52 Ancestors (plus!): Grace Gregor Bentley (1864 – 1929) Home is WhereFamily Is

Where Grace Gregor Bentley (1864-1929) Lived
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Last year I did the 52 Ancestors Challenge with Amy Johnson Crow of the No Story Too Small Blog. This year she is continuing it, but is using themes for each week. I hadn’t thought to participate even though I knew I wanted to continue the ancestor bio sketches, albeit at a slower rate,  but she did tell me at the end of last year that I could drop in and out of it as I needed. This week her theme is “close to Home” and it seems to fit Grace Gregor, my great grand aunt, in an odd way. She moved huge distances in her life with her family, and for her, it seemed that as long as family was there, she was home. And, frankly, as I was writing it, this became more of a family entry than a person entry.

Grace Gregor was born in 1864 in Morriston in Puslinch Township, Wellington County in the British Province of Unified Canada (three years later that area would become Ontario, Canada when three provinces joined to become the nascent Dominion of Canada in the British Commonwealth). She was the fourth child and youngest daughter of Benjamin Gregor and Elizabeth Taylor; my great-grandmother Anna’s younger sister. They lived in Puslinch Township, where her father was worked as a farmer and laborer. Both her parents died before Grace was 17. Her oldest brother had moved to Burnside Township Michigan in the year before their father’s death on March 15, 1888, and when their parents died Grace, her older sister Anna, and younger brother Benjamin moved to Michigan to live with him in Goodland Township in Lapeer County. The 1884 Michigan Census showed Grace’s siblings living in the township of Goodland, in Lapeer County: James (27) worked in “lumber manufacturing”, Anna (24) was his housekeeper and Benjamin (17) attended school. The same document indicated that a female of 18, who had previously lived in the household, had married Anson Bentley on August 18, 1884.  

Grace married Anson in Burnside MI on August 18, 1884; their witnesses were Anson’s brother William and Grace’s sister Annie (my great-grandmother). Anson Jacob Bentley was the oldest son of George B. Bentley and Sarah Buck; he was born on 31 July 1856 in Dorchester, in Elgin County in the Unified Province of Canada.   [His younger siblings were Gertrud (born about 1863), William (born about 1866), Emma (born about 1870) and half-brother Duncan (born about 1876).]  He grew up in Canada. I’m uncertain of when he moved to Michigan, because his self-reported dates don’t really agree with some of the documentation I’ve found.

Grace and Anson lived and farmed in Burnside MI for about twenty years. All of their children were born in MI.  Grace and Anson had six children: Sarah E. (later known as “Essie” – I expect from her initials, “S.E.”), born May 16, 1884; George Gregor, born March 25, 1886; Gertrude G., born October 20, 1890; Benjamin F., born May 9, 1893; Josephine A., born November 8, 1898; and  Anson Buck, born 1902.  (Note: some trees on Ancestry showed one more short-lived child born after they left Michigan, but I’ve not found him independently yet.)

The 1900 census showed that Anson was a naturalized citizen. As of the late 1800’s a woman’s citizenship status was dependent on that of her husband, so Grace would have become a citizen when Anson did. I’ve not yet been able to determine when Anson became a citizen of the U.S. because, although he asserts in later census that he was in the USA by the 1860s, he is counted in the Canadian census and not the U.S. Census through 1881 and the 1890 census doesn’t exist. I haven’t found his naturalization documentation yet.

At some point between 1902 and 1905, Anson & Grace moved the whole family to Gove County, in western Kansas. According to the 1905 Kansas state Census, Anson & Grace and the family were homesteading and farming in or near Alanthus, in Larrabee Twp, Gove County (Alanthus was a farmers’ “post office” village, and has since become a ghost town). Their oldest daughter, Essie, was a school teacher but had been unemployed for 7 mos. of the prior year.

Gove County Kansas by Chris Hartman CC by 2.0
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Monument Rocks in Gove County KS by Lane Pearman CC by 2.0
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The Homestead Act was signed by President Lincoln in 1862. Under the provisions of the Act, a homesteader could claim 160 acres of public land by applying and paying a filing fee of 10 dollars at the nearest land office to claim the land temporarily. Then he or she (single women could apply too) had six months to begin living on the property. If the homesteaders lived on the 160 acres for five continuous years, built a residence and grew crops, they could then “prove up” or file for their deed for the property, by filling out forms describing the boundaries of the land and the improvements they had done to it and having two neighbors or friends sign as witnesses that the homesteaders thus vouching for the truth of his statements about the improvements to the land. After completion of this final form and payment of a $6 fee, the homesteader received the patent for the land, signed with the name of the current President of the United States. Another option was to purchase the land from the government for $1.25 per acres after living on the land for six months, building a home, and starting to grow crops.

I don’t yet know which method Anson and Grace chose. But it must have been successful, because, by the time of the 1910 Census, Anson owned their farm, although it was mortgaged at that time. The 1910 Census also shows that Grace’s oldest brother, James, his wife, and seven children farmed next door to them. James owned his property too, but in coming years would move his family to the next county over (Lane). It must have made the huge move easier for Grace to have her brother join her in her new home.

In 1908, Grace and Anson’s daughter Essie married Edward S. Allen, a native of Colorado; she was 24 and he was 30. By 1910, she and her new husband, Edward, were living in Pueblo, Colorado, where he was a shipping clerk for what looks to be the Commission House.

After the census in 1910, Grace and Anson’s middle daughter, Gertrude, married Leo Levi Baker. They were both 20 years old.

In or about 1912, Grace and Anson, and those of their children who remained at home, bought and moved to a ranch near Merna, Wyoming. Anson formed a partnership with his sons to run cattle on the ranch. At least by 1914 (per the Big Piney Examiner), Grace and Anson’s daughter Grace and her husband Leo lived in the nearby community of Daniel, Wyoming, and by 1920, farmed and ran cattle on a ranch down the road from A.J. (as Anson was now known) and Grace, and their sons Benjamin, Anson B., and their daughter Josephine.

Bentley & Sons Cattle Brand, Big Piney, Wyoming
In the Public Domain
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On October 6, 1917, Grace and A.J.’s son George married Nan Ethel Wallace, in Kemmerer, Wyoming; he was 31 and she was 25. They lived in Wyoming through at least the mid-1920’s, then per the Pine Dale Roundup, lived in Oakland CA, and later, near Reno, Nevada.

A.J. and his sons dissolved their partnership in 1918, when the youngest, Benjamin, went to fight overseas during WW1. He served in the Army as a first sergeant in France through the end of the war. He returned to Wyoming after the war.

During the time the family lived near Merna, WY, there were hundreds of mentions of them in the local paper, The Big Piney Examiner. Most were small two-line mentions, describing one or more of the family “calling on” someone, attending a dance, going to summer school in Laramie (Josephine), riding for cattle, snowshoeing to the Post Office, or arriving from someplace on a coach.

On July 1, 1920, Grave & A.J.’s son Benjamin married Kathryn Cavanaugh in Quinter, KS in the presence of only immediate family and friends. They honeymooned in Colorado, then returned to their own ranch near Merna, Wyoming. Benjamin was described by the newspaper as “a prosperous young cattleman of the Cottonwood Valley and recently returned from overseas where he served as a sergeant in the army.” The article noted that his bride was “a charming young woman who has taught school in western Kansas for several years.”

By the time of the 1920 Census, Grace and A.J.’s daughter, Essie, her husband, and their three children had also moved into a farm, or ranch, in the same county as her parents.

On November 16, 1921, the doctor was called to the ranch because Grace had suffered “a stroke of paralysis”. Daughter Josephine’s wedding to Marshall Gordon Dunham, jr., was postponed due to her mother’s serious illness. The couple were finally married a very small ceremony at the house of her parents, conducted by Rev. Herbert C. Kimmel of the Big Piney Community Church on New Year’s Day morning, 1922, at 8:00 AM, followed by a “sumptuous wedding breakfast.” The newspaper said of the couple,"both parties are well and favorably known here, and have a host of friends who wish them a happy and prosperous wedded life….” They lived in the same county as her Josephine’s parents’ ranch for much of the early and mid-1920’s.

Throughout the 1920’s Grace travelled, sometimes alone and sometimes in the company of one of her daughters, several times a year to visit her children and grandchildren, spread across the country, staying anywhere from two weeks to an entire season during the course of her visits.  Her trips to visit family took her to nearby towns in Wyoming, and as far away as California, Kansas, Colorado, and Idaho. I did not see a newspaper article mentioning an occasion in which A.J. travelled. He did host his sisters when they came to visit them in Wyoming, from Michigan and Kansas.

In 1923, when A.J. was 67 and Grace was 59, they gave up ranching and moved into Pinedale, WY, where A.J. opened a store, “The Bentley Fruit, Vegetable, and Grain Cash Store.”  In August of that year they celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary. He operated that store for five years. Within that time, he also became a city councilman.

1923 Ad for The Bentley Fruit, Vegetable, and Grain Cash Store in Pinedale WY
in the public domain, Click to make Bigger

In or about February 1925, Grace and A.J.’s son, Benjamin, and his family moved to Olympia, Washington, where he found work as a longshoreman. His sister Essie and her family also moved to Olympia at or around the same time frame.

Tragically, Grace and A.J. received word in late February, 1926, that Benjamin had been killed in a freak accident at work. He had been hit by a timber being loaded onto a ship. It had knocked him into the water, and despite dredging the river, his body had not been found. His body wasn’t found until nine days later.  Examination by the coroner showed that he had been killed by the blow and not by drowning. The family was devastated, and in the weeks that followed, they pulled closer together – several of the ones who lived out-of town came to stay with their parents and siblings for several weeks.

It looks like his brother’s death brought home to Anson Buck how short life could be. He married Thelma Olynn Porter on September 14, 1926, at the home of her parents in 1926. Directly after the service the couple went to Pinedale, WY, where they received guests and congratulations at their parents’ home on September 15.

In October of that year Grace traveled to Twin Falls ID, with her daughter, Gertrude, to visit with her daughter Josephine’s family and to see Benjamin’s widow and his three children (Thomas, Dora Berenice, and Benjamin, Jr.). The number of Grace’s visits to family and the duration of the visits increased after Benjamin died.

In June 1928, Grace went back to Kansas, wither her daughter, Gertrude. She visited her grandchildren (Benjamin’s children) in Utica, KS, and her brother, James, whom she hadn’t seen in several years, and took a side trip back see their old home.

In early January, 1929, at age 72, A.J. decided to close his store and made a deal with Jasper Paulsen to take the property. He liquidated his stock throughout the month, and closed his store on January 17, 1929. Thereafter, he moved to Twin Falls ID, where Grace was spending her winter with their daughter and son-in-law, Josephine and Marshall Dunham. He was contemplating opening a new store in Swan Valley ID in the Spring.

Unfortunately, he lived only a month after closing his business. A.J. Bentley died on February 18, 1029, of bronchial pneumonia.

Grace survived him by only ten months. She had gone to Sparks NV to visit her son George’s family in the winter of 1929. On December 13, Grace’s daughter Gertrude received a message that her mother had had a stroke, and another the next evening, telling that Grace had died on December 14, 1929, at age 65. On December 26, 1929, the Pinedale Roundup newspaper noted that Grace was survived by her three daughters and two sons: “Mrs. E. S. Allen, Olympia Washington; George Bentley, Boise, Idaho; Mrs. Leo L. Baker, Daniel, Wyoming; Mrs. M.G. Dunham, Twin Falls, Idaho; and Anson B. Bentley, Twin Falls, Idaho. Ben F. Bentley preceded his mother in death three years ago. There are living fourteen grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Bentley.” 

Anson's and Grace’s estates were finally settled in 1948.

-          Essie and Edward Allen’s children were: Dorothy G, born about 1910; Virginia E., born about 1915; Hugh S., born about 1917; and Wlliam S., born about 1920.

-          George and Nan Ethel (Wallace) Bentley’s children were: George W., born about 1920, and Marjorie Nan, born about 1922.

-          Gertrude and Leo Baker’s children were: Harland Bentley Baker, 1915-1956, and Leo M., born about 1920.

-          Benjamin and Kathryn (Cavanaugh) Bentley’s children were: Thomas L., born about 1921; Dora Berenice, born about 1924; and Benjamin, Jr., born about 1926. Kathryn subsequently married Edward W. Gegg in Kansas and had another child named Don, bout about 1930.

-          Josephine A.  and Marshall Gordon Dunham’s children were: Marshall Gordon Dunham, jr., 1922-1958; Barbara, born about 1925; Daniel, born about 1937; and Joyce, born 1938.

-          Anson Buck and Thelma (Porter) Bentley didn’t have any children that I found. Anson B. later married Leona May Workman on 24 April 1934 in Coalville Utah. Their children were Verda Ann, born about 1935; Virgie Lou (Virginia, maybe?), born about 1937; and A Blaine, born about 1939.  I lost Anson & Leona after 1940, there may be more kids.

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I’d like to find out more about Grace's and Anson’s Michigan and Kansas years.

I’d like to know how they met, why they decided to move to Kansas, and why they moved to Wyoming.

I’d like to know what happened to the kids in the rest of their lives.

I’d like to know if Grace ever saw her sister Anna (my great-grandmother) again after she moved to Kansas & on to Wyoming.

If anyone knows more about Grace and Anson and their life, or their kids, and are willing to share, please contact me by leaving a comment below or emailing me at the email address listed on my Contact Me page.

(If you want a fuller cite for anything below, just ask. All are digital copies.)

Canadian Census for 1861, 1871 & 1881; U.S. Census for 1880, 1900, 1910, 1220, 1930, & 1940, Michigan State Census for 1894; Kansas State Census for 1905; Michigan Marriage Records; Idaho Death Certificate; Idaho Findagrave Memorial # 101419295 and # 101419340; Washington Findagrave Memorial # 102686392 & # 5870615; Wyoming  Findagrave memorial # 40044921; Washington State Death Certificate; Western States Marriage Index Marriage ID #235344 & ID #235344; U.S, Findagrave Memorial  # 9332098;  Bellingham, Washington, City Directory (U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011) for 1927, 1929, 1935, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1945, 1947, & 1949; U.S. Social Security Index; WW1 & WW2 draft registrations for George, Benjamin, & Anson B.

Big Piney Examiner, Big Piney, Wyoming for June 25, 1914 (p.3); February 24, 2016; November 23, 1916;  January 17, 1918; January 3, 1918 (p.7); April 8, 1920; July 1, 1920 (p.3); January 5, 1922 (p.1); July 31, 1922;  October 4, 1923 (p.1); and February 21, 1929 (p.1). (Found at NewspaperArchive.com)

Pinedale Roundup, Pinedale, Wyoming, for November 17, 1921 (p.7); June 28, 1923 (p.1)August 23, 1923 (p.7); November 15, 1923; August 20, 1925;  March 4, 1926 (p.5); September 2, 1926 (p.1); September 16, 1926 (p.1)October 7, 1926 (p.7);  March 31, 1927; June 16, 1927; June 7, 1928 (p.7); January 3, 1929 (p.7); January 17, 1929 (p.7); July 11, 1929 (p.7); December 26, 1929 (p. 8); December 19, 1929 (p. 1 & 7); and July 15, 1948 (p.2). (Found at NewspaperArchive.com)

The Morning Olympian (Olympia, WA), Thursday, September 2, 1926, pp. 1 and 6 (found at GenealogyBank.com).

52 Ancestors: #10 Granville Bailey (1876-1897)

Granville Bailey, age 21
posted with permission of Christina Inman
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Amy Johnson Crow of the blog “ No Story Too Small” issued a 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge for this year. The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor  (click on the badge in the right sidebar to be taken to her blog for details and weekly roundups of all the participating blogs).

This week I didn’t have a lot of time to do research as I had other things to do on the weekend (like taxes, among other things). I am working on several people in the Bailey branch of the family who will provide interesting stories, but they aren’t ready to write up yet.  

I’ve chosen this week to write up my great-grand uncle Granville Bailey who tragically died young. I don’t know very much about him. Writing these posts every week are very good for bringing to the fore front how much I don’t know about a person and for giving me ideas of where I should look next on the person I’m writing about.

Granville Bailey was born in approximately 1876 in Kansas to my great-grandparents Edward C. and Martha Emily (Wolfington) Bailey, two years after their marriage.  The year before they lived in Ottawa, Kansas in Franklin County, according to the 1875 Kansas State Census, and I know that four years after his birth they lived in Putnam, Kansas in Anderson County with Granville, his older brother Howard, his younger brother Lloyd  (one of the Lloyds), and his younger sister Myrtle who was just a baby at the time (1880 U.S. Census). His father was a fruit grower then.

I don’t have any record of where the family was in 1890 because the census for that year was largely destroyed in a fire in the basement of the Commerce Building in Washington, D.C., in 1921. Before researching Granville, I knew that the family had moved to Findlay OH by 1900 since they were there for the 1900 U.S. Census, I had thought that perhaps the moved was precipitated by a desire to move away from bad memories after Granville died since Granville was not on the 1900 Census and the back of the picture indicated that he was 21 years old in the picture and that Granville had died in an accident in or near Chicago as a young man – I’ve found nothing to confirm or deny that yet.

In doing more research to write up this post I discovered that he died probably in either late October or early November  1897, and that the family had already moved to Findlay by that time. The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Ohio Obituary Index indicates that Granville’s obituary, or an article about his death, was written on page 1 of the “The Weekly Jeffersonian “ (Findlay Ohio),  on 3 November 1897. As it is a weekly paper I can’t say for certain that he died in November.  In any case, it appears that Granville died within a year of the picture that heads this post being taken, at age 21. It is sad that he didn't get to have a life.

Aggravatingly, unlike the other (later) Findlay papers, The Weekly Jeffersonian's archives have not been given to NewspaperArchive.com, Newspapers.com, GenealogyBank.com, or the Library of Congress' chroniclingamerica.loc.gov. Or anywhere else. Usually if a paper is online I can find the article, as you know. (Think Myrtle, lol!) There is a form I can fill out to order a copy of the article for only $3.00. I haven’t done that yet, but I will. Originally I’d thought I’d only order documents on direct line ancestors, but I’m curious and I want to know more about this young great-grand-uncle! I'm also trying to find newspaper articles in Illinois. It also occurs to me now that I ought to check the 1885 Kansas Census -- if I can't find them that might indicate that the family moved to Ohio to be closer to other family shortly after Edward filed for military invalid benefits (he was a blacksmith the rest of his life - I don't know what sort of injury he had yet as I haven't got that file yet).

If anyone reading this knows more about Granville and what happened or about his family, please contact me through the comments or through the  e-mail address which is listed on  the “Contact Me” page of the blog. I would be delighted to hear from you.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Picture of my 2nd Great Grandfather Edward Carleton Bailey

Posted with permission of Christina Inman
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This is another of the photos sent to me by my newly discovered cousin. Isn't it wonderful? Edward Carleton Bailey, of (at various times) Huntingdon County PA; Franklin and Anderson Counties, Kansas; and Findlay in Hancock County Ohio. I'm going to add it to the post I've already done on him (here), but wanted to make sure everyone saw it, and so this post. : )

52 Ancestors: #5 Elizabeth Manley Bixler Wolfington Moore, 1828 - 1913

Here I am typing away at the last minute again for my weekly submission to this week 52 Ancestors project as begun by Amy Johnson Crow of the No Story Too Small blog. However, this time I'm fairly certain that I will be too late so I'm not going to worry about it, and will likely just have two in the count for next week.

Last night I started out with the intention to write about my 3rd Great grandfather Abram Wolfington as he is currently the end of a branch, but as I always do before writing one of these I tried to see if I could find one more tidbit about him, and in so doing I started reviewing my great-grandmother's notes (Pearl Pauline Bailey Snyder, 1891-1978) again and doing searches on both Abram and his wife Elizabeth Manley Bixler (who I didn't have much on), including re-checking previously ignored hints. And, all of a sudden, things started falling into place for Elizabeth Manley Bixler, and...several hours after midnight, I had (the start of) a life for her and the beginnings of another generation beyond as well! And all due to great-grandmother's notes, which while not altogether right, assuredly helped me figure out what were the correct hints. Thank you, great-grandmother!

So, I thought this time that I would set out here a transcription of the pertinent parts of great-grandmother's notes on her grandmother (she mixes people together in writing about the family from one sentence to the next; these are the portions I used to help me with research on Elizabeth M.):

"My grandmother (Mama's mother) was a Methodist through and through - when she came to visit us she came alone clear from Kansas. She stayed with us a few years, then she got homesick for Kansas and went back alone. She was tall and stately. She acted the part. She was a real 'lady', in every  way. She had long, thick, medium brown hair and brown eyes. ....Grandma  married a man by name of Moore (Hanns). Mama's sister Anna married his (Moore's) son. ... Mama's sister Belle had three girls and one boy; I've forgotten who she married. Lydia never married; Ella had three girls: Grace, Bird & Fern.

"I have no idea where Papa met Mama, but she was born in Paola Indiana. She went (or started) with her parents to Kansas. She had one or two brothers. One named Clifford, other may have been Clarence. Mama's maiden name was Wolfington. ...Her mother's name was Bixler. They lived along the Maumee River close to  Ft. Meigs at Maumee OH. They lived a short while on Chamberlin Hill in Findlay Ohio. All this must have been before they started west because Mama's father died on the trip west. He died from pneumonia."

Elizabeth Manley Bixler was born in Ohio, in approximately 1828, to Abraham and Sarah Bixler (Manley appears to be a middle name). I don't know where in Ohio yet, and I don't know how long they lived there or Sarah's maiden name. Elizabeth's parent's were born in Virginia, and after living in Ohio for some time, moved the family to Indiana. By 1850 Elizabeth and her father were living in the home of her brother Levi, along with her brothers Jacob and Salothel, in Poesy, Washington County Indiana.

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 On March 30, 1851, Elizabeth married Abram Wolfington, in Orange County, Indiana.  She was 22 and he was 41. He had several children already from a prior marriage that I haven't found yet: William (bn abt 1837), James (1839-1918), Marinda (bn about 1842), Eliza J (bn abt 1845), and Valentine (bn abt 1848).

Elizabeth and Abraham had several children over the years: Martha Emily (1852-1915, my 2nd great grandmother), Clarence (bn abt 1854), Isabel (bn abt 1856), Alfred (bn abt 1858), Annie (bn abt 1863), Emma (bn about 1863), Charles CR (bn abt 1867) and Clifford (bn abt 1867).

In 1860, Elizabeth and Abraham were sharing their home Paoli, Indiana, with William (23), Marinda (19), Valentine (12), Clarence (6), Isabel (4), and Alfred (2).   In 1870, Elizabeth and Abraham were still living in Paoli, Orange County, Indiana, with William (now 33), Martha Emily - called Emily (18), Clarence (16), Isabel - called Belle (14), Emma (7) and Charles CR (3). Apparently Annie wasn't home when the Census taker came through this time, unless she and Emma are the same person.

Abraham died before 1874. I don't know yet if it was on the road to Kansas as my great-grandmother said. I do know that she married Solomon Moore (1822-1898), a boyhood friend of her deceased husband, in about 1874. Solomon had been born in Orange County, Indiana, and in 1850 had lived just down the road from Elizabeth's former mother-in-law (Abraham's mother, Esther Wolfington). So he was someone Elizabeth likely knew well and trusted. His wife had died only 4 years before he married Elizabeth. Solomon would have been around 54 and Elizabeth about 46 years old. They both would have needed someone to help them raise their children.

In 1880, Elizabeth (52) and Solomon (60) were living and farming in Hayes, Kansas in Franklin County, with his son Hance (20, bn abt 1860), and her children Annie (17) and Clifton (13).  [Clifford and Clifton are probably the same person.]

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Elizabeth's daughter Annie did marry Solomon's son Hance, in approximately 1882 (it apparently worked since they were still together in 1930 in Chanute, Kansas).

By 1895, Solomon (73) had evidently retired, because when he and Elizabeth (68) were counted in the Kansas state census, he no longer described himself as a farmer. (She was now claiming to be two years older than she was.) They are living down the road from Solomon's second youngest son George (probable). Solomon died three years later on February 20, 1898, of Bright's Disease (acute kidney disease, per wikipedia).

Elizabeth outlived Solomon by 15 years, dying on July 25, 1913 at age 84. She is buried with Solomon in the High Prairie Cemetery in Altoona, Kansas.

So with Elizabeth living to 1913 and Pearl Pauline being born in 1891, Elizabeth would have been alive for my great-grandmother's first 22 years. She probably didn't come and stay "for years" while her husband was alive, so it was probably after 1898. I haven't found the trip back to Findlay, Ohio yet.

I also haven't found her early years in Ohio yet, other than her listing her birth state as Ohio on every census. I haven't found anyone near Ft. Meigs (that would be Perrysburg now). I did find her marriage  to my 3rd great grandfather and they were living in Paoli (not Paola), Indiana, when my 2nd great-grandmother was born, and continued to live there most of their married lives. I found her sons Clifford and Clarence, and daughters Anna and Belle, but  Lydia and Ella belong to Pearl Pauline's Bailey grandparents and not to the Wolfingtons (I double-checked the Baileys about Lydia and Ella).

 I haven't yet figured out the reason for the move to Kansas or whether it was with my 2nd great grandfather or later. She did marry "a man by the name of Moore" and her daughter Annie did marry his son (it was the son that was named Hance, though.)

Great-Grandma's notes are good clues but are mostly hearsay evidence. They make good starting or somewhat corroborating evidence but are not to be taken as gospel.

It will be interesting to see what else might fit with in her stories. Always more to find!

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[Great-grandmother's notes; Federal Census for 1830, 1850, 1870,  1880, and 1930 (for Abraham Bixler, Esther Wolfington, Abraham Wolfington, Abram Wolfington, Elizabeth Bixler Wolfington Moore, Solomon Moore, Hance Moore, Annie/Anna Wolfington Moore and Jane Wilson); Kansas Census for 1895; Kansas Findagrave.com Memorials #16972829 and #52136322; Orange County, Indiana, Index to Marriage Records 1826-1920.] 

52 Ancestors: # 4 Edward Carleton Bailey (1849-1926)

This is my 4th entry in the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks challenge put forth by Amy Johnson Crow of  the No Story Too Small blog.

Edward Carleton Bailey (1849-1926)
Posted with permission of Christina Inman
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Edward Carleton Bailey is one of my 2nd Great Grandfathers on my maternal lines (he is the father of my grandpa’s mother).  I know a bit more about him than I do about some of the folks I’ve been writing about recently, but even so I’ve got some gaping holes.

I’m lucky in this instance to have a few pages written by my great-grandmother (GGM), Pauline Bailey Snyder, Edward’s youngest daughter, of her recollections of her parent’s family and ancestors and those of her husband as well, and I’ve been able to use them to help confirm whether records I found were related to the right family. On the other hand, I’ve discovered that while her recollections are largely correct, they are not entirely right when they rest on hearsay – at times her facts get somewhat twisted, and on other occasions she's repeating the family legend which seems, so far, to be apocryphal. In any case, I am extremely grateful to my great-grandmother for writing out her recollections and leaving them for later generations.

Edward C. Bailey was born on 12 November 1849 in Union Township, Mifflin County, PA (see picture below)  to James and Maria Bailey.[1]  My great grandmother says that James was Scots-Irish and Methodist, and that Maria (whom she knew as Sarah Williams, “her first name may have been Maria”) was full blooded Welch, Quaker by birth, and “a straight line descendant  from the Roger Williams who founded Rhode Island.” [2] I have been unable to verify any of GGM’s description of the lineage of Edward’s parents as  I have not been able to find them before 1850. I've also not been able to confirm that Maria is related to the Roger Williams of Rhode Island.

Mifflin County PA

As a baby, Edward was evidently known as Carlton, as that is how he is listed in the 1850 Census, when he was one year old. Both his parents are listed as being born in Pennsylvania and both are 34 years old (so born approximately 1816). The census lists his siblings as John, age 7; Anna M., 5; and Lydia, 3. [3] My GGM recalls his brothers and sisters as John “who was killed in the Civil War”; Richard or Dick, “who had a family of several girls – I remember three of their names – Dove, Mabel, and Pin – there were four but I’ve forgotten the other name”; Ella “a housewife”; Lydia “a trained nurse”; and James “who bred fine Kentucky horses”. (None of the descriptors are confirmed yet). I assume Richard, Ella, and James are younger than Edward Carlton since they weren’t on the 1850 Census but I don’t know for sure as I’ve not found Edward’s parents or siblings in any other Census, yet.*

GGM told me, via her notes, that her father had served in the Civil War, and I confirmed this when I searched Fold3.com and found his service index card and his pension index card showing  he had filed  for an invalid pension in 1884 (granted). It noted that he had enlisted as a private in Company D of the 192 Regiment of the Pennsylvania Infantry, on February 10, 1865. [4] I subsequently found him on the Company D, 192^nd regiment Infantry Roster, which indicated he had mustered in on February 15, 1865 (lying about his age and telling them he was 17 – he would have been 15 then)  under Captain Andrews and mustered out with the whole Company on August 24, 1865. [5] In the spring of 1865, nine new companies were recruited to the regiment, which reported as fast as organized, to the commander of the Middle Military Division, with headquarters at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. When the spring campaign opened, the regiment moved up the valley to Staunton and Lexington, and after Lee’s  and Johnston’s surrenders, assisted with the decommissioning of the Confederate armies in the Shenandoah Valley and with . The fighting was substantially over.  It was, however, retained in the department, engaged in various duties, until the 21th of August, when it was mustered out of service. [6] I have no idea how or where Edward was injured. I intend to order his pension records from the National Archives.

I then lost Edward again for ten years, and next found him in Ottawa, Kansas, in 1875, with his wife, Emma, and 4 month old child, Howard, on the Kansas State Census; it states he is a boilermaker. [7] He had married my 2^nd great-grandmother Martha Emily (called Emma)  Wolfington in 1874. [8] She was born and lived in Paoli, IN. (I have no idea how they met and neither did GGM, although she did say that “Mama went (or started) with her parents to Kansas.”). By 1880, the family had moved to Anderson, Kansas where Edward was a fruit grower, and the couple had three more children: Howard W. was now 5, Granville W. was 4, Lloyd W. was 3, and Myrtle was 5 months old. [9] In 1884,Edward submitted his request for a military invalid pension and it was granted.[4]

By 1900, Edward has moved his family to Findlay OH; he is 50 and states that he is a blacksmith. Living at home with them are Howard, age 25; Floyd age 23; Myrtle, age 20; James, age 17; and Pearl Pauline (my GGM), age  9. The city directories show the family living at 519 Hull Avenue, and lists Edward as a blacksmith through 1914. [8, 10] He worked as a blacksmith at the Buckeye Traction Ditcher Company in Findlay for 18 years. [1]

Edward’s wife Emma died in or about 1914. [1] His daughter, Myrtle was still single and still living at home. She applied for a passport to China in 1916 and subsequently lived much of the rest of her life there as a missionary (I wrote a post on her life here. Do read it; it’s fascinating!) By 1918, Edward had married Martha Emily’s sister Isabel Wolfington Wells .[10] (She had been previously married to John Wells, in Kansas [11]).  The couple lived at Edward’s house at 519 Hull St. In 1923, at age 74, he is listed as a fruit grower. [10] I hope it is as a hobby rather than out of necessity.

In 1925 and 1926, he was ill for most of the time and spent March through June 1926 mostly bedfast.  He died on June 30, 1926, at the home of his daughter, Pearl Pauline (Mrs. Philip A Snyder). [1]

His obituary stated that he was a member of the Stoker Post G.A.R. and had converted to the Assemblies of God Church where he had been an Elder and a Deacon for many years.   He was survived by six of his eight children of his first marriage (Homer W. Bailey, Lloyd Weldon Bailey, Myrtle Bell Bailey, Pearl Bailey Snyder, all of Findlay Ohio, and Lloyd Wellington Bailey and James Bailey, of Toledo Ohio) his 2^nd wife, Isabel, and one brother, Richard H Bailey of Vandergrift PA. Edward was buried in the Maple Grove Cemetary. [1]

[*UPDATE: I've subsequently found out that Edward's father died in 1858, but his mother was still living in 1860 and was living with her are her daughters Lydia Marie, Eliza Jane, and Rebecca Ella, and her son James -- I still don't know where John, Edward and Richard are that year. In 1870, Edward's Mother has remarried, to Samuel Huber, and she is living with Samuel and his son, and her son James, and her daughter, Ella. Edward's mother lives through the 1900 census. See Mariah/Maria's story.]

________

I want to:
Find Edward's parents, James Bailey & Maria Sarah Williams (if that is her last name)
Find Edward's siblings
Get Edward's military pension file.
Find Birth, marriage (2), and death records
Find out if Edward's brother died in Civil War

I'd really like to know why Edward left PA to go to Kansas, where he met Emma, and why they left Kansas to go to Findlay Ohio, and what happened to Isabel after Edward's death?


[1] Edward C Bailey Obituary, Findlay Morning Republican, July 1, 1926, p. 12; newspaperarchive.com.
[2] Family record. Pearl Pauline Bailey's notes. Copy .
[3] 1850 U.S. Census, Union Township Mifflin County PA
[4] Index Card for Civil War Pensions: http://www.fold3.com/image/5844937/; Index to Civil War Service Record: http://www.fold3.com/image/288562900/.
[5] http://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/192nd_Regiment,_Pennsylvania_Infantry
http://www.pa-roots.com/pacw/infantry/192nd/192dcoe1yr.html; Records of the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs REGISTERS OF PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS, 1861-1865. Volume 13: 160th-171st, 188th, 190th-192nd Regiments.
[6]http://www.pa-roots.com/pacw/infantry/192nd/192dorg.html;http://vshadow.vcdh.virginia.edu/OR/augusta1865.html
[7] 1875 Kansas State Census, Ottawa, Franklin, Kansas; Ancestry.com.. Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.
[8] 1900 U.S. Census, Findlay, Ward 6, Hancock Ohio
[9] 1880 U.S. Census, Anderson Kansas
[10] Findlay City Directory, Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
[11] 1900 U.S. Census, Chanute, Neosho, Kansas.