Category: Personal Page 5 of 9

Sibling Research Part 1

On 5 November 2015

I greatly enjoyed Amy Johnson Crow’s 31 Days to Better Genealogy! Many tips were wonderful reminders of how I should be doing my genealogy research – especially Day 12 – Research the Siblings.

With that in mind, I decided to look at one of my favorite brick walls, David Witherell (also spelled Wetherell, Witherall, Witherill, Witheral, etc.). David’s parents are supposedly John and Judith (Bullard) Witherell (see the above link for that information if curious). I had hoped to find some kind of connection through the Bullards to connect to my known Witherell’s and began to search in probate records for David Bullard, Judith’s possible father. Through that I learned about possible Revolutionary War information for Judith’s father and thought to give the DAR records a shot – with a win!

The diary, part of the material used for a DAR membership for a known relative of mine, mentions wonderful new clues to follow:

John Witheral senior
Judith Bullard, wife of John Witheral senior born July 4 1793
John Witheral Jun Born Oct 5 1811
David Witheral Born Feb 10 1813
Darius & Cyrus Witheral Born Sep 12th 1816
Jane Witheral wife of Wm Curr [or Carr?] born Jan 12th 1819
Janet Vincent – wife of Darius Witheral Born Aug 22nd 1882
[Under Janet’s name there is a faintly written part that seems to read “Infant daughter born… 13th 1840 died the same…” day maybe?]
Hadley _ Witheral son of Darius and Janet born Feb 25th 1841
[There seems to be another line after the above but the copy doesn’t go down far enough to see it. I’d need the original.]
Ray Witheral son of John Witheral Junior born Aug __ 1838

Look at all these wonderful people I have to research now! Not to mention the sister’s husband’s name!

So I started with a quick search on Ancestry with John Junior. I did find some possible Civil War records for both John senior and junior, BUT I want more confirmation that they are the same people. The ages are off enough that make me think they may not be and I’ve ordered records before thinking it was my ancestor only to find (after quite an expense) that I was wrong. Oops!

I realized then that I was searching rather aimlessly and I need to create a plan for John Jr. as well as the others, especially since this started with a project titled 31 Days to Better Genealogy. Better Genealogy – so I want to do this right.

To keep me on track, I will write about my plans and the results as I go along! Here’s hoping I lose some bricks in this wall!

Family History Month and a New Challenge!

By Nichelle Barra

On 1 October 2015

In Personal, Research

image from pixabay user rab4y

This is my favorite time of the year! I have always loved fall – tree colors, sweatshirts, pumpkin EVERYTHING, warm drinks, warm soups, campfires, hay-rides, Halloween… I could go on. 🙂

Along with all of those favorite things, it is also Family History Month! And what better way to celebrate than with Amy Johnson Crow’s 31 Days to Better Genealogy? It is a free daily email with tips, tricks, resources, or methods to help your genealogy get better. You can start anytime but what better day than today?

I got my first email today and it’s a simple one really but one that is probably overlooked the most – what are you trying to find?

Really great question. Sometimes I just like to play around and see what I can find, no target in mind. The problem with that is that I can get lost and get nothing accomplished. I would have fun chasing down several genealogy rabbit holes, true, but having a goal in mind keeps me focused and that gets results.

So what is my goal? My long-term goal is one I’ve mentioned before – find out where the Witherell’s come from. I started this journey with that question in mind but I’ve been stuck in New York (figuratively) for the last few years with that question. Mostly because I’ve let myself get distracted by other questions and ancestors, but I would really like to focus on that one and get further back on that line.

Now I’ll need to break that rather large (and general) goal in to smaller, simpler steps.

I have a few people I want to focus on:

Ostrom Witherell (born 1885 in Saginaw, Michigan; died 1968 in Vancouver, Canada) – Although it isn’t going to answer my ultimate goal question, I also want to know more about the Witherell’s in my line – it’s more than just putting the name on the tree. I want to know his story and he’s one mystery I would like to have more information on.
David Witherell (born about 1813 in New York and died about 1862 in Genesee County, Michigan) – he’s the furthest back I can get with documentation. His possible parents are briefly mentioned in a book that focuses on his wife’s family, and there’s no documentation for that statement. I need more information on him!
John Witherell (born ???? and died about 1823 in New York) – This is the possible father of David. His wife was Judith (Bullard) and it was her father’s will that led to the death date of John but I still need a LOT more information on them. They existed, but are they the parents of David?

Obviously those three are rather large questions in themselves and will need to be broken up into smaller parts as well. I’m working on research plans for the three of them and I’ll begin working my way through them this month. I look forward to sharing my findings with you all!

I encourage all of you to sign up for the 31 Days to Better Genealogy – you have nothing to lose and so much to gain!

Mystery Monday: Mary Witherell Hay Owen

By Nichelle Barra

On 6 July 2015

In Discovery, Personal, Research

Many years ago, when I began my search for my ancestry, I had one focus: Witherell. There were a variety of reasons for this:

It’s my maiden name
The origin stories and others made me very curious to know the truth: the name is Scottish; the name is British; the name came from the border of Scotland and England; they were sheepherders; someone was killed for stealing a horse, etc.
Mary Witherell Hay Owen – the woman who really started it all for me. While wandering a cemetery, I saw her grave and was astounded she had my maiden name. Where did it come from?

Mary Witherell Hay Owen may have started my beginnings in genealogy, however, I never finished looking into her.

I was in college at the time when I was earnestly researching her so my research was sporadic at best. However, I had help from the wonderful librarians in my hometown as they were just as interested in this project as I was. They told me many things that I didn’t really look into much at the time but will prove useful as I search for her now:

Her father, James Hay, was a wealthy Scottish lumberman in Saginaw, Michigan. He was the president of the Tittabawassee Boom Company and in 1859 went into business with Ezra Rust – who is a big name in Saginaw (there’s a park and street named after him).((History of Saginaw County Michigan; Together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages, and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman & Co., 1881), 666 and 695.))
Mary married Edward Owen in 1889 – I did find the records to prove that. She was 22 at the time and Edward was 26. ((Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952, vol.3:176, record number 1467, Edward Owen-Mary W Hay, 15 Oct 1889; image, “Michigan, Marriage Records 1867-1952,” Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 July 2015); citing Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics.)) Edward Owen’s father, John G, was also involved with lumber and salt works in Saginaw. ((History of Saginaw County Michigan; Together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages, and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman & Co., 1881), 575.))
She was a lumber baroness – Although I can see where that might be true, after all both her father and father-in-law were in the business, I haven’t found anything to support that fact that her or her husband were involved in the business while she was alive. (If there was only the 1890 census, part of this question could be answered!)
The Hay family had connections with the prominent Witherell’s of Detroit – James Witherell was a Judge of the Supreme Court for the Territory of Michigan and his son, Benjamin Franklin Hawkins Witherell was also a jurist in the U.S. State of Michigan and a justice on the Michigan Supreme Court. Now this may prove to be true – Mary’s mother’s maiden name is Hawkins as well. ((Michigan Marriages, 1851-1875, James Hay-Martha E. Hawkins, 13 Dec 1864; database and index, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : accessed 6 July 2015), citing Wayne County, Michigan Marriages, 1851-1869, FHL Film 1377620-1377622.))
Mary died in 1896 at the age of 28. Saginaw has an online record of burials that can sometimes include how the person died. In Mary’s case it was phthisis, also known as consumption or tuberculosis.((Public Libraries of Saginaw, “City of Saginaw Cemeteries Search,” database, City of Saginaw Cemeteries (http://cemeteries.saginaw-mi.com : accessed 6 July 2015), entry for Mary Owen, Oakwood Cemetery, Section 14, Lot 113, burial 26 May 1896, Saginaw, Michigan.))

So my main research question from the early 2000’s was: Is she related to me? As far as I could tell at that point, no. There is a Witherell book that focuses on two progenitors in America: Rev. William Witherell and William Witherell. That book connects the Detroit Witherell’s I mentioned to them but my family is NOT in that book. Maybe I could still be related to one of those two progenitors, but my research showed no connection. Because of that missed connection, I stopped researching her all those years ago. side note: I have gone further back in my Witherell line since then, but the names are still not in that book.

I am picking this ‘mystery’ back up again! I doubt it is a real mystery since I have quite a bit of information on her from before that will likely lead to a lot more. When I first started looking into this woman, I really had no idea where to go or what I was doing! I’ve learned quite a bit since that time so it’ll be fun to see what I can find out now.

Stay tuned!

By Jenney, J. A. (James A.) — Photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Geneablogger’s Interview!

By Nichelle Barra

On 15 June 2015

In Personal

I have loved reading the Geneabloggers May I Introduce to You… series and I got the chance to participate recently! The interview is up today so check it out here:

“May I Introduce to You… Nichelle Barra”

I’ll be back tomorrow with my genealogy tip for the week!