Mary Smith Cook and Her Family

Mary Smith Cook was one of the sisters of my 3rd Great Grandmother, Ruth Smith Simmons Webb.  They were just a few years apart, numbers five and six of Jonathan and Rachel Smith's 10 children.  About 1846, Mary was married to Mathias Cook.  After some quick searching, I have found some things about Mary Cook and her family.  

In the 1850 census, the sisters and their families are living next to each other in Cool Spring Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.  Mathias and Mary had two children, daughter Mary, age 3 and an as yet unnamed son, age 1.  

In 1860, the Cook family was in Ritchie County, Virginia (now West Virginia).  That is where in 1854 Mary's sister Ruth married Cyrus Webb after the death of her first husband.  In the census shown below, Mary's daughter Mariah was born in Pennsylvania and Martha was born in Virginia, so they had moved there between 1853 and 1856.  They were probably there for Ruth's wedding.  Ruth & Cyrus Webb moved to Fulton County, Illinois about 1858.  Ritchie County may have been the last place that the two sisters saw each other and may be where Mary was living when Ruth died.

          Mathias, 41, Blacksmith, born N York 

          Mary, 32 born N Hampshire

          Mary P, 12, born PA

          Matthias W, 10, born PA

          Mariah J, 7, born PA

          Martha S, 4, born VA

          Melissa R, 2, born VA 

Ten years later, the Cook family shows up in York, Noble County, Indiana.  Mathias is no longer a Blacksmith, but a farmer.  Wife Mary is 43, the kids are all ten years older with four additional children - Mason, 10; Miranda, 7; Mosell, 4 and Edith, 2.  

It's interesting here - I think the name Mosell could be Rosella as I found in the 1885 census.  At age 4, she was born very near the time that Mary's niece Rosella Simmons Davee (who was probably named after her father's sister) died in Illinois. 

By 1880 they all moved once again to Rock Creek Township, Saunders County, Nebraska.  That would be about 200 miles east of where Ruth's oldest daughter Rachel, my Great Great Grandma, would moved to about 1886.  Matthias was now 63 and Mary, 52.  The older girls and Mason were not with the family, but Washington, "Maridy", Mosella, and Edith were there. 

The Nebraska State census in 1885 below shows them still living in Rock Creek Township.  Edith, listed as Lenora, Rosell and M. W. are there.  Also a John Hedkins, 27 from Virginia is with them.

Family Search has a database of some Nebraska marriage records (definitely not all for the time period it covers).  I found marriage records that could be for five of the daughters of Mathias and Mary: 

Mariah J. Cook married John J Ingram, January 11, 1872 in Lancaster Co., NE

Mary P. Cook married Thomas Hoover, September 15, 1874 in Lancaster Co., NE
Martha Cook married William Misner, January 1, 1876 in Saunders Co., NE
Melissa R. Cook married Levi Mayfield, March 14, 1880 in Saunders Co., NE 

Miranda married James W. Cheever, June 29, 1881 in Saunders Co., NE

I have not been able to find anything on the death or burial for either Mathias or Mary Cook.  The Saunders County GenWeb page has some cemetery listings and for Mt Zion Cemetery there is one listing for Cook.  "Munson J. dau of M & M Cook, d. 10 SEP 1876 15 Y 11 mo 7 days".   Going by the age that should be the son Mason, not a "dau.", so it may be a different Cook family.

At Findagrave.com, I've found possible memorials.  One for Washington Cook, buried in Potter Field, Omaha, died July 23, 1924.  That memorial has a note "Family: Mrs. Martha Misner.", but they are not linked.  William and Martha are buried in Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln.  Martha died September 18, 1926 and William August 17, 1911.

That's all I've found on the Cook family and won't search for more unless I run across something.  Maybe next spring I can go to the Mt Zion Cemetery and see if there are some other Cook graves not mentioned in that listing.  If you are a descendant of Mathias and Mary, please leave a comment! 

Henrietta Smith, Daughter of -- of course -- John & Mary Smith

Henrietta Abigail Smith Gaisford
Sept. 3, 1848 - May 23, 1932

It happens at least once in every family tree, doesn't it?  Finding the names of Henrietta Smith's parents in the IGI files at the Family History Center almost brought me to tears - John and Mary Smith.  I felt defeated even before I started.

The IGI files listing had the marriage date for John P Smith & Mary A Bliss as January 17, 1847 in Norwich, Connecticut.  Grand Island's library had the book "Vital Records of Norwich, 1659-1848, Part II", where I found that marriage record.  (The record just above theirs was for another John Smith to Isabella Stallman).  At least John P was pretty consistent about using his middle initial. Then I found the book, "Genealogy of the Bliss Family in America", compiled by Austin Tyler Bliss.  In it I found, "Mary Abigail BLISS, b. July 28, 1829, m. 1847 to John Smith of Norwich and d. June 2, 1866, daughter of Austin and Abigail (Bumsted) Bliss".  Not only one more generation back, but several!  This was the first book I had ever been able to find in a library that had so many generations of my family tree!  From that book, I learned that Mary was a descendant of Thomas Blisse, who settled in Hartford, Connecticut in the early 1600's.

So, at this point I knew that Mary had died at age 36, just a year before Henrietta was married.  I ordered a copy of her death record from the Massachusetts Archives. They send these certified copies with the information extracted from the original record, but I have since been able to get a copy from Ancestry of the actual written death register.  Her death was caused by "confinement".  Not meaning that she was confined somewhere, the term confinement was used to describe pregnancy.  She probably died of complications from pregnancy or childbirth, but there is no mention of any baby.  Notice her husband's name is not on the form, and the "Informant" is blank.  It's also missing the Undertaker's name and the place of burial, which I have yet to find.

In the dark ages before online census records, all I had immediate access to was 1850 census indexes which listed only the head of household.  There were about 250 John Smith's in Connecticut, far too many reels of microfilm to inter-library loan to look for his family's census listing.  Working on Austin & Abigail Bliss, I ran across a tree at Rootsweb World Connect created by Meri Arnett-Kremian showing in the 1850 census Mary and Henrietta were living with Austin & Abigail in Bozrah, New London County, Connecticut. The household also included Harriet, 17, William, 14, Julia, 11, and Sarah, 8. But no John, had he died?  

At about the same time, I got the idea to check on city directory listings.  I contacted the Worcester Massachusetts Public Library and they were very helpful pinpointing which John Smith I was trying to track.  I started with 1867 since I knew Henrietta was married there then.  In 2004, I submitted an "Ask a Librarian" question:

"Is there a city directory for Worcester, MA for or near the year 1867?  I'm looking for a John P. Smith of Worcester, with wife Mary and daughter Henrietta (age 18 in 1867)."  

The next day, they answered with a yes, they found a John P. Smith, Armorer, living in Northville near West Boylston St.  They wanted me to confirm.  Well, at that point I still didn't know, I said I would have to inter-library loan the 1860 census to see the household.  The librarian was kind enough to check that for me and found John with Mary, Henrietta and a younger daughter Anne and another person living with them -- Julia M. BLISS.  Mary's sister!  But the kind librarian didn't stop there.  He or she (I wish I had a name!  Messages were signed "WPLREF") then looked in more city directories.  In 1850 through 1857, John was listed as a machinist boarding at two different places.  The rest of the listings had him as an armorer, working at Allen, Thurber & Co from 1854-1856. AND THEN, the librarian checked on Anne's birth record.  She was born April 14, 1854 and the place of residence "jibes with the city directory listings".  Next this fabulous librarian proceeds to tell me that in 1870, John had remarried and had a child from this second marriage.  That was news to me.  They mailed me copies of the 1860 and 1870 census records.  The household in 1870 was John, 46, wife Emma, 27, Anna, 16, Carrie, 7, Minnie, 2 and Flora Carver, 16.  The 16 year-old girls were working in a Box Shop.  Carrie would have been the daughter of Mary.

Working on this post I finally got the idea to Google "Allen, Thurber & Co", and I learned that it was a firearms manufacturer, known for the "Pepper-box" handgun.  At the website worcestermass.com it says, "the company moved to Worcester from Norwich, Conn in July of 1847."  That explains John's moved from Norwich to Worcester!  In 1850, his wife and daughter were with her parents probably while he worked and saved to bring them up there with him.  This also jogs my memory, I think my Grandma told me once that Henrietta's father worked making guns.  I was thinking of Smith & Wesson.

Many online trees have John P Smith's parents as Isaac Smith and Phebe Platt.  I was going right along with that for a while, but I didn't really believe that he had moved to California as some had.  After learning about his second family and working on them, I posted a message on the Genforum board for SMITH on March 2, 2006.  The next day, which happened to be my birthday, a message was posted there from Leah that said "there is a death record in Worcester for a John P Smith in 1903".  She was not related, but posted some details on Emma and the girls and who they married.  The kind of birthday gift I can't ask for!

Again, I sent to the Archives for John's death record and received the same type of certified copy as above for Mary.  He was 79 years old, his occupation was Armorer, cause of death was cerebral softening with contributing cause of cerebral embolism.  I think that means he had a stroke if I understand correctly.  But the most exciting information on here was his parents names! Aza Smith and Mehitable Potter!  Proof that Isaac Smith and Phebe Platt were the wrong line.  The bad news is for place of burial it only says Worcester.  Again no definite burial information and I have tried contacting a couple of cemeteries in town with no luck.  In 2007, a volunteer with NEHGS saw a message I had posted on the Worcester message board and sent me the copy here of the death record for John P Smith.  

Once more, I contacted the Worcester Public Library and requested a copy of an obituary for John - John Potter Smith.  This is from the Worcester Daily Spy, Dec. 23, 1903.   Argh!  Still no burial information!  

"SMITH -  In this city, December 21, John Potter Smith, age 79 years.  Funeral private".

With such a distance between Henrietta and her sisters, I doubt if they saw much of each other again after she moved to Illinois.  If any descendants of John P Smith read this, please leave me a comment and let's sort of reunite his family.  I invite those with Mary Abigail Bliss and John P Smith in their trees to contact me or the Worcester Public Library and determine for themselves who the parents of John Potter Smith are.

"THERE IS NO CRYING IN GENEALOGY!"  And there is no giving up!  Henrietta's parents were not so difficult after all.  Even the right John Smith CAN be found, I found mine! 

UPDATE 1/21/18: I've written a new post with recently found information on the parents of John Potter Smith - "Rerouting... John Potter Smith's Path". 

Charles Gaisford from Hilperton, U. K.

Hilperton is a village in the County of Wiltshire in southwestern England.  It's about 110 miles west of London and only about 25 miles northwest of Stonehenge.  My Great Great Grandfather Charles Gaisford was born in or near Hilperton on January 26, 1842. 

In 2001, I connected with a descendant of Charles' sister Hannah, Cindy Pickard.  She shared with me some Gaisford family history.  Charles' parents were James and Anna (Rich) Gaisford.  Six children were born to James and Anna before they came to the U.S. in about 1855, then a couple more in Rhode Island.

The children of James and Anna were:

1. Emma Jane  (1840-1915)
2. Charles Henry  (1842-1920)
3. James  (1845-1909)
4. Hannah  (1847-1918)
5. William  (1850-1827)
6. Anna  (1854-1913)
7. Samuel  (1857-1921)
8. Jean  (1860 - ?)

Back in the day before census records were available to search online, I had to either inter-library loan microfilm, or request lookups from others.  In March 2004, I posted a request on the Rootsweb Mailing list for Providence county, Rhode Island for the 1860 census showing James Gaisford, listing his family members by name.  My request was answered the same day!  It would have taken me a long time to find them in a search at Ancestry or Heritage Quest since they were listed by the name "Gaskill".   They were in Burrillville, Rhode Island, James was a "cloth finisher".  The family moved to Minonk, Illinois in about 1868. 

In 1860, Charles was 19, living with his parents in Burrillville, working as a weaver.  His marriage record in 1867 shows his residence as Putnam, Connecticut, so it looks like he had gone out on his own, moved to Putnam and was making his living as a spindle maker. You can see a copy of the marriage record here.

After their marriage, Charles & Henrietta moved to La Salle County, Illinois about 1868 where he took up farming.  Charles became a Naturalized citizen in Woodford County in 1872.  In about 1876, they moved to Nebraska, first to Ellis in Gage County then filing a homestead claim in Jefferson County.  One of my goals this year is to take a vacation day and get to two or three county courthouses and look for homestead records.  If you have a homesteader story to tell, the Homestead National Monument in Beatrice is collecting them.  

Beatrice Daily Sun, February 4, 1903

This article from the Beatrice Daily Sun tells me two things:  1) that Charles did all right financially and 2) the reason for Charles Jr's move to Oklahoma.  Interesting coincidence - Charles Jr moved from Ellis in Gage County, Nebraska to Gage in Ellis County, Oklahoma. 

From the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota website, the 1920 census Instructions to Enumerators were:

 "Column 5. Name of each person enumerated.-Enter the name of every person whose usual place of abode on January 1, 1920, was with the family or in the dwelling place for which the enumeration is being made."

The Gaisford household was enumerated on February 4th, just two weeks after Charles' death on January 20, 1920.  He is listed as head of household with Henrietta and their daughter Mary ("Maime").  

Charles left the English countryside at about age 13, lived and worked in eastern cities for a while, then left there to help settle the west.  The Gaisford family was the first of my ancestors to settle here in Nebraska.  The state was 9 years old.

Charles Gaisford

Lena Jorgenson - No Ole and Lena Jokes!

Lena Jorgenson was the daughter of Ole Jorgenson, but I'm not sure if her mother was Caroline.  Lena was born in Denmark, April 10, 1858, and from Ole's obituary, he and Caroline were married November 2, 1860 in Denmark.  It's possible Lena was born out of wedlock, it's also possible Ole was married before to a woman who probably died.  Or, it's possible one of those dates is wrong. Still working on which case it is. 

The Jorgenson's came to America in 1867.  Another daughter, Hannah, was born in Denmark in 1866.  In Illinois, Ole & Caroline had 5 more children - Peter, Isabelle, Andrew, Alberta, and Walter.  My Great Grandmother Charlotte Isabelle Menke was most likely named after her Aunt Isabelle Roscoe.  More about both of them in a future post.  

In the 1880 Illinois census, Lena is living Peotone with the family of Michael Collins.  She is 20 years old and a servant, he is a Merchant of Dry Goods and is disabled.  To my knowledge, there is no connection to the Collins family.  The rest of Lena's family is living in Will Township.

Marquette, Nebraska, where I grew up, has a population of around 200 people.  There was the Methodist Church in town where I went, and a Lutheran Church about 3 miles east of town in the unincorporated Danish community of Kronborg.  Those two churches got together for summer Bible school so that there were enough kids to bother with, each church having it every other year.  When it was in Kronborg, we all learned to dance the Danish Grand March (I think that's what it was called).  All I remember about the dance is marching into the hall and winding into a big spiral, then somehow marching back out of it.  There was a little more to it.  At the time, I'm not sure if I knew I had Danish heritage. The dance was a lot of fun!

I don't know if Will & Lena danced at their wedding, but they were married for 65 years. Their children were Laura May, Cleveland Crosby, Charlotte Isabelle, Frank Edward, Oliver Bert, David Harlow, Cecil Marvin, and Charles E.  As parents they dealt with losing children to deadly diseases, mental illness and possibly special needs.  

This is not the best photoshop job, but I want to compare the two photos of William and Lena that I have side-by-side: 

What do you think?

Well, maybe one joke, it's a clean one - 

Ole was very ill, on his deathbed upstairs in his farmhouse.  He called his family to be around him.  Ole asked, "Is my wife of fifty years here, Marta are you here?"   "Yes, Ole, I am here."  came the woman's reply as she took his hand.  Ole then asked, "Is my son Peter here?"   "Yes father, I am here right beside you."  Ole then asked, "Is my daughter Lena here, too?"  "Yes Pappa, I am here."  to which Ole replied, "If everyone is up here with me, then why is the light in the kitchen still on?"  

Martha Bell

I always knew my Grandpa was born in Kentucky and his family came from there.  He moved with his parents to Giltner, Nebraska when he was about 16.  But I was very surprised when I found that his Grandmother, Martha Bell, had also moved to Nebraska and died in Giltner. She was buried in the Giltner Cemetery only 30 miles from where I live.  I don’t even think my Mom knew that, but she did know there was something about someone in the family not being married.  Martha had 3 children, but she was never married.  My Great Uncle Virgil Bell, her grandson, didn't know who the father was.  He said it was something they never talked about.  He thought Martha may have told her daughter Laura Alcorn.  If Laura never told her daughters, the secret has gone to the grave.  I’m not desperately seeking to find the answer. 

In Wayne County, Kentucky in 1870 Martha is 25, still living with her parents, most of her siblings and "Siserow" - or "Simon" as Ancestry has it - who because relationships aren't noted in the census looks to be another sibling, but is in fact Cicero, her son.  That's what I believe (I've ranted about this one before in my post ""Cicero's Census").  

In the 1880 census, I can only find Garner, Elizabeth and Emily in Wayne County.  John Silas had died, and Rutha, Martha and her 3 children should be there somewhere.  I've searched page by page, I've searched the Soundex for both Kentucky and Texas for the children and I cannot find them.  Texas because by 1900 Elisha Bell had moved to Smith County, but I haven't found him in 1880 either.  

In 1900 Rutha, Martha, and Laura are living together.  This is the year with the question of how many children were born and how many living.  There is no mention of children on Martha's line there.  Rutha answered that question as 2 children born and 2 living and Laura is listed as her Granddaughter.  Cicero had gotten married and moved to Smith County, Texas. 

• The interior journal. (Stanford, Ky.), 23 April 1907. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052021/1907-04-23/ed-1/seq-2/>

After Rutha's death in 1907, Martha lived with Carson & Laura Alcorn and family.  They moved to Ionia, Kansas, by 1910.  In 1920 she is listed as Eveline, age 79, Carson Alcorn's mother-in-law again in Ionia.  By 1925, Carson moved his family, including Martha, to Giltner.  Carson & Laura Alcorn are on my MOST WANTED PHOTO list.

John William Bell was a mystery.  In 1920 he was also in Ionia, Kansas, then there was the mention of him in Martha's obit where he was in Huntington, West Virginia in 1928, but nothing more.  Uncle Virgil didn't know whatever had happened to him either.  On Rootsweb's Mailing List for the Bell surname, I posted a message in January, 1998 with all I knew about him.  In April, 1999, I got an email from Carla Smith who was the Great Granddaughter of John William Bell.  It was such a thrill to find a descendant of his!  Uncle Virgil was thrilled too.  Carla filled me in on John, who died in Jamestown, Kentucky in 1938, and I filled her in on Martha and her ancestors.  She sent me this copy of a photo of John, it's from a tin-type.  He reminds me a little of my Grandpa.  Carla & I kept in touch for a long time, but as it goes, I can't reach her anymore.  Emails bounce and snail mail gets returned. Carla I hope we reconnect someday!

My husband has family in Marion County, Kentucky and on a trip there in 1996, he and I took a day (not near enough time!) and drove down to Wayne County.  We spent some time in the Monticello Public Library and found a few records in books and on microfilm to copy.  There were cemetery listings and the librarian gave us a map to help look for them.  So we ventured around the county finding cemeteries, some of which were off the beaten path.  We stopped at one house to get a little more help finding one cemetery and got invited onto the porch for some iced tea (but we declined).  They gave us explicit directions that included “turn down there where the store used to be.”  They apparently didn't notice our Nebraska license plates.  Seriously, there was nothing but a cement slab that I assumed "used to be" the store.  Must have been, we found the cemetery.

All of these facts from census records are interesting, but I have nothing that tells me what Martha was like.  She went to school, and I think she could read and write, although that answer varies on census records and she just "made her mark" on the Deed.  What was her favorite recipe, her specialty dish, or did I get my lack of interest in cooking from her?  Did she ever see a movie?  I liked "Sunrise" from 1927, wouldn't it be something if she saw it when it came out?  (Note to self:  check local movie ads in old papers)  To my knowledge there are no family heirlooms that were handed down to anyone from Martha's old trunk in the attic.  Newspapers in Wayne County weren't printed much before 1904. Ionia, Kansas might be a place to look for some gossipy news.  Maybe she was active with a local social group there.  My Grandpa died when I was 8 so I only vaguely remember him, but I think he was a quiet person.  Maybe he was like his Grandmother.

John McGrath - Luck of the Irish

John McGrath died the day the Titanic hit the iceberg, April 14, 1912.  He wasn't on it. It's just interesting to note things like that.  He had been in the US for at least 55 years. Before he married Rachel Simmons in 1858, I have no record of John, but he may have been somewhere in New York.  Where they got married is a mystery.  Just like in a movie, I think they must have been married by a circuit preacher or wagon train master. 

His birth year varies on records from 1821 to 1841, but the family notes I found in the old trunk in the attic had his birth date as June 24, 1831, born in Ireland.  In the 1860, 1870 and 1880 censuses his birth year figures to be about 1830 and his birth place is always Ireland.  But by 1900 those stats start to change a little.  On the 1897 marriage affidavit he gives his age as 56, born in Ireland.  He was marrying a 51 year old woman, I can understand him not admitting to the age of 67.  In the 1900 census his age is 64 not 69, born in New York.  His death certificate has his age "85 yrs or there about" (81 by my math) and birth place Ireland, his son-in-law Levi Patterson provided the information. The grave stone has his birth year as 1821 which would make him 91 at his death. Incorrect information, plus the look of the grave stone, just makes me think that it was placed several years later. 

Not being able to get a marriage record, I thought I would try for some birth records of their children.  His son, Art, was born in Henry, Illinois in October of 1876.  Birth certificates were not filed in Marshall County that early.  So hoping to find a birth announcement (with no luck), I searched the Henry Republican newspaper and just happened to find this newsy paragraph from May 18, 1876. That last sentence makes me think John was a little annoyed. But this little clipping tells me that he owned land in Illinois, I'd like to find out more about that.

On a beautiful sunny September Friday in 2005, I took a rare family history vacation day and drove from Grand Island to Broken Bow on Scenic Highway 2.  It's a beautiful drive up into the Sandhills, I love it up there.  I went in to the County Clerk's office and asked to look at land records to find out if John McGrath was a homesteader.  The Clerk showed me to the dusty old books and helped me get started and soon I found the McGrath name. The Clerk gave me this plat mat and marked where the land is.   He also tried to tell me how to get there coming in from the north, but I just wasn't sure how I would really know it if I saw it.  I grew up on country roads in a very flat part of Nebraska where the roads are all laid out on a square grid.  The roads in the Sandhills don't have intersections every mile.  I sat in my car debating whether or not to take the drive.  Time wasn't a problem, and it was such a gorgeous day it would be a nice drive anyway.  Then I noticed the line that ran through the part he marked (I marked the line I'm talking about with two red marks).

 A horizontal line with like a T every so often.  It went all the way over to the road south of Oconto.  The idea came to me that maybe that line meant a railroad, so I went back into the Clerk's office and asked him. He said, "No...(major disappointment) but I think it's an overhead power line."  With a huge smile, I thanked him and set out on my road trip!  I decided to go south of Oconto and then west, the dark blue line I have marked.  Following the curves in the road to the point of his mark, and with the power lines overhead there, I was sure I had found John McGrath's homesteaded land - at least a part of it.  I stopped my car on the road and took pictures.  Normally, I would have liked not to have those power lines in the photo, but I was glad to see them that day.  Climbing over the fence and walking around did occur to me, but I was by myself and didn't know what to do with my car.  There was no where to hide it.

So I sent to the Bureau of Land Management for his Homestead claim documents.  The claim was filed in North Platte on October 12, 1888 for the East half of the Southwest quarter and lots numbered 3 and 4 of Section 18 in Township 13 North of Range 23 West of the Sixth principal meridian in Nebraska containing 151 acres and eighty-three hundredths of an acre.  He built a 20 x 22 sod house, sod stable, grainery, chicken coop, well, windmill and pump, cellar and corral.  My Mom has a photo of the Homestead taken by Solomon D Butcher, which can also be found through the LIbrary of Congress, American Memory project here.  

In this "Testimony of Claimant" form, John states he was born in New York, not Ireland as in the early census records.  He established actual residence on that property in March, 1888 with "myself, wife & boy", that would be Rachel and Art.  Question #9 is "What is the character of the land?  Is it timber, mountainous, prairie, grazing or ordinary agricultural land?  State its kind and quality, and for what purpose it is most valuable"  The written answer is "Rolling farming & grazing land & very poor at that". Now I can tell from John's signature at the bottom of the page, that someone else wrote these answers.  For some reason, I can just hear a grumpy old man telling whoever was writing it to "make sure you put that in there!"  This is his signature.

Two other men filed "Testimony of Witness" forms, Alonzo Patterson and Henry Brown. Both men answered "yes" to "Have claimant and family resided continuously on the homestead since first establishing residence thereon".  These are dated April 27, 1895. But when Rachel died in June 1896, they were residing on the "Brown & Hughes farm east of town".  Maybe they moved closer to Cozad when Rachel became ill to be closer to a doctor. The Brown of "Brown & Hughes" could be Henry Brown.  John sold the land in 1909.

I have never found an obituary for John, but I have his will.  Dated March 25, 1912, he left $1.00 to each of his 3 children and "the rest of his property of every kind and description" to his grand daughter Nellie Patterson.  Actually Nellie Patterson was a grand daughter-in-law, but I think there were 2 Nellie Patterson's and I'm not sure which one he meant.  He made no mention of his wife, Susan, she had not been living with him for seven years. But she did attempt to get her portion of his estate.  Art requested reimbursement for some medical expenses in the amount of $211.50, which seems to have been denied.  The funeral expenses totaled $69.00 for a casket, burial robe and use of a hearse.  The funeral expenses were paid, Susan got $200, the Executor's fees were $85 and Nellie Patterson received $318.25 and a promissory note for $50 payable to her.  Whether his children received their $1.00 it doesn't say. 

After finding out about his second marriage from the Will documents, I got this copy of the marriage record from Custer County.  It has John's parents as Arthur (his son's name) and "R McCarty".  Knowing his firstborn daughter's name was Mary Rebecca, I ventured a guess that the R stands for the name Rebecca.  I entered her name in my software as "R (Rebecca?)", and it's in my Rootsweb World Connect Tree that way. It's even noted that I am assuming that's her name.  I have seen a few trees in Ancestry that have her name as "R Rebecca".   

With the story about the wolves, the remark about the land being very poor and the fact that he gave his children $1 in his will, I get the impression that John McGrath could gripe about it all right along with the Walter Matthau & Jack Lemmon characters from "Grumpy Old Men".  Not as mean as the "warped, frustrated, old man" Henry F. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life!", but a guy with a pessimistic attitude.  That attitude may have made its genetic way down to me, my first reaction is most often negative.  But give me a minute to think and I might see things better.  John may not have had the best of luck in his life, but at least he didn't come over on the Titanic. 

The Wrong Man, directed by me, not Hitchcock

It was just like the Hitchcock thriller, a case of mistaken identity.  The wrong man was sent to prison (until I checked the records further).  

For a while, I thought I had found my Great-Great Grandfather John McGrath in the 1910 Census in Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska.  On the "Name of Institution" line, it says "City Jail 27 to 32 incl".  John McGrath is listed on line 27.  His age was 67, a little young. He was widowed which was not exactly correct but his second wife had left him, maybe he just answered the question that way.  Born in Pennsylvania, listed as a Hobo.  I would not be surprised if he was a hobo and it is definitely possible to jump on an eastbound train in Cozad and end up in Columbus.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Columbus Ward 2, Platte,Nebraska; Roll: T624_853; Page: 25A; Enumeration District: 0178; FHL microfilm: 1374866.

Through the Chronicling America website, I found a newspaper article from the Columbus Journal about a stabbing (just a wound) and another article which said McGrath pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in the penitentiary.  At the Nebraska State Historical Society Library I was able to find the prison record which was difficult to read but looks like it says this guy had children Thomas and Joseph living in Sidney, Australia (looks like Austria).  Unless he lied about those children, this clears MY John McGrath as the criminal. 

This John McGrath was born in Pennsylvania, he was Catholic, age 67, widower, a miner, 5 ft 1/4 in, 109 lbs, with gray hair.  There's more to the physical description, but it's very hard to read.  I have copies for anyone who is related.  

Cicero's Census

I've read that your brian is so pworeufl, taht it can raed scnetnees wtih mxied up wrods as lnog as the frsit and lsat ltetres are in the rghit palce.  Reading very poor handwriting is a challenge big enough for the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz.  The numerous possibilities of finding a very poorly misspelled name can be a daunting task.  Huge black ink smears and torn holes in an original document cannot be fixed to create a microfilm copy.  The names that appear and disappear each decade create more questions for us.  Who hasn't had these kinds of problems with census records?

My luck with finding census records really has been pretty good.  The Edith Abbott Memorial Library here in Grand Island has them from 1860 (territorial) to 1930 on microfilm for the entire state of Nebraska.  Two branches of my family had moved here by 1880, all but one by 1900.  I was able to get all of my direct ancestors Nebraska enumerations searching microfilm before they were online anywhere.  Other states took a little cash.  Through both the library and GI's Family History Center, I ordered in some census records from Kentucky and Illinois.  And most of the rest of the census records for my direct ancestors, at least back to 1850, I have found online.

In my BELL line I'm missing a couple records.  My great-grandfather, Cicero BELL, was born in 1869.  The 1870 Wayne County, Kentucky census shows him with his mother, Martha BELL (who was never married) and her parents.  Martha was the daughter of John Silas BELL and Ruth SIMPSON.  

I'm glad I didn't have to rely on Ancestry for this one, they have the name there indexed as "Simon C".  Will you all believe along with me that the name is written S.I.S.E.R.O.W. C.???

By 1880, Martha had had 2 more children, John William and Laura.  John Silas died in 1878.  I still have not been able to find Ruth, Martha or her children anywhere, not even with Martha's siblings.  I have searched the whole county page by page and even used the Soundex.  The 1880 soundex indexed only the households with children 10 years of age or younger.  I searched it for B400 in Kentucky and still didn't find Cicero, who would have been 11, or John William who would have been about 6 and Laura just 1.  Did they not get counted?  Did you see the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"?  Did you hear the kid with the shotgun say "I nicked the census taker"?  Seriously, I think maybe a household with an unmarried woman with 3 children may have evaded the census taker... somehow.

In 1930, my problem is with the information provided - or the lack of.  The closest person I can find that could be my Grandpa James Stanley BELL is one in Joliet, Illinois - listed as James S. Bell, age unknown, birth place unknown, birth place of parents unknown.  This guy didn't even have an occupation.  He was a Lodger listed with William Gladders' family, I don't know of any connection to this man or his family.  I tried to contact someone who had this family in a Rootsweb World Connect Tree, but got no response.  My mom knew that before he married, Grandpa moved around and did odd jobs, but she didn't think he was ever as far from Nebraska as Illinois.  Just how would I go about finding more information about this person with so little to go on?  If he didn't get arrested, I think I'm out of luck!  

What I have found writing this blog is that it gets me doing research on these people again.  I read through my old information again and search for names I haven't in a while.  Maybe something will come up this time!  How badly misspelled do you think Cicero can get?