The Coles buried at Tan Hollow Cemetery, Westerlo, NY

Simeon Cole had been a neighbor of one of my ancestors and I noticed that he and other family members were buried in this small cemetery in Albany County as were my Adam Clark and his wife Olive Burdick.

The Coles listed were:

Eddy S, age 68, died 1885 [1817]

Edwin, age 57, died 1870 [1813]

Elizabeth Slade, wife of Simeon, age 86, died 1873 [1786]

George, age 22, died 1867 [1845]

Mercy, age 75, died 1889 [1814]

Simeon, age 74, died 1863 [1788]

How were they related?

Simeon married Elizabeth Slead, daughter of John, in 1812. In researching the others buried with them, I could verify that Eddy, Edwin and Mercy were their offspring. George was their grandson, son of Edwin.

Simeon and Elizabeth had 6 children, the others were: Hannah 1819 (married Zina Babcock),  Leonard 1821 (married Margaret Lockwood), Angeline 1825 (married Wm H Haswell). In 1840 Edwin married Harriet Lockwood (sister of Margaret who married his brother Leonard); Mercy  and Eddy were unmarried.

Luckily the Cole family bible was transcribed by Greene County genealogists and posted on Rootsweb. It gives specific dates and relationships and confirms the information I found elsewhere. 

Wish I could find bible records for all the family groups I investigate.

Rev Adam Clark and Olive Burdick of Westerlo, NY

Adam and Olive are buried in the Tan Hollow Road Cemetery in Westerlo where she is listed as his wife. Adam died in April 1837 and Olive in Jan 1838. This listing came to my attention while seeking to identify the parents of my ancestor Dr Adam Clark (1791-1860) who married Harriet Watson, daughter of Wheeler, about 1820 in Albany County. A manuscript held at the NY State Library regarding Adam Senior’s farm in Westerlo identifies him as the father of Adam Clark and confirms the land deed records of Adam and Harriet found on the American Ancestors database of NEHGS.

Census records show Adam Senior in Coeymans in 1800 and 1810 with an assumed wife and 5 children, then in Westerlo in 1820 and 1830 with a less clear mix of adults and children. The ages for the oldest child match up with Adam Junior though the other children have not yet been identified. There is some confusion over the reported age of the female in the household making me wonder if Olive was the mother of the children.

Based on her burial record, Olive was born in 1770.

         Census year                  Reported Age             Olive’s Age

           1800                                 over 45                      30

            1810                                 26 – 44                      40

            1820                                 over 45                      50

            1830                                  60 – 69                     60

Understanding that ages are not always correctly reported, this makes me strongly suspect that the female in 1800 is a different person than the one reported in 1810.

I have been unable to find a marriage record or any record of the other Clark offspring. If you might happen to know, I’d love to hear from you.

What a Goldmine !!

Oh how I wish I could find something like this listing of heirs for the major lines in my family group. Check out this 1910 Ohio will naming grand nephews, great - grand nieces and where they lived.



Especially for a deceased person who had no children, this helps immensely in piecing together the whole family group.

I found the wrong deceased Eliza Leadbetter in Lancashire

I was researching Eliza Holmes who was born in Garston, Lancashire in 1876 to George Holmes and Fanny Street.  In 1896 she married Joseph Leadbetter and they were recorded together in the census of 1901 and 1911 … then, of course, the trail stops due to the UK 100 year privacy rules.

Some family members thought she had outlived her husband and remarried, living in Garston again where she was born.  I believe that Joseph died in 1940.  However, I could not find a marriage record that matched the surname of Eliza’s assumed second husband.  So, I looked again for her death as Leadbetter… and found a death in May of 1950 for Eliza Leadbetter, born in 1876. That seemed to match!

We just received a copy of the death certificate and it definitely is NOT Eliza Holmes. This Mrs Leadbetter was the widow of Alfred John Leadbetter, a builder/joiner. Eliza Holmes was married to Joseph who was a musician.

So, if you happen to be looking for Alfred’s widow, I have her certificate and would happily forward it to you. Her informant was her son, listed a J. Leadbetter of Waterloo Road in Manchester. Eliza was listed as 74 when she died on May 15, 1950 at 104 Rice Lane in Walton Park.

I went back and looked again for my Eliza and was very surprised to discover that she died in 1919 (with her probate record confirming she was the wife of Joseph the musician).  It was Joseph who remarried … but never lived in Garston. 

Family tales can lead you astray.

Newspaper Social Columns Can Provide Great Clues

While researching the only member of my husband’s family to emigrate from Britain to the US, I found some great clues pertaining to those who stayed behind. With the most recently released British census being 1911, it can be quite difficult to trace marriages and children of those born around 1900 (especially if they have a common name or one used over and over in an extended family).

Ann Williams and her husband Stephen Vincent Woodward left Cheshire in 1889 for new opportunities in Missouri bringing their 3 small children. Ann was the oldest sister of my husband’s grandmother, born 17 years after Ann and only shortly before Ann married. We don’t actually know, but assume they never saw each other again after the Woodwards departed. Ann was born Lancashire to Owen Williams and Margaret O’Neill in 1861 followed by 10 younger siblings born 1863 – 1882.

In 1864 Stephen was born in Lancashire to George W Woodward and Ann Frodsham, the youngest of their 3.  His father died when Stephen was only 4 and his mother remarried 2 years later. The 1871 census lists the combined family group in another county with Stephen listed by his middle name and his stepfather’s surname (even though he didn’t change it).  These anomalies can make it confusing to follow a family group. The second husband died in 1873 and his mother remarried again … actually twice more. By the 1881 census, the 3 Woodward children were scattered and working as servants in non-family households. I somewhat gave up on tracing his sister Eliza and his brother George.

So my focus turned to the Woodward clan in the U.S. who started out in Missouri but  soon settled in Kokomo, Indiana where many of them stayed. That’s really helpful !  My goal was to identify all of Ann and Stephen’s children, track their residence and occupation, see if they married and had children. I found much of that information rather quickly, but was a bit  confused about their son Howard, born 1904.