52 Ancestors, Week 8: I Can Identify

As I catch up on posting as part of Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks," the theme for Week 8 is "I can identify."

I only WISH I could identify...

• all the photos in a photo album that belonged to my paternal grandparents. Most of the photos have no names. Are they kin, or merely family friends? (Tip: BE SURE TO identify the people in your photos and videos.)
• the actual first name of my great-great-grandfather. Was he John Donley, John Donlon, John Patrick Donlon, or Patrick Donlon?
• the actual first name of John's wife. Was she Katherine Kelley or Margaret Kelley?
• the origin of another great-great grandfather, John Speed. He was from England, and DNA matches to his line seem to point toward an ancestry in Somerset. But John himself left no clues that I've found — yet.
• the origin of 3x great-grandfather Henry Herrick, a coach driver who lived in Washington, PA. He was from New York, and that's all I know. (By the way, Henry, it'd be nice to know when you died. I'm just saying.)
• whether Lydia Speed born in 1866 in Peoria County, Illinois, is the same Lydia who ran away from a girls' school in 1881, and whether they're both the same Lydia who married James Tucker in 1887 in Sangamon County, and who died in 1901 in Chicago.

That process — the investigation — is what I like about genealogy. Finding that little nugget, that "Aha!" moment, that discovery that leads to the genealogy happy dance when the pieces all slot into place. 

52 Ancestors, Week 5: Oops

Week 5 of Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" prompt is "Oops." Mistakes can be costly. They can also be deadly, and the summer of 1892 was a doubly tragic one for my family.

Shot Himself in the Side

Charles Herrick was received at the Allegheny Hospital yesterday afternoon severely wounded by a gun shot. He gave his address as No. 32 Cherry street. He said he was with a camping party down the Ohio River opposite Shousetown, and yesterday afternoon went with a companion to shoot at blackbirds among the reeds in the river. His rifle trigger was caught in some matted grass, the weapon was discharged and the ball entered Herrick's side at the fifth rib. It passed upward and caused a very serious wound, which seems likely to be fatal. The man was brought to Allegheny on a Ft. Wayne train, but at midnight the surgeons had not been able to find the ball.

— The Pittsburgh Dispatch, Tuesday, August 16, 1892

"The Shot Was Fatal" read the headline in the following day's Washington (Pa) Daily Reporter. That article gives the location as Leetsdale, on the Ohio River 17 miles below Pittsburgh. It states that Charles accidentally shot himself while climbing over a fence. Marshall Lytle, one of his companions, had him placed on the train and taken to the hospital. Lytle, and Charles's brother and sister, were with him when he died.

Charles was about 15 or 16 at the time of his death. His parents had divorced several years earlier and mother Rebecca had died four years before. His father Henry was living elsewhere, and Charles and his siblings were essentially reared by their sister Daisy, about five years Charles's senior, and their brother Frank, who was about three years older than Charles. 

It's not known which siblings were at Charles's bedside when he died. The eldest brother, Harry, had gone to Texas sometime in 1892 or 1893 but returned before the summer of 1893, most likely due to the impending death of his grandmother, Jane (nee Wood) Herrick, who reared him and with whom he lived. 

In 1899, Marshall Lytle would go on to marry Charles's sister, Katherine. Harry married Maggie Donley in 1893 and their only child, a son (who was my grandfather), was named Charles — likely in memory of the uncle he never knew.

__________

52 Ancestors, Week 3: Out of Place

Amy Johnson Crow, in her "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge, has as Week 3's prompt "Out of Place." 

Amy asks, "Have you ever found an ancestor in an unexpected location? What about finding a record someplace that surprised you? Or what about that one great-great-uncle who moved out West when everyone else in the family stayed put?"

So I decided to write about all of the above.

One difficulty in my family history research is finding out WHERE in England my great-grandmother Margaret Donley's family lived. Face it, it's not much help when on every record I found, it says merely "England." OOO-KAYYY. Fortunately, I found out about great-grandma's brother, who was nearly 20 years older. Robert Donlon used a different spelling of his surname, but he had the decency to use a consistent birthdate (thank you, kind sir!), and vital records state he was from Leeds. At last! Something to go on.

Before discovering Robert, I'd found a family in the 1885 Iowa State Census whose members seemed to match up with what Dad told me about his grandmother's family. Since the first mention of Maggie was at her marriage in Pennsylvania, I had no idea if this was the correct family as they were not in a place in which I expected to find them.

After discovering Robert, I found that he was also in the same Iowa county, married and with two children. That census suddenly became a more important puzzle piece. The Donley boys were coal miners and I don't know if they stayed put in one area, or criss-crossed the country, going to where the jobs were.

At least one of the brothers went out west.  This news item from 1915 mentions that Robert's brother James was visiting from Montana. The family is definitely a work-in-progress, although DNA is helping!

Under the "record I did not expect to find" category is a divorce record. My 2x great-grandfather, Henry Herrick, had married Rebecca MOLDEN/MOULDEN and I was checking newspapers for a marriage notice. I found a news item with both Herrick and Molden — but not the marriage I expected. Turns out Henry's sister Bell had married a Molden and it didn't work out. Bell's mother Jane Herrick was filing the suit. More work to do, for sure, as the 1868 divorce notice mentions Bell's husband William Molden, but an 1865 marriage notice says Bell was married to James Molden. In any case, in the 1870 U.S. Census, Bell is married to Jacob Miller and has a 3 month old son, John.

52 Ancestors, Week 2: Favorite Photo

 Week 2 of my pal Amy Johnson Crow's writing prompt, "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks," is "Favorite Photo." 

Do I have just one? Not that I can think of. Several stick in my memory, and when I finally get all my photos organized and scanned, then I'll be able to finally post them. Until then, this one brings me much joy.

My Aunt Joy once told me "We have a picture of your Grandpa Herrick when he was a little boy. It's part of a paperweight." For years, I meant to ask to see it. A year ago at Christmas, I was at my cousin's holiday open house. After everyone else had left, I asked her whether she received the paperweight after her mother had died. She didn't recall it specifically, but she kindly dug in a box in her study, and — there it was. I brought it back to her dining room table, around which my family had gathered several hours earlier.

It proved almost impossible to photograph — the smooth, curved glass reflected the lights over the table. I had no idea how the photo was set into the paperweight. Could it be removed? YES!! With shaking hands I picked up my iPhone and took the best photo I could of the photo of little Charles Lewis Herrick. Part of the original caption on the reverse is still visible. In ink: "17 months old" and "born 1894." Barely visible in pencil: "Charley Her" and "April 10th" which was Grandpa's birthdate. 

I wondered about the circumstances behind the paperweight. What had the photo originally looked like before it was cut to fit inside the recess in the bottom of the paperweight? Was the photo only of Charley, or were there several poses done at the time, perhaps with his parents? I have photos of Charley's mother, my great-grandma Margaret "Maggie" Donley Herrick McCabe. Of Charley's father, my great-grandpa Harry Herrick, I have no photos — yet.

52 Ancestors, Week 1: I'd Like to Meet...

For the past few years, my friend Amy Johnson Crow has featured a writing prompt called "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks." I've been bad about writing and blogging regularly (all you have to do is look at the dates of my previous posts, LOL!). This is the year I actually stick to it. I'm not getting off to a promising start, though - Amy's already posted prompts for Week 3, and here I am, blogging for Week 1. Oh well!

Week 1's prompt is "I'd like to meet..."  I’d like to have met my great-grandmother, Margaret Donley Herrick McCabe. Born in England, she and her family came to the US in the early 1880s.  She died in 1950, six years before I was born. So, I think I'll ask Maggie as if she were still here.

Margaret Donley
Herrick McCabe

• Did your family all immigrate to the U.S. together? Or did some of you arrive first, and the others followed? When and from where did you arrive in the U.S.?
• It appears that your family lived in Iowa in 1885. How did you wind up in PA in 1893? Where did the other family members go?
• How did you meet Harry Herrick? He had been in Texas, and returned to Washington, Pennsylvania sometime around the death of his grandmother Jane. Was it a love match? A one-night stand? 
• When and why did you and Harry split? Did you formally divorce? (I hope so, because you later married Robert McCabe, so...) When and where did you and Harry divorce? Did you ever have contact with him again? When did you divorce McCabe (or did you)?
• Was Julia Donley a sister of yours? If so, why do I not find any connection between her and her siblings?
• Most importantly, who were your parents — John Donley and Katherine Kelley? Or Patrick Donley and Margaret Kelley?

So many questions; so few answers. Maggie, why did you use Donley, but your eldest brother Robert used Donlon? Speaking of Robert, why did my dad hear from his dad — your son — about various family members, but not a peep did Dad mention a Robert? Heck, Maggie, Robert even lived in East Palestine, Ohio, the town in which Dad was born. 

I'd love to know the answers to the most mundane questions. Did you speak with a British accent? What were your favorite foods? What kind of mother were you: the soft, nurturing kind? A hard-as-nails badass? What made you decide to leave Iowa behind and come to Chicago? What (or who) was here for you?

DNA and genealogical research will help answer some questions, but there will be others that go unanswered forever, and that's a shame.