Tag: Michigan

52 Ancestors, Week 2: Favorite Photo

On 9 January 2018

I actually had a hard time with this prompt! I have many favorite photos and it is hard to find just one to share.

So I went with a slightly unexpected photo. The two women in the picture below are not related to me, but I they were friends of my great-grandparents, Glenn and Erma (Almy) Witherell. They were all a part of the Saginaw Motorcycle Club in the 1930s – including my great-grandmother by the way! She definitely seemed to be a woman who would do things in her own way, as she wanted, and these two women likely shared those characteristics.

It seems my great-grandparents definitely had a love for motorcycles (and their cars) by the number of pictures I have. That love has been passed down, as well. Well, at least to my dad (who had one when he was younger) and to his cousin (who still rides with his daughter often). I have yet to ride one, sadly, but I do hope to one day.

Without further ado, here is Carrie and Edna, in 1933, part of the Saginaw Motorcycle Club!

Pedigree Chart of Ancestor Birth

By Nichelle Barra

On 24 March 2016

In Personal, Research

This is making the rounds on Facebook but I wanted to share on here just in case you haven’t seen it yet. This is a pedigree chart of 6 generations of my ancestor’s birth places.

Look at all those Michigan ancestors!

6 generation picture

It takes another generation to get them out of Michigan completely (and one of those may have been born in Michigan and not the Texas everyone assumes – but I need more support for my assumption).

I knew I had lots of Michigan ancestors but this does make it clear! Did you know I went to the same high school as my great-grandparents? It would have been the same one my 2x great-grandparents attended but it hadn’t been built yet 🙂

Anyone else try this? Do share!

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

Michigan Records: SeekingMichigan.org

By NikiMarie

On 8 December 2014

In Resources

Most of my family research is in Michigan. So I’m going to start a new series of posts of Michigan records – online and onsite – that I have used and wish to share with others. Today, we’re starting with one of my favorite websites – SeekingMichigan.org.

Seeking Michigan is an online platform for the Michigan Historical Center and is connected with the Archives of Michigan and the Library of Michigan. The website has a lot of great information about Michigan and several items available online. Here’s what is available online and a bit about each collection:

Death Records, 1897-1920 – These are amazing! Most counties only have the register of death for these dates, not the actual certificate. Human error can leave out important items or get something wrong, so being able to look at the official death certificate is wonderful! This is what I use the website for the most. You can search my county, city, death date, etc. I prefer to search by city and death year personally. The names don’t come up spelled the way you’d think very often so the way I search normally guarantees I’ll find the document I want.
Civil War Items:
- Civil War Manuscripts – I haven’t yet found family in this collection but it is wonderful to look through to get an idea of what it was like to live (and serve) during that time. It contains letters and diaries from the Civil War period.
- Civil War Service Records – This isn’t searchable by name, but if you know what regiment the person you’re looking for was in, you can search for those items. There is also a finding aid available for these records, which you can find here.
- Civil War Photographs – Careful, you can get lost looking through these!
- Michigan Civil War Volunteer Registries – Here is where you can find soldier names from the Civil War. This can help you search in other collections as well once you know what you’re looking for. It is the starting point for looking for service records.
- Civil War Battle Flags – These include a description of what the flag was used for; great for history lessons!
- More Civil War Resources – These resources aren’t just for Michigan Civil War records and have a lot of great information.
Michigan State Census Records, 1884-1894 – Not every county is included as some records have been lost. The census records are for either 1884 or 1894 so this can be great for those hoping to find a replacement for the missing 1890 census.
GLO Plat Maps – While taking the NGS Home Study Course, I discovered I LOVE working with land records! It goes along with my love of maps, which makes this collection wonderful! This collection comes from the initial survey by the State of Michigan and it shows the layout of the township and range grid system. You can search for maps by looking for the township, the county, or even the township/range numbers if you know them. This is great if you want to see where family members lived in relation to each other (as long as you know where their land was!).
Films – There aren’t many films here but some can be quite interesting – like some original footage of the awful race riots in Detroit in 1967.
Early Documents – These are official state documents chronicling how Michigan became a state.
Early Photography – I love old photos and these are fun to browse through. You can search by name but not all the people in the pictures are known.
Rural Property Inventories or WPA Property Inventories – These are organized by township, range, and section numbers and contain inventory cards that can contain descriptions of the land and what was on it as well as more. Sometimes there are sketches of the homes and land areas too.
Oral Histories – Recorded interviews with Michiganders. These include the transcripts and audios of the interviews. You can search for the area or subject you wish to hear about. These are great as they tell a story that you can’t get from a record.
Music of Michigan – Music written by Michigan composers or issued by Michigan music publishers. This doesn’t have audio, just an FYI.
Maps – You can search for these by county as well as the subject. For example, they have a map of the bases of troops activated for the Flint Sit-Down Strike in 1937 by United Auto Workers.
Main Streets – These are a collection of images of street scenes of various cities in Michigan. You can search by city, county, or even what you want to see (clock towers, store fronts, etc.)
Architecture – These are the architectural drawings of the Ransom Eli Olds Mansion in Lansing, Michigan.
Lighthouses and Life-Saving Stations – Michigan is known for it’s many lighthouses and life saving stations (over 120!) and this is a collection of images of these items.
Governors of Michigan – A picture collection of Michigan’s 47 governors, up to Jennifer Granholm.

Not everything here is going to be genealogy related, however, having a good historical background of a place can ALWAYS help with your research so nothing should be overlooked.

Also, this website has guides on vital records, county records, immigration and naturalization records, and military records. If you are planning a trip to the Michigan Archives/Library of Michigan, I highly recommend utilizing these guides first so you know what you are looking for and can plan accordingly.

Happy Monday everyone!