Week 18: Pets

 I wish I knew the names of the dogs and the cat found in these photos so I could call them by name.  If it wasn't for these images, they'd be forgotten in time.  There may have been a simple wooden cross or  maybe just a few rocks to mark their graves when they passed.  If so, those are long gone but I'm lucky to have images of them with my ancestors who loved them.

My maternal grandma Irene Eldora Cartwright Williams with her cat, circa 1926-30.

My paternal 2x great-grandfather Daniel William Williams with his dog, circa 1935-1941.

My paternal grandfather A.C. Scott and my step-grandma, Irene Shumaker Scott, circa 1948-1950.

Week 17: DNA

A phone call I made to my brother and my sister-in-law in 1992 resulted in an interesting curve to our family tree.  They had been battling infertility issues for a number of years and had decided that a pregnancy just wasn't going to happen.  It made me sad to know that two people who would make wonderful parents probably wouldn't ever get that chance but there wasn't anything I could do.

Or was there?  Would they consider a surrogate pregnancy?  Even though I was 40 already I was healthy and willing to offer my womb and an egg but that couldn't be a decision I made alone; I had a family of my own to consider.  My husband and I talked about the idea of a surrogacy and together we decided that I'd make that call.

They were intrigued.  But there were lots of details to work out.  One important detail was the choice of a sperm donor.  Since my brother's DNA would be represented by the DNA that he and I shared, they decided that a donor from my sister-in-law's family would be ideal to represent her family line.  Luckily she had an older half-brother who was willing to be that donor.

The logistics were interesting since we lived in two different states but after only a few flights and the use of a syringe I recognized the early signs of a pregnancy.  I confirmed it with a home test.  Our homespun approach to surrogacy had worked.

This time my call said, "We're pregnant!!"

Nine months later with both my brother and sister-in-law in the delivery room, we had a beautiful baby girl born.  I relinquished parental rights and became her aunt.  Today that baby is nearly 30 years old.  She grew up to be a Genetic Counselor who educates individuals and families about family health history, inheritance, genetic diseases, and testing options and gives advice on the social and ethical issues associated with genetic disorders or test results. 

Week 16: Should Be A Movie

It could have been a movie script...the opening shots of a war...the call for men to fight...tearful goodbyes as they left...death, pain, and suffering...joyful reunions and heartbreaks over losses.             In this script, the cast of characters consisted of my Scott ancestors.

When news of the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on 12 Apr 1861, reached the state of Indiana its citizens immediately responded.  Two mass meetings were held on 13 Apr in the state capitol where the state's decision was that Indiana would remain in the Union.  The governor issued a call for volunteer soldiers to answer the state's quota requested by President Abraham Lincoln and Indiana became the first western state to mobilize for the Civil War.  Within a week nearly 12,000 Hoosier men had volunteered to join the fight to suppress the rebellion.  

Among the young men who volunteered during the war years were six brothers, sons of Caleb and Mary Ivins Scott.  The sons, in birth order were:

        Samuel               b. 28 Jan 1832      my 2x great-grandfather

        William              b. 14 Feb 1836     my 2nd great-granduncle

        Caleb Shreve     b. 16 Jun 1838      my 2nd great-granduncle

        Isaac                   b.  23 Sep 1840     my 2nd great-granduncle

        Joseph                b.  29 May 1842    my 2nd great-granduncle

        Joshua                b.  6 Jul 1845         my 2nd great-granduncle

First to leave home to serve were Caleb Shreve (23 yrs.) and Isaac (21 yrs.) on 24 Sep 1861.  Both joined the 30th Indiana Infantry Regiment, Company B.  

Two months later on 14 Nov 1861 Joseph (19 yrs.) joined the 46th Indiana Infantry Regiment, Company F.  

The following summer William (26 yrs.) enlisted on 9 Aug 1862 in the 12th Indiana Infantry Regiment, Company I. 

Just two weeks later on 22 Aug 1862 Samuel (30 yrs.) left to join the 30th Indiana Infantry Regiment, Company B, where Caleb and Isaac were already serving.

Last to leave was Joshua (18 yrs.) who left home on 16 Mar 1864 to serve in the 74th Indiana Infantry Regiment, Company A.

I have to imagine that every time one of their sons left Caleb and Mary's hearts broke a little more.  Undoubtedly they were proud that six of their eight sons volunteered but it must have been so hard not  knowing if they'd ever see those sons again.  The Scott family was more fortunate than many other families.  Of the six who left, five returned home to Indiana.  Only Caleb Shreve was lost.

Caleb was captured at Chickamauga, the second most deadly battle of the war, on 19 Sep 1863 and sent to the infamous Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, GA.  The camp at Andersonville consisted of open fields surrounded by wooden stockades where the captured soldiers suffered from over-crowding, poor sanitation, disease, exposure, and inadequate food. Of the 45,000 prisoners at Andersonville, nearly 13,000 died.

On 12 Dec 1863 Caleb was admitted to a hospital at Danville, VA, where he died a few weeks later from the Variola virus (smallpox).  Caleb is buried in Danville in the Danville National Cemetery, Section H, Grave #699.  I've often wondered if any of Caleb's immediate family were ever able to visit his grave, saw a photograph of his headstone, or received any of his possessions.

Rest in peace, Uncle Caleb.

 

Week 15: Solitude

 

Minnie Lee Casto

My great-grandma Minnie Lee Casto Williams was a woman who never had many chances to experience solitude.  Her birth date sometimes appears as 1879 and other times as 1881 so I've been thinking about which year is most likely.  I know that Minnie's brother William Harvey Casto was born in 1879 and her sister Martha Matilda Casto was born in 1884, leaving a five-year gap in her mother's childbearing years.  So unless Minnie and William were twins--and there are no family stories about that--I suspect Minnie was born in 1881.  In every census her given age coincides with a birth year of 1881, yet her obituary and gravestone both say she was born in 1879.  Since Minnie wouldn't have had a say in the obituary or the engraving on her gravestone, my guess is that her family members got it wrong.  Not many women would add two extra years to their age.

Minnie and her five siblings were born over a fourteen year period so the Casto household must have been a noisy and lively place as she grew up.  First born was brother Dennis Reason (1876), then brother William Harvey (1879), Minnie (1881??), her only sister Martha Matilda (1884), brother Charles Albert (1886), and brother Benjamin Harrison (1890).  For Minnie, opportunities for solitude must have been limited between her farm chores, household chores, siblings, and school work.  School ended for her after 8th grade, which leaves me to wonder what Minnie's life was like for the next few years.  If school ended when she was around fourteen years old, did she still live at home and just take on more responsibilities or did she find a job suitable for a girl her age?

On Christmas Eve of 1899 Minnie married Owen Quillon Williams in Jasper County, Indiana. For the first two years of their marriage Minnie may have had a quiet life while Owen worked as a farm laborer and she kept house.  But having children changed Minnie's life dramatically and her chances for solitude slipped away as she gave birth over and over.

In order, Minnie's babies were:

• Russell Monroe in Nov 1901
• Louis Linden in Feb 1903
• Martha Viola in Mar 1904  (died at 3 months old)
• Renolt Loyd in Jun 1905
• Lester Eldon in Sep 1906  
• Elsie May in Mar 1908
• Leola Rae in Dec 1910
• Alfreda Eliza in Aug 1912
• Florence Kathryn in Sep 1914
• Della Matilda in Apr 1917  and finally a little gap.....
• Robert Quillon in Mar 1926

Were families this large commonplace in the first two decades of the twentieth century? Actually, according to most census estimates, by 1900 American women had on average 3.5 children, which was a radical change from the 19th century.  In 1800 American women had on average 7-8 children.  A  family of 10 would probably have been considered unusual at the time.

Minnie gave birth to ten babies in the space of sixteen years before "oops" baby Robert appeared nine years later when she was 45 years old.  In order to have ten babies in such a short span of time Minnie would have been constantly pregnant or nursing, with little chance to fully physically recuperate from the previous pregnancy before the next began.  Besides the physical strains that would have caused, Minnie would have had little--if any--time for quiet or solitude in the home. Her days would have been filled with taking care of children, waking up early to light the stove for the day's cooking, cleaning the house, washing mountains of clothes, mending clothes, tending to a garden, and making ends meet.  In the 1930s my mom remembers being at Grandma Minnie's house and watching her wash dishes in two large dish pans that sat on a table, singing hymns as she worked.  Despite the untold hours of work it would have taken to manage such a large family, Minnie kept her sanity and did it with grace.  

Minnie shortly before her death in 1959 from heart disease and diabetes

Week 14: Begins With a Vowel

 

Albert Arbuckle Bird

Albert Arbuckle Bird, my 2x great-grandfather, was born in Holmes County, Ohio, on July 1, 1840 as the seventh child of Elijah Bird and Eliza Williams Bird.  I was curious to know how the middle name of Arbuckle was chosen.  It turns out that it was the maiden name of Albert's maternal grandmother, Sarah Arbuckle (1780 - 1825).  

Like many of my ancestors, the Birds didn't make Ohio their permanent home.  The land must have looked more promising on the other side of the state line because by 1850 Census 10-year old Albert and his family had moved 250 miles north and west to Kosciusko County, Indiana.  Ten years later in the 1860 Census 20-year old Albert was unmarried and still living on the family farm there.

In 1865 when Albert was 24 years old he joined the 152nd Indiana Infantry Regiment of the Union Army as a private.  The 152nd spent the next five months in Virginia and West Virginia assigned to the Army of the Shenandoah until the regiment was mustered out.  

Back home again in Indiana Albert must have decided it was time to settle down and start a family.  The girl who caught his eye was Sarah Ann Norris, who was a month shy of her 16th birthday when the couple married on 3 July 1867.  The Luther Norris farm (Sarah's father) and the Elijah Bird farm (Albert's father) were situated a short distance apart in Monroe Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana so the couple may have met at church or at a social gathering in the township. 

On 5 Oct 1868 Albert and Sarah's first child Clarence was born.  The family must have moved soon after this because the 1870 Census shows them as residents of Monroe Township, Livingston County, Missouri.  (From one Monroe Township to another!) Albert was listed as a farmer, Sarah was keeping house, and Clarence was a year old.  The family's real estate was valued at $500 and their personal estate valued at $100.  

Luther (15 Sep 1870 - 13 Nov 1870) and James (30 Mar 1872 - 9 Jun 1872) were the next children to be born but sadly neither lived past infancy.  I haven't been able to determine whether the two boys were born in Missouri or in Indiana.  I do know that Albert and Sarah's first daughter, Mary Elluria, was born in Kosciusko County, Indiana so sometime between the 1870 Census and Mary's birth on 16 Jun 1873 the family left Missouri and headed back to Kosciusko County, Indiana.  The next children born were my great-grandfather Charles Orastus (13 Oct 1874) and Stephen Allyn (14 Dec 1876), both in Kosciusko County.  

On 24 Mar 1885 when Albert was 44 years old, 33-year old Sarah passed away from typhoid fever.  At the time of her death the children were 16, 11, 10, and 8 years old.  Surprisingly, Albert didn't remarry so he and the children must have figured out how to manage on their own after the loss of Sarah. 

Since nearly all the 1890 Census records were destroyed by fire, the fifteen years between Albert's loss of Sarah are unknown. 

In the 1900 Census 59-year old Albert was living in Lewanee County, Michigan with his daughter Mary, his son-in-law Frank Merrick, and his 5-year old granddaughter Theodora. Albert worked as a laborer in a saw mill.  

Ten years later in the 1910 Census Albert, Mary, Frank, and Theodora had moved back home to Indiana where they lived in a house on Higbee Street in the town of Milford in Van Buren Township, Kosciusko County.  Albert had retired by that time.  Scrolling through the eight pages of census enumeration for Milford I found Albert's younger brother (my great-grandfather) Charles, his wife Grace, and their six children living near my great-grandparents William and Mary Scott and their two sons.  By 1920 Charles and Grace's daughter Eva would marry William and Mary's son Angus Cleon (A.C.).  Eva and A.C. are my paternal grandparents.  

In the 1920 Census Albert remained in Milford with the Merricks.  By January 20th when the enumerator visited, Albert was 79 years old.  

On 13 Nov 1925 Albert passed away at the age of eighty-five from chronic endocarditis and prostrate problems.  He had outlived his wife, three of his sons, and all nine of his siblings.   

    

Sarah and Albert

Albert is buried in the Milford Cemetery.