother and sister along with her murderer and his father following behind the hearse.  Nettie's father Alfred was too upset to attend, telling a reporter his daughter was, "better off dead than living with such a brute", and that he had begged her to come home many times.

     Neighbors the reporters spoke with all agreed; Jacob Livingston was a violent, abusive and ignorant man and they were dismayed no action was taken against him.  He remarried not long after Nettie's death, but as genealogists know, history has a way of repeating its self.  Three years after killing Nettie, Jacob announced to his new wife that it was necessary for him to kill her and then he  attacked.  The new wife was stronger than Jacob and threw him out of the house, but a few hours later she found him in the yard, this time with a shotgun.  He fired directly at her, just missing.  Rushing back into the house she armed herself with a hand gun and as Jacob came through the door with the gun leveled at her, she pulled the trigger, wounding him in the shoulder.  This time even his father's money couldn't stay justice, Jacob was judged insane and sent to the asylum.

     I was unable to find any follow up articles on this case, or locate Jacob in the 1900 census.  It's quite possible he was sent to Willard State Hospital, whose district included Wayne County.  As I mentioned, he's not shown there in the1900 census so perhaps he passed away.  His name is not on the family monument but with both parents now dead who would have paid to have it inscribed there?  Surely not the wife he tried to kill.  I'm not sure when, if ever Jacob was released from the asylum, a large percentage of Willard's patients never left that facility.  Hopefully that number included Jacob.
     

    

James White, Man Of Mystery

   
      I was pretty excited a couple weeks ago, I thought I may have had a chance of uncovering the origins of James White.  James is my only Irish great-great-grandfather whose place of birth is still unknown to me.  I've blogged about this before here. Two things happened recently-- some County Monoghan church records became available at the IFHF site and the long awaited military file of John Keyes finally arrived.

     Finding that huge envelope in my mail box made me absolutely giddy.  It was nearly one hundred pages long, surely it contained the information I so desperately needed.  Earlier research in the marriage records of St. Anne's parish in Palmyra, NY had revealed the names of James' parents as James White and Margaret Keyes.  Census and land records showed that at one point, my g-pa James lived right smack next door to John Keyes the soldier--you no doubt grasp where I'm going with this.  There had to be a connection...didn't there?

     Unable to find any information on John Keyes, and knowing he had served in the Civil War, I turned to my last resort, military records.  This package proved to be a goldmine of information, I found where John was born, (Longwood, County Meath, Ireland), when he enlisted, details of his divorce, (seems he came back from the war a changed man), and his wife's maiden name.  In his ex-wife's application for a widow's pension there were details of his death, (he fell out of a hay mow), the place of their marriage, (New York City), and even a mention of their neighbor "Jim White".  But that was all, Jim was identified as just a neighbor and no mention was made of him again.  Tres disappointing.  On the other hand, if one were related to John Keyes it would have been well worth slogging through page after page of handwritten data.

     After sulking about that for a few days, I received an email from the IFHF site notifying me of the new records coming online.  Another opportunity!  So I went, I searched, I found nothing, sigh...  James remains the thorn in my side, I believe him to be from Tipperary or Limerick where the surnames White and Keyes are both plentiful, but who knows???  Not me.

Wordless Wednesday/Dance Me A Story

      The same little girls from last week's Wordless Wednesday.