1910 Census & the “Bridgets of Malheur County”

This came in an Ancestry Weekly Discovery newsletter – too funny!

(from “Overcoming Census Challenges” by Julianna Smith.  Read the whole article here for some good tips.)

“When Marilyn Barnett Daniels posted a recent discovery in the 1910 U.S. Census on the Ancestry.com Facebook page, I was intrigued. In browsing that census of Oregon, Malheur County, ED 91 (Owyhee, Township 20, and Township 21) she noticed that every “wife” in that district was listed with the given name Bridget.

I had to see for myself and sure enough, there it was. The districts had been enumerated by Harry F. Lackey who also lived in the county. Harry, Harry, Harry, what were you thinking? (As I looked through the district, I could swear I heard him laughing.)

Was he smitten with someone named Bridget? Or perhaps he wanted to ensure that he would never again be hired as census taker? (Hopefully it was the latter.) While Harry’s reasons will likely remain a mystery, the Bridgets of Malheur County will likely have family historians with ancestors in the area in 1910 scratching their heads for generations.”

Read Full Post »

Alexander Chalmers, Merchant Seaman

My heart ached for my great-great-great-grandfather last night.  I never met him – he died a hundred years ago, and these events happened nearly 150 years ago, but it was so sad.

I had stayed up way too late to try to make sense of what I found on my England genealogy trip, combined with a week’s subscription to an online historical newspaper site.  A little more digging at Ancestry.com and Scotland’s People, and I had the story.

This is what we already knew about Alexander Chalmers before he married Henrietta Aylesford Murray:

Alexander Chalmers was born in Aberdeen, Scotland about 1835-36.  (For all my Nutting/Chalmers relatives, this was Bertie’s grandfather. And for those of my generation who grew up with stories about Dodo, Bertie was her husband.)

Anyway, Alexander’s parents, George Chalmers & Isabella Cheyne, were deceased and he was a widower when he married Henrietta Aylesford Murray in Edinburgh on 27 March 1866.

He was a shipmaster.  Ship registration logs show the Industry coming in to Leith, Scotland on 9/25/1865, with him as master and owner.  The ship belonged to Aberdeen, and was coming from Sunderland, England with 108 tons of marl (fish).

In the last three weeks, this is what I’ve discovered:

According to the Master & Mates Certificate records (National Archives), Alexander was born in Turriff, Aberdeenshire in 1835.

At age 23, seaman Alexander (whose father George was a laborer),  married Jessie Lawrence, a 31 year old cheesemaker, on July 27, 1858.  She was the daughter of William Lawrence (ship carpenter, deceased) and Janet Lawrence née Greig).  They were married at their residence at 59 Park St., Aberdeen, according to the rites of the Church of Scotland.  (marriage certificate)

Alexander received his Mate’s Certificate (#24,013) as 2nd Mate on 3 Aug 1861 at Aberdeen. He sailed on the Theophilus from 1861-1862.

In 1861, Jessie Lawrence Chalmers (listed in the census as Janet Chalmers) is living with her 71-year-old mother, Janet Lawrence,  and her one-year-old daughter, Jessie A. L. Chalmers.  Jessie/Janet Chalmers is shown as the head of household, a “milliner & dressmaker (seaman’s wife).”  She was born in Aberdeen, and her mother was born in New Deer, Aberdeenshire. (1861 census)

Alexander sailed on the Isabel in 1862 and the Theophilus again in 1863.

Little Jessie Ann Lawrence Chalmers, age 3 ½ , died at home on Feb 28, 1863 after three days of measles and diptheria.  Alexander is not the informant, so he probably wasn’t there. (death certificate)

Eight months later, on Nov 15, 1863, 36-year-old Jesse Chalmers died of chronic bronchitis and phthisis (an old term for TB).  Alexander reported her death and stated that he was present. (death certificate)

However, the Theophilus is reported to have sailed again on Nov 12, with Alexander as Master, headed for Newcastle.  It is impossible to tell if he didn’t sail with the ship, left the ship for his wife’s death, or if he wasn’t actually present when she died.  No matter the circumstances, he had lost his wife and daughter in a relatively short space of time.

To top it off, after picking up a load of coal in Newcastle, the Theophilus wrecked in the middle of the night on its way back to Aberdeen.

The Newcastle Courant said, ““HAUXLEY – LIFEBOAT SERVICES – The schooner Theophilus, of and for Aberdeen, coal laden, went upon the Bondicar Bush Rocks, on the night of the 26^th ult. The wind at the time was blowing strong, and there was a heavy sea, the weather being dull and foggy. Some fishing cobles attempted to reach the vessel, but failed.  Thereupon the lifeboat of the National Lifeboat Institution was launched and succeeded in bringing ashore the schooner’s crew of five men in safety. “

The shipping report in Lloyd’s Lists said, “WARKWORTH, 28^th Nov.  The THEOPHILUS (brig), of and for Aberdeen, from the Tyne, with coals, got on shore on Bondicar rocks, yesterday morning, during foggy weather, with a heavy sea, bilged, and sunk on the flood; the greater part of her materials are landed, and she is likely to become a wreck; crew saved by the lifeboat of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.”

Alexander was back at sea on the Isabel again in a few weeks, but he must have been grief-stricken.  Poor man.

If anyone wants more details, please let me know.  Anyone who finds this who is not in my immediate circle of cousins, etc., please contact me to share information!

I’ll post more about his married life with Henrietta later.

Read Full Post »

Genealogy trip to England

Wow.  Utterly exhausted after 4-1/2 days in England, but oh, was it worth it!

I visited the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich

National Maritime Museum in Greenwich

(visited the Royal Observatory and stood on the Prime Meridian, too), spent a full day at the National Archives in Kew, a day and a half in the London Society of Genealogist’s library, plus a quick trip to the Guildhall museum a few blocks away, all to search for my two Scots merchant captains.  Found what I was looking for on Alexander Chalmers – his mate’s certificate number (now I can send for the actual certificate and hope his application is attached), and the ships he’d been on,

Royal Observatory on hill in Greenwich Park

including one that was wrecked off the northeast coast of England.

Gave up on his father-in-law, James Murray, who was early enough (1840s & 1850s) to likely never have gotten a certificate.  And I have no ship’s name to go on, either.  I’ve recently linked him to Liverpool, though, and I’ll need to write/visit the Merseyside Maritime Museum to see if they have any tips.

One of my best days, tho, was Friday in Birmingham.  I’m so used to trying to find ancestors who were poor enough to have left virtually no records, that it was an awesome surprise to find my Nutting/Tabberner line with not only parish records, but partnership agreements and wills!  I found my grandfather’s great-grandfather’s will in 1894 – long, with lovely and very dense writing on a huge sheet of wax-coated paper.  I’m getting a scan done so I can read it properly – ran out of time in the Birmingham library!  My next step here is to access the B’ham newspapers online and see what I can find out.

All in all, I found plenty to flesh out several ancestors, and actually found some dates and a couple new generations that I didn’t have yet.  Took lots of pictures, copied stuff, will forward on as I sort it out.  (Anyone with Nutting/Chalmers interests, please let me know.)  But I’ve come home tired, glad to be in my own bed, but very happy.

Front of St. Martin's church where the Nuttings were baptized and married.

Charles Nutting's 1894 Will

Read Full Post »

I’m Ba-ack!

Well, it’s almost Christmas, and I think I promised a catch-up back in September.  That just means I haven’t changed, right?

Bryan arrived today, having finished his finals and a long work week.  We have two weeks until he goes back.  Fun time!  Christmas will be at the Peters’, some Irish friends here, and then we’re going to have a jolly time with Bryan’s big present.  Don’t know if he gets on here or not, so I’ll tell that secret after Christmas!

It’s been a crazy fall here, lots of writing.  I’m the Genealogy Feature Writer for Suite101 now, so I have a weekly genealogy article to write.  Takes a lot more time than the Writing Fiction articles!  I got my kid’s time-travel novel completely re-done and sent off to a contest, but didn’t place.  Drat.  I’ll start sending it out after the new year.  And I did NaNo again, and finished – 51,600 words!  A grown-up women’s novel this time, for a Mormon audience.  Still have a long way to go to even finish a rough draft, but it’s fun to work on.

I’ve been doing a bunch of music stuff, too.  My piano students somehow morphed from two kids and a mom last year, to six kids this year.  I’m not thrilled with two afternoons committed (Blaik says “awww”), but they’re fun.  And a couple who are really a joy to teach.  I’m also the branch music chairman, which means I do the choir for Christmas and organize the Christmas music fireside.  Being a choir director was quite an experience last year – lots of people who sing, but no men who know how to sing parts.  I was more prepared this year, so we’ve been practicing since the beginning of October.  The small groups and choir were awesome that night, but we had pianist problems and I ended up playing for a lot more than I expected!  Playing on the spur of the moment for Relief Society has made me pretty good at dropping unnecessary notes, and that came in handy. <g>

OK, that’s about it for now, catch up on such exciting things as Tim’s mission and floods in Cork coming soon.  At least sooner than six months from now!  Cheers!

Read Full Post »

Welcome to Jennifer Jensen’s blog!

This is a big experiment for me, but one I’ve been thinking about for quite a while.  I’m not sure where to start.  I want to record some of what we’re experiencing right now, preparing to move from the United States to Ireland, plus some of my writing projects.  Undoubtedly some family stuff will show up, too, but I don’t want to get too personal.   

It snowed again last night, but I hoping spring will show herself sometime soon, even if it’s just for a peek.  I’m desperate to walk outside again, in between sorting out what we’re taking, what we’re storing, and what needs to go to Goodwill.

Today includes wrapping up my look-ups for the Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness requests, and writing two articles for Suite101, getting boxes to put books in, and possibly sorting through old videotapes.  Wish me luck!

Read Full Post »