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52 Ancestors Week 11: Lucky

On 19 March 2018

This is a tough one! I feel like this one needs more of an ancestor’s actual story than could be told by records alone. With that, one story came to mind. It’s more personal and more recent than others on my tree as well.

These are my grandparents. My beautiful grandmother worked hard to fit into that dress! I can’t remember what the waist size was exactly (10 inch waist? Was that even possible??) but she did some extreme dieting. I remember her telling me it was a coffee and cigarette diet, which she then followed with a very stern and serious – “Never do that.”

My grandmother claims is was this that caused her to fall seriously ill a few years after their wedding with Insipidus Diabetes. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, of course, but my grandmother firmly believed this was the cause.

What this meant was that she had to take a nasal spray everyday to keep everything in balance along with the fact that she always seemed to be very thirsty (or so I saw – she was always sucking on ice chips and had water close by). It also caused problems with her getting pregnant. This was the early 1950s and the doctors told her she would not be able to have children. However, as my grandmother once told me, she had always wanted to be a mother. She knew it was what she was supposed to do on this earth. With that mind set, I can imagine her look when the doctors told her she should not try. She, of course, did anyway. That stubbornness is definitely a family trait!

She had two miscarriages and her doctors urged her to stop trying as it was very hazardous to her health. She persisted, however, and in 1952, my aunt was born. Then my dad came along in 1954! The doctors proclaimed them both miracle babies!

My grandmother had her two children, a girl and a boy, and was quite happy! There was another pregnancy that happened, however, in 1965. That one ended in a very sad still birth. He’s buried with my grandparents and was named Glen A. (which is my grandpa’s dad’s name). My dad remembers that day very sadly as he had finally had a brother.

My dad and aunt were the miracle babies that my grandmother always wanted, but had been told she would never have. Without her persistence and risking her own health, my siblings and cousin (and the next generation) would not be here at all. To me, that makes us all very, very lucky.

52 Ancestors Week 9 : Where There’s a Will…

By Nichelle Barra

On 10 March 2018

In 52 Ancestors

I’m a bit late on my 52 Ancestors post! It has been a busy last two weeks. Better late than never though, so here is my Week 9 post!

When I was younger, I heard many rumors about my maiden name Witherell and where it came from and what it meant. The most frequent one told to me was that Witherell’s were shepherds and were named after the ‘weather-all’ they created for shelter in the fields. The rumor said they were from the England/Scotland border. So, one of the things I’ve always wanted to find out is how true all of that is!

Which means, of course, that I hit my Witherell brick wall in the early 1800s, still in the United States. I have confirmed my 4x great-grandfather and who he was: David Witherell, born in 1813 in New York and died in 1862 in Michigan. He is the beginning of my Witherells in Michigan and although he died in Genesee County, his wife and children moved to Saginaw shortly thereafter. His descendants have lived in Saginaw, Michigan since 1866 – which means that line of family has been in the same area for over 150 years ((Martha Curtis Obituary, Saginaw Daily News (Saginaw, Michigan), 14 January 1911, page 2.)). I think that’s pretty amazing.

It’s his parents where I hit a wall. David married a woman named Martha Wolcott, who has a family book where she is mentioned. In that book, it states that David is the son of John and Juda (Bullard) Witherell of Richmond, NY ((Wolcott Genealogy The Family of Henry Wolcott (Rochester, NY: Genese Press, 1912), page 212.)) .

My search on John Witherell didn’t lead to much, but Juda (or Judith) Bullard had more information. Her parents are David and Elizabeth (Hadley) Bullard ((Arad Thomas, Pioneer History of Orleans County, New York (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, INC, 1871 Reprint 1998), page 231.)). With that, I began to hunt for information on David, hoping he may have left a will that mentions his daughter or grandchildren.

I found a general index on FamilySearch.org for Orleans County, New York from 1825-1926 that showed David Bullard DID have a probate record. I then contacted the County Courthouse in Orleans County and they sent me along to the Orleans County Genealogical Society – my heroes for this post!

I gave them the box and file number and asked if the files still existed and if there was a way to get more information about this record.

By the end of that day, they had emailed me the ENTIRE file (it wasn’t large, thankfully)! I cannot stress how absolutely amazing this group is for doing something like this! I would have paid for the information as well and sent them a donation for doing such an amazing thing. Seriously, genealogy societies have gold mines of information!

The record did not have a will, sadly, but there was a lot of fun information:

These records do not specifically say if any of the names are his children or how they are related (if at all) to David. ((Orleans County, New York, David Bullard probate file, box 6, file 779; Orleans County Genealogical Society, Albion New York.)). That is usually the case though, and I have seen the name of Ransom Bullard in connection with a possible sibling of David. So it’s another link, albeit indirectly (and it needs more), but a link. Nonetheless, the generosity of the Orleans Genealogical Society brought me such a gift and I hold this probate record in high value!

Never underestimate the records of local groups!

52 Ancestors Week 1

By Nichelle Barra

On 3 January 2018

In 52 Ancestors, Personal

It’s been a while! My goal is to get back into blogging this year and 52 Ancestors from Amy Johnson Crow is just the inspiration I need!

This week’s ancestor is the theme: start. So I’m starting with how I got started in genealogy. That beautiful woman up there is my grandmother, Mary (Hummel) Witherell. She is my main reason for getting into genealogy. When I was younger, she would tell me stories about our family. I so wish I would have written down or recorded those conversations now, but I was very young and didn’t know the value at the time.

My grandmother was born in Oakland County, Michigan May 11th, 1930, the youngest of seven children born to Ada and Oliver (Ollie) Hummel. The family eventually moved to Saginaw, Michigan by the time she was ten with the rest of her family. It was there that at least two of her older brothers went off to World War II and she wrote her diary, which I was lucky to get after my grandfather passed away.

She married my grandfather, Bobbie in 1951 – that’s one of her wedding pictures at the top, and one of my favorites of her. To me, she reminds me of 1950s movie stars – gorgeous and glamorous. She definitely had a great sense of style as well!

My grandmother died in 2000 and it was very hard for me. She was also the first close death I experienced, which likely made it all the more keenly felt for me. It took me many years before I could visit her grave, in fact.

One day, while I was home from college, a friend and I decided to go check out a cemetery in my hometown: Oakwood Cemetery. My grandfather said there were some ancestors there and maybe some Civil War ancestors there (which is true). So, in a true early-genealogist fashion, we went to explore the cemetery! While there, we happened to find a gravestone that stopped me cold: Mary Witherell Hay Owen. This was not my grandmother, of course. She was in a different cemetery not to mention had a very different name. However, just the fact that it said Mary Witherell had me now incredibly curious.

Who was this woman? Why did she have my maiden name as part of her name?

Those questions started me on a journey to the Hoyt Public Library in Saginaw and the amazing librarians there really introduced me to the study that is genealogy. From there, I was hooked!

So why did Mary Witherell Hay Owen have Witherell as her middle name? I have some thoughts on that one that I will share another time!

Happy New Year everyone!

Minnesota Death Records

By Nichelle Barra

On 19 April 2016

In Research, Resources, Vital Records

MHS

Not that long ago, I posted about Ostrom Witherell, my 2x great-grandfather’s brother and what could have happened to him. I mentioned that Ostrom’s father died in 1915 and the obituary mentioned that Ostrom was in Grand Rapids. Now, me being me, assumed that meant Grand Rapids Michigan. However, an astute reader noted that it was Grand Rapids, Minnesota!

And that led me to a new-to-me resource: Minnesota Death Records!

These records are held at the Minnesota Historical Society website where they actually have a number of great sounding indexes, but I stuck with the death certificates for the time being.

The Minnesota Death Records go from 1904-2001 and can be searched by using two search engines: either PeopleFinder or the MNHS Research Materials. Either one uses the same kind of search technique. First I narrowed down by collection:

MHS Death Records Collection

Then used the search term Witherall as well as narrowed down the year:

And there were two very sad results:

MHS Death Records Collection Results

*Mabel’s last name was spelled differently, obviously, and took narrowing down the years and her first name to find her.*

Ostrom’s death certificate said he was a widower and his wife had been Mable Sheehan – could this be the same? And was that baby boy his? So I ordered the records to see what they could say. Each cost $9.00 and they arrived in about 10 days.

The result – Mabel Sheehan was the wife of Ostrom Witherell and that baby boy was their child. Mabel was born around 1892 in Canada, which is also where she was removed for burial in Toronto. She died of eclampsia after the birth of said baby boy. ((Minnesota Historical Society, death certificate no. 1913-MN0005468 (1913), Mable Weatherell; Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. )) Are any of you fans of the TV show Downtown Abbey? Remember the horrific death scene of Sybil? Mabel died from the same thing. I can’t imagine Ostrom’s grief over losing his baby boy AND his wife in one day.

For Ostrom’s story, this does give me some other clues. Next I’ll check for marriage certificates in Toronto as well as Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Ostrom’s mother was from around Toronto as well (another brick wall of mine) so perhaps there could be a link there?

His story aside – this is a great resource for those with Minnesota relatives! The index was easy to use and the ordered copies came within two weeks, which is always a plus!