Week 40: Longevity

Mom and her cat Bella 2023

My mom, Peggy Kathryn Williams Scott, likes to tell me that she's the longest living Williams. At 91, Mom is in good physical health but her memory skills are growing weak.  So I decided to look beyond the family that Mom remembers and to see what her family longevity really was.  I started out by mapping out her direct line ancestors with the number of years they had lived and--when available--with their cause of death since I thought it would be interesting to see if there were patterns there.

In Mom's direct line of ancestors for whom I can verify birth and death dates, she does win the prize for longevity.  The closest competitor was her great-grandfather, Daniel William Williams, who died two months before his 90th birthday.  Honorable mention goes to Mom's 2x great-grandmother, Melssina Grizzle (I love that name!), for living 85 years and to both her 2x great-grandmother, Elizabeth Cavendar, and her grandfather, Owen Williams, for living 83 years.  

The most frequently occurring causes of death seen were heart disease and strokes, which caused the four of the deaths.  There was one death from bronchitis/emphysema, two from cancers, one from kidney disease, one with a contributing factor of diabetes, and another with a contributing factor of hypothyroidism.  With so few of the earlier ancestors having death certificates available, there's no way of knowing what caused their deaths.  The two youngest deaths were Mom's great-grandmother, Madora Mikesell, at 33 years  and her 2x great-grandmother, Melinda Johnson, at a heartbreaking 23 years. Because they were both so young, these women probably died either of a contagious disease or in childbirth.  

The average number of years lived for the fifteen ancestors seen here in Mom's paternal line of was 67.5 years.  The average number of years lived for the eleven ancestors in her maternal line with available birth and death dates was 58.5 years.

With the benefits of assisted living, nutritious meals, and loving care by her relatives and cat, Mom should be able to live many more years. 

Mom was born on 20 Jun 1932 in the little town of Roann, Indiana, the first child of Irene Eldora Cartwright Williams and Lester Eldon Williams.  After six years of marriage they had about given up on having a baby and had started looking into a private adoption before being happily surprised by the pregnancy.  Mom remembers being told that there was a terrible thunderstorm that night following her afternoon birth so her mom and dad kept her safe between them in their bed that night.

Sixteen months later, Mom became a big sister to Walter Owen Williams, who was always called Joe.  In 1938 she had another little brother born, who was named Leo Eldon Williams.  Three years later a third little brother, Robert Lee Williams, joined the family.  It had to have been rough being the only girl in the family.  In the early days when the kids were bathed in a metal tub in the kitchen Mom can remember being the last of the four kids to get their turn, after three dirty little boys went first.  It was she who had to cook dinner for the family when her parents were working long days.  She can also remember asking if she could go on a date and being told, "Only if Joe goes along with you."  

Mom started dating my dad when she was a senior at Nappanee High School.  He was five years older, already having served in the Merchant Marines.  They were married on 27 Aug 1950, a few months after her graduation.  For the next two years Mom worked as an assistant to Dr. Douglas Price, a general practitioner in Nappanee, taking phone calls, greeting patients, holding babies during procedures, and doing anything else that needed to be done.  Two years later it was Dr. Price who delivered me when I was born.

Being a good planner, Mom had her second baby three years and three days later and her third came three years and 33 days after that.  We were all neatly given names that started with the letter J:  Jo Ann, Jerry, and Janet.  She always took good care of us, cooking dinner every night, keeping the house cleaned, and just letting us be kids free to roam and play.  Whether it was organizing a kindergarten when the school district didn't offer one, working in the high school cafeteria. making sandwiches for the family business. crocheting doilies. or learning to dance or clog, Mom was always a hard worker and perfectionist.

Now, after 91 years, Mom's life is much slower.  She doesn't cook or clean any more and rarely crochets.  She walks slowly and tentatively and can't remember what happened an hour ago.  But she'll  tell you, "I'm fine, I'm fine" or "Everything is hunky dory here"  when asked.  She lives in a small assisted living apartment where the staff and my sister take good care of her.  We know she's safe and well fed now after nine lonely years of living alone after my dad passed away.  It's Mom's turn to be taken care of now.

baby Peggy~~ born 20 Jun 1932

                                                                 Peggy and brother Joe

The Williams Kids

                                               

                                                                   Peggy at 14 years old

                                      Senior picture~~Class of 1950 at Nappanee High School

                                                           Mom and Dad in June of 2014

Week 39: Surprise

I had an amazing surprise three years ago when I got a reply back on Ancestry.com to a message I had sent a few days earlier.  I had a DNA match to a potential 3rd-4th cousin through my 2x great-grandfather Alfred Cartwright, a man who has always been a brick wall in my family tree. I asked my DNA match if I could please have access to their private tree.  

When I heard back from my match she didn't give me access but she did send a giant file via DropBox that held a book of history on the Nelson and McKibbin families in Indiana.  Alfred Cartwright had married Mary Ann Nelson so that was an exciting find.  But when I looked closer at the picture and name of my DNA match it suddenly dawned on me that I was communicating with CYNDI INGLE, the creator of Cyndi's List!  Cyndi's List has been a popular and incredibly useful genealogy tool for more than 25 years.  The following is taken from Cyndi's "about' page on the website:

What exactly is Cyndi's List?

A categorized & cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet.

A list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online.

A free jumping-off point for you to use in your online research.

A "card catalog" to the genealogical collection in the immense library that is the Internet.

Your genealogical research portal onto the Internet.

Each month the Cyndi's List web site gets approximately 250,000 unique visitors and 970,000 pages visited with more than 31,760,000 successful page requests.

On average I add 1,500 new links, update/correct 600 links, and delete 300 non-working links each month.

There are more than 180 categories on the list, as well as individual pages for each US state, US county, Canadian province, and UK county. Cyndi's List has been a trusted genealogy research site for more than 25 years. Cyndi's List is free for everyone to use and it is meant to be your starting point when researching online. 

I was thrilled to know that Cyndi and I share 22 cM of DNA through my maternal line!  My relationship to each of the people listed here is shown under their name.  

Cyndi didn't know much about our shared ancestor Alfred either.  She kindly sent me a file from the National Archives that detailed the process that my GG Walter Cartwright went through to apply for 160 acres of land in North Dakota under the Homestead Act, just like his brother Francis had done.  

I still haven't broken through the brick walls surrounding 2x GG Alfred Cartwright but I'll keep trying.  I'd love to have a breakthrough that I could share with Cyndi to repay her kind sharing.

Weeks 37 & 38: Prosperity...and Adversity

 

                                                                   William Oldfield Scott

My great-grandfather W. O. Scott and I are almost birthday twins.  He was born on 28 Apr 1869 while I was born on 29 Apr 1952.  Unfortunately we missed being able to celebrate together since he had passed away six years before I joined the family.  Oldfield is an unusual choice for a middle name but so far I've been able to trace it back to W. O.'s 2x great-grandmother Sarah Jane Oldfield (1761-1851). Oldfield skipped a generation before it next appeared as the middle name given to W. O.'s grandfather John Oldfield Cretcher.  Once more it skipped a generation before appearing as W. O.'s middle name.

When W. O. was born in Kosciusko County, Indiana his mother, Nancy Elizabeth Cretcher, was 25 and his father, Samuel Scott, was 37.  Samuel had been a widower when he married Nancy and came to the marriage with a daughter named Julia.  W. O. was first recorded in the 1870 Census as a 1-year old living in Harrison Township, Kosciusko County with Samuel, Nancy, and his 15-year old half-sister. 

In the 1880 Census 11-year old W. O. was attending school and living with his parents, 7-year old brother Charles, and 2-year old cousin Burkett Frush.  Burkett's mother Nancy Ellen, Samuel's youngest sibling, had died a few months before the census so the toddler came to live with his aunt and uncle. Julia had married in 1877 and was no longer in the Scott household.

The years between 1880 and 1900 are unclear due to the absence of 1890 Census records.  One thing I do know is that W. O.'s highest grade completed was 8th grade so after that he most likely went to work on the family farm.  Samuel was a carpenter in addition to farming so W. O. may also have learned some carpentry from him.

On 20 Apr 1893 23-year old W. O. married 24-year old Mary Dubbs, also a resident of Kosciusko County.  Six years later on 10 May 1899 their first child was born. They named him Angus Cleon Scott.  The next year when the 1900 Census enumerator knocked on the door the family was recorded as living on a Harrison Township farm in a mortgaged home.  

Life changed for the family in 1902 when W. O. and Mary made the decision to leave farming, to move to nearby Milford in Van Buren Township, and to become merchants.  They bought a home on Henry Street in the little town and opened the Milford Hardware Company. The 1910 Census recorded the family now with two sons--Cleon, age 10, and William, age 5.  

This picture, taken in 1910 during the Milford Days celebration, shows the Milford Hardware Store awning behind the crowd.  The awning (third from the right) advertises "Implements, Ranges, Stoves".  I wish I knew if Cleon, William, Mary, and W. O. were in this crowd when the photo was taken.  Or were they in the store, waiting for customers to wander through?

This is an interior shot of the wonderfully crowded and jumbled store.  From the look of it, there was a little of everything a man might need to purchase: horse collars, paint, hand tools, axes, large pots, screws, nuts, nails, you name it.  A store this stuffed must have meant it was a prospering business.     W. O. is the man by the stove wearing the sweater and cap.  Mary isn't seen here but both she and her sons helped out in the store.

The business continued to prosper in the coming years.  By the time the 1920 Census was recorded W. O. and Mary had paid off the mortgage on their South Henry Street home. Life would be good in the hardware business for a few more years.

In 1928 Mary Scott became ill.  It wasn't until she and W. O. went to the Mayo Clinic in the spring of 1929 when the seriousness of her illness was realized.  The diagnosis was a frightening one--carcinoma of the stomach.  At that time there wasn't much that could be done for cancer so Mary and W. O. went home to Milford.  For a while, life went on normally with Mary working occasionally in the hardware store.  In early September of 1929 Mary's condition worsened and she became weaker and weaker and unable to eat until she passed away at home on the 10th of October.

 

October of 1929 would prove to be devastating in another way when the stock market crashed several weeks after Mary's death, paving the way for the Great Depression that followed.  Banks across the country failed, investors lost their savings, unemployment rose, and businesses of all sizes suffered. By 1932 the Milford Hardware Company had closed its doors.  At 63 years old W. O. was a widower and no longer a business owner.  

For a few years W. O. lived alone until one day in late 1935 when he found himself in charge of his four grandsons.  Cleon and his wife Eva had divorced the previous year.  After a year of sole custody Eva wanted to remarry so she left the boys on W. O.'s porch with their clothes in grocery sacks and went off to start a new life.  Cleon was working in Michigan at the time so he hired a housekeeper to take care of W. O. and the boys during the week while he worked.  That was life until May of 1936 when Cleon, the housekeeper, and the boys moved to Dowagiac, Michigan.

Alone again, W. O. served as the Honorary Secretary of the Indiana Implement Dealers association.  In his hardware merchant days he had served many years as the Secretary for the organization.  In the 1940 Census W. O. was still living in on Henry Street in Milford but was listed as a roomer with the Norwood family.  He was recorded as still being employed as Secretary, and said he had worked 60 hours in the previous week.  His salary was $1000/year and he stated that he had income from other sources.  Would that have been income from the Norwood family?  Did he still own the building where the hardware store had been?

from The South Bend Tribune, 4 Feb 1940

In the next few years W. O. began to slow down.  In 1945 he moved to a home in Flora, Indiana run by the Brethren Church after suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage.

                                                from The South Bend Tribune, 21 Dec 1945

Eventually it was hypostatic pneumonia that took W. O.'s life.  Hypostatic pneumonia is a slow-developing pulmonary disorder caused by chronic congestion, blood stasis, and edemas at the bottom of the lungs in persons who are bed-ridden for a long time.

                                                      from The Bremen Enquirer, 4 Jul 1946

located in Salem Cemetery, Milford, Indiana

 

Week 36: Tradesman

 

Every time I look at a picture of my great-grandfather Charles Orastus Bird I can see my dad's face reflected in it.  It's remarkable how much Dad looked like his grandpa.  Even though I don't remember meeting my Great-grandpa Bird, we must have been introduced to each other at a family gathering before he passed away when I was 2 years old.  

Charles "Charlie" O. Bird joined the world on 13 Oct 1874 in Pierceton, Indiana as the fifth of six children born to Albert Arbuckle Bird and Sarah Ann Norris.  Brothers Clarence (1868-1925), Luther (1870-1870), James (1872-1872), and sister Mary (1873-1952) preceded him and brother Stephen (1876-1959) followed him in the family birth order.  The first Census Charlie appeared in was in 1880 when his family lived in Monroe Township, Kosciusko County.  He was recorded as being 6 years old and attending school.  

In March of 1885 when Charlie was 10 his mother died of typhoid fever. I wish I knew if the Bird family stayed together in the years after Sarah's death, but most of the 1890 Federal Census records were destroyed by fire.  Did his father Albert manage to keep the house and farm going with the help of 16-year old Clarence, 11-year old Mary, 10-year old Charlie, and 8-year old Stephen?  Were the younger three sent to live with relatives or did they share the responsibilities with Albert and stay together?  There are so many questions that I'll probably never have answers for.

On 13 Nov 1898 Charlie married Grace Ann Hess in Milford, Indiana when he was 24 and Grace was 18.  Two days earlier Frank Merrick, Charlie's brother-in-law (married to Mary Bird), swore an oath saying that the young couple was of lawful age to be married without parental consent. Interestingly, the county official wrote in a note anyway that Grace's father was consenting to the marriage.

Nine months and twelve days later on 25 Aug 1899 my grandma Eva Mae Bird was born.  By the following summer when the 1900 Census was taken the family of three had moved 144 miles north and east to the village of Britton in Lenawee County, Michigan.  They were living in the same home with Stephen and Elsie Bird and both men were working as saw mill laborers. Charlie's sister Mary, her husband Frank Merrick, daughter Theodora, and Charlie's father Albert had also moved nearby.  Frank was a foreman at the sawmill and 59-year old Albert was working as a laborer there.

Life as a saw mill laborer must not have been agreeable.  A year and a half later, Charlie and Grace had moved back to the town of Milford in Kosciusko County and had become parents again when Ethel Elluria was born in late 1901.  Ethel was followed by Thelma Alberta in 1904, Buenola Bernice in 1906, and Dorothy Lucille in 1908.  In the 1910 Census the family of seven was living in a rented home on Fourth Street in Milford.  Charlie's occupation had changed to painter.  As a painter, his trade would have included preparing walls and other surfaces with fillers such as putty and plaster to repair cracks before applying new paint.  He would have mixed paints, varnishes, and sealants and carefully applied them for a lasting finish.  Besides paint, wall paper was popular so he would have known how to measure and hang the paper over prepared walls. When he wasn't painting indoors Charlie hand-painted billboards and advertisements on the sides of barns along the highway.

                                            Buenola      Ethel       Thelma      Eva       Dorothy                         

In 1914 the first son, Errie Franklin, was born.  But sadly, Errie only lived for two days.  In 1916 Grace gave birth for the last time when son Albert Henry was born, named after both Grace's father Henry Hess and Charlie's father Albert Arbuckle Bird. 

In 1917 at the start of World War I, Congress passed the Selective Service Act authorizing President Wilson to draft men into military service. All men between the ages of 18 and 45 were required to register for the draft.  Men were called to register in three waves; the oldest, born from 1886-1900, were called last.  With a birth date in 1874, Charlie was required to register but was never called into service. The registration recorded him as short and of medium build. 

      

Somehow the Bird family wasn't recorded in the 1920 Census for Milford but in 1930 55-year old Charlie and 50-year old Grace were living on Higbee Street in a home that they owned. Their 22-year old daughter Dorothy "Babe", 13-year old son Albert "Hank", and 8-year old granddaughter Ruby Sewers lived with them.  Under the column for Charlie's occupation, it said decorator.  The family didn't own a radio and their home was valued at $1800.  Five doors away their oldest daughter Eva, now Mrs. Cleon Scott, lived with her husband and three sons.

In the 1940 Census the Birds were still living on Higbee Street.  At sixty-five, Charlie was still working as a painter/ wall paper hanger.  He had worked just 14 weeks during the previous year, with an income of $450.  His highest grade completed was 6th grade, elementary school.  Only 23-year old Hank still lived at home with his parents.  Family lore is that Charlie enjoyed spending time in a local tavern more than he did working as a painter.  

In 1950 75-year old Charlie was still working as an interior decorator/painter.  He had worked 30 hours in the week before the census enumerator came knocking.  The family home was now at 202 Henry Street in Milford.  

On 2 Jun 1954 Charlie suffered a serious heart attack.  One day later he died in the Elkhart General Hospital, just four months shy of his 80th birthday.  He was buried in the Milford Cemetery where he waited for nine years until Grace joined him.

                           Ethel                           Babe                         Buenola                     Thelma

                                                  Hank                                        Eva