California Death Record + Maiden Name

 

In tracing the Comfort family members who moved from Catskill, NY to California, I found Hiram and his wife Catherine with a young daughter listed in the 1880 census of Yolo.  I was quite sure Hiram was the son of Absalom Comfort, born in 1842 and last found in the Civil War registration records of 1863. I have still not found him in the 1870 census, though his daughter Alice was born in NY in 1873.

I checked the 1900 census but could not find him nor his wife. I did find a likely match on Alice, now 27, as a boarder in the household of New York born Samuel Wentworth. Also included in the household’s group of 9 was Jennie B. Comfort, 60, listed as “mother-in-law”. So, they were obviously related. Yes, Jennie was the widow of Joseph, brother of Hiram.

In checking additional records for Alice, I discovered her 1950 California death record (she had never married which made the match easier). It listed her birth in New York on 12 May 1873, her middle name as Maude, and her mother’s maiden name of FRY.  Realizing that these death records are a prime source of maiden names, I looked for Samuel Wentworth’s wife, born Katherine Comfort (the daughter of Jennie), born in 1870.  She died in 1842 and her mother’s maiden was ALSO FRY-- BINGO !!

So, looks like brothers Joseph and Hiram Comfort married sisters Jennie and Catherine Fry.  Now, to dig deeper for their marriage records (not found in the usual sources) and records of young Jennie and Catherine with their parents.

Mysterious Howard Masten Youngblood of Montgomery, NY

Howard’s Civil War Registration record lists his birth date as Dec 19, 1846 and his parents as Thomas Youngblood and Hannah Masten as shown below:

In going back to the 1850 Montgomery census I found no Howard Youngblood.  However, I seemed to have a match on a 3 year old listed as Howard E. MACKILHONE with mother Hannah in the household of her parents John and Eve Youngblood (no marital status was included in that census – might she have been a widow?).
 

In 1860 Hannah was the wife of Jonathan Masten, with Howard age 14 then listed as Masten plus 2 of Hannah’s brothers. In 1870, Hannah is the head of household (again, no marital status collected) and her son Howard is now married with 2 children of his own, and he is listed as YOUNGBLOOD !  In 1880 he is listed as Howard E. Youngblood and still has his mother living with them.

Additional Liverpool Records on Ancestry

In many ways I find researching in England easier than in the U.S. due to the wonderful b-m-d (birth, marriage, death indexes beginning in 1837). Of course, the UK census records are less data-rich than those in the U.S. and the most recently released is 1911.

Ancestry has added additional resources for Liverpool, some starting as early as 1659 !
I am most interested in those covering the period of 1813-1837. 

If you had ancestors in Liverpool, this can be a great resource -- check it out.

Were There Ethiopians in Mississippi in 1917 ?

While perusing WWI registration records for the Watson family in Mississippi I came upon an unusual card listing race as ETHIOPIAN !

I was looking for the white descendants of my Rhode Island Watson line, so this jarred me into examining this branch of the family .. and, yes, they had been slave holders likely resulting in an expanded grouping of younger men named Wheeler Watson.  As I looked more closely, I found several young men of similar age with this name -- so I have more investigations ahead of me.

Mystery: Michael and Ann Coughlin 1860 Ohio

In trying to trace Irish born Ann Sheils who married Michael Coughlin and was known to have lived near Zanesville, Ohio in the 1860s I found this census record which could be a match for her.  Frazeysburg is about 15 miles from Zanesville.

Frazeysburg, Jackson Township, Muskingum County

Coughlin
     Michael          25  born Ireland
     Ann                21  born Ireland
     Mary A            4  born Ohio
     Margaret E      2 born Ohio

I have not been able to find any of them in 1870.  The girls would have been 14 and 12, generally not old enough to be out on their own.  

I've checked church and cemetery records -- no help there either.

Can anyone help me unravel this mystery? 

Small town Newspapers -- Read the social items

Many small town newspapers reported the comings and goings of locals, perhaps an item about their dog running away, what they served their guests for dinner.  Those things do add up to a broader picture of the times, local traditions and your family plus their neighbors.

But an item like this from Catskill, NY can prove most helpful.

                          Leonard Hopkins of NYC was a recent guest 
                                   of his sister Mrs. Harry Allchin

Not only does it provide her maiden name, but links her with a brother.

As more and more small papers are being digitized, stay on the lookout for these tidbits regarding the families you are researching.

DIgitized Newspapers: A Wonderful Resource

I am finding that the more I search old newspapers, the more good information I am finding.  In particular, they can be helpful for that period between 1880 and 1900  -- a missing census, lack of vital records in many areas. What I’ve come to learn is that you should search for your target person but also for their immediate family members.

I had found a reference to the Putnam County, NY family of Lewis Ludington and his wife Polly Townsend indicating that their daughter Emily had married Philip Rountree. In the census records of 1860, 1870 and 1880  she was single, living with family members in Carmel, NY.  In the 1891 Michigan obituary of her brother James. she was listed as: Mrs Philip Rountree, formerly of Milwaukee, now resident of San Francisco.

But what really confused me is that she is buried in the family plot at the Raymond Hill Cemetery as Mrs Victor Tull.  I checked Family Search, websites about the Ludingtons, the Putnam County newspapers, but I found nothing that helped me.

Eventually I decided to search for the second husband, Victor E Tull, and that’s when I found an 1892 Santa Cruz, Calif marriage record for Victor and MRS EMILY ROUNTREE.  That confirmed to me that she was indeed Emily Ludington – and I assumed she had been widowed. I still could not find the elusive Mr Rountree. He was not buried at the Raymond Hill Cemetery.