See! It's Not A Waste Of Time To Follow Distant Relatives

     

     I'd like to shake the hand of the person who thought it would be a good idea to put books on the internet.  Especially the obscure genealogies.  Whilst perusing records of the Wiggins family I drifted into the family of Freelove Nichols who in 1803 married Richard Wiggins of New York City, (who I believe is a brother of my 4th great-grandfather William Wiggins who moved to Wolcott, NY).  As I delved further into the Nichols family I began to feel a wee bit guilty about wasting time on lines I wasn't closely related to.

   I came across information about Freelove's mother, Freelove Wright, which stated that before she married Samuel Nichols, she was married to Samuel Wood for only a short time before his untimely death and that she bore him a son named William whose name she changed to Samuel in honor of his father.  A short biography of William/Samuel Wood followed which detailed his life and various careers, the last one being founder and owner of a successful publishing company.  A list of some of the books he published was included in the biography, many of which were for children.

     That certainly piqued my interest.  In an earlier blog I made mention of  an educational book written by the above mentioned Richard Wiggins.  I eagerly turned the virtual page and there it was!  The book "The New-York Expositor", written by Richard Wiggins, was on the list.  Samuel had published the book of his niece's husband Richard Wiggins in 1818.  That certainly tends to tie the two men together genealogically speaking.  Had I listened to that nagging voice saying,"you're wasting your time", I never would have found this connection.

      It's a real shame New York didn't keep records in the early 18th century, or many in the 19th for that matter.  It's proving difficult to find evidence definitively linking the various Wiggins in New York City to each other or to those living in Wolcott, making clues like the book list especially valuable.  Speaking of which, I made the trip to the Wayne County Historian's office today only to find the 1855 census of Wayne County, New York is not complete.   Towns whose names begin with the letters A-P are all that survive.  The records for Wolcott no longer exist so there is no chance of finding Richard Wiggins; the one mentioned in the last blog who died in 1857 and who married Hannah Ostrander. 

         The only thing worse that no record created, is record loss.

     

    

It Was There All Along: Part Two

 

Clarissa Wiggins, Earl Owen and David Owen

     In my original post written almost four years ago I mused about the discovery of a previously unknown daughter of my third-great-grandfather Dr. Richard Wiggins.  Clarissa Janette Wiggins was born in New York, almost certainly in Wolcott, in February of 1855.  After the death of my third-great-grandmother Hannah Ostrander Wiggins in Michigan in 1848 Richard had taken a second wife, Susan Gray, who was Clarissa's mother.

     Richard is reputed to have died in 1857 and been buried in Old Westbury cemetery in Victory, New York, close to Wolcott.  I was never quite sure if the Richard Wiggins buried there was my third-great-grandfather or not since his widow Susan and daughter Clarissa were in Michigan just a few years later, but new evidence makes it seem more likely.  Richard was in Michigan in 1848 when his daughter with Hannah Ostrander was born and Hannah died, but he appears in both the Michigan and Wolcott, New York censuses in 1850.  The Wolcott census lists him widowed and with his children at the home of his parents.

     There is some conflicting evidence about Clarissa's birth place, her death record says Michigan but all censuses say she was born in New York, the 1900 census says she was born in February of 1855 which matches the date her son gave on her death record.  Since the information in the censuses was probably provided by Clarissa herself, I'm going with New York as the place of her birth.

     Now for the new evidence; taking a closer look at Clarissa's mother Susan Gray, I discovered Susan living with her parents in 1850 Wolcott, only five households from the Wiggins clan.  Clearly, Clarissa's parents met and married in Wolcott and in all likelihood she was born there.  Susan must have felt she was making a good marriage, Richard being an older man and a doctor to boot even if he came with five children.  It seems the couple were still there in New York in 1857 when Richard died, (yes I now believe that is him in Westbury Cemetery), and afterwards Susan and Clarissa went west to Michigan either with her parents who appear there in the 1860 census or to join them in their new home.  That same census shows Susan remarried and living with her second husband Abel Aldrich and her daughter Clarissa Wiggins.  As noted in the first blog, Susan died from consumption when Clarissa was 15 and the young girl was compelled to become a servant.

     Also new, while researching Clarissa years ago I found she had married a David Owen in Michigan around 1879.  Her father, my Grandpa Richard, had a sister, Elizabeth, who also moved to Michigan along with with her husband Charles Owen.  Their child David M. was born there in 1842.  Somehow I never put two and two together.  After finding the second family of Grandpa Richard I left off studying them, I was after all descended from his first marriage.  And I went no further with his sister Elizabeth Wiggins Owen's children other than noting their names and birth dates and places.  Today while looking through my family trees it hit me, DAVID OWEN!  Could it be the same David Owen?  Turns out it was, Clarissa married her first cousin.

     So what did I learn from this?  That I have an annoying tendency to miss evidence right under my nose for one thing, but also how very interesting and satisfying it is to put all the little clues together and watch the big picture slowly take form.  It's a process that can't be hurried lest you miss one of those clues and it's full meaning -- witness it took me four years to pull it all together though in my defense, I was working on other lines at the same time.  Since Clarissa was born in early1855 she should appear with her parents in that census, but that old familiar roadblock rears it's ugly head here, the Wayne County New York census of 1855 is not online.  Which means I will have to drive to Lyons at some point and view it in the historian's office.  I will keep you posted...

My Latest Ebay Purchase/ Or How Patience Won The Day

   

     I've been spending most of my research time on the McGarr family originally from Ballyraggan, County Kildare of late.  My working theory is that my 3rd great-grandfather Daniel McGarr was the cousin of another Daniel McGarr who left the same area in Ireland for upstate New York.  Daniel in New York was the proud father of three nuns, Sisters of Mercy all.  I wrote about one of them here.

     Shortly after writing that blog, I came across a reference to two books written by Sister Mary Frances McGarr, another of Daniel's daughters.  Naturally, finding one or both of those books suddenly became the most important task on my to-do list.  I searched all the antique and used book sites and finally located a copy of one of them, "May Devotions For Children", on Ebay.  Sadly for me, the offer had ended.  I sent a note to the seller asking if the book had been sold and was informed he still had it and would be relisting in a week or so.  I had been hoping he'd just let me purchase it then and there, but that was not to be and I soon found out why.  When it was again put online, the price had strangely increased.  

     I hate to sound cynical, but it was clear the book had been on the market for awhile with no takers, but when I expressed interest in it the value had somehow risen.  This was so irritating I decided to just keep my eyes open for another copy.  Three or four weeks had passed when a notice appeared in my mailbox from Ebay informing me an item I'd been looking at had been reduced in price.  Yes, it was the book.  I really didn't want to patronize that seller, but I'd had no luck at all finding it elsewhere so I ordered it and in the end I'm glad I did.

     It's a sweet little book, about 3 1/2 by 5 inches, filled with advice on how to keep May, the month of the Blessed Virgin, holy.  For each day of the month there are suggestions and reflections, written by teacher Sister Mary Frances at a child's level.   May 23rd's entry for example--

Dear Children-- While thinking of the beautiful devotions which so greatly help us to be good, we must not forget the Sign of the Cross.  Every time we make this sign devoutly, using holy water, we get 100 days Indulgence.  There is one thing, dear children, that you must remember in using the Sign of the Cross, it must be made devoutly.  It will not do to make it all in a rush, without a thought of what we do.

     You don't hear much about indulgences these days.  I hope someday my grandchildren will find this book written by their cousin useful, now I need to find more copies so they can all have one.