Joseph Martin (1811-1854) -- My brick wall

Sometimes in genealogy you will hear a researcher refer to a "brick wall." This notion refers to an ancestor that is elusive or enigmatic, one for whom you can find little or no vital information. Hitting a brick wall can be frustrating, especially if the person is relatively close to you in your direct pedigree. For me, that person is the elusive Joseph Martin.

I give up on Mr. Martin every once in a while. Joseph Martin is my proof that the old Thomas Edison saying is true, "I have not failed. I've just found ten thousand ways that won't work." Here is the little I do know about Joseph Martin: he is my fourth great-grandfather in my direct paternal line (he is my father's, father's, father's, father's, father's father); according to a marriage record from Franklin County, Indiana (see the image below), he was married to my fourth great grandmother, Lydia Arthur, on 25 March 1831; he was alive at the time of the 1850 census, but Lydia was listed as Widowed in 1860, so he died at a relatively young age between 1850 and 1860. That's it. He appears in two vital records: the marriage certificate below and the 1850 United States Census. According to the 1850 census, he was born in Ohio. Lydia was born in Clermont County, Ohio, so I assume there is a good chance that Joseph was born in Clermont or a surrounding county. A distant relative identified his birth and death dates as 25 June 1811 and 27 September 1854, though the person was not able to tell me from where the information was obtained.

Here are a few tips to help when you hit a brick wall:

(1) Step away for a while. Focus on a less elusive ancestor for a few hours, or a few days. Sometimes an "ah-ha" moment will come after a few days (or weeks, or months) of time away.

(2) Review the information you already have. Genealogists sometimes rush through transcribing, recording, and chasing down leads. Go back to the original sources and see if you've missed anything.

(3) Search for other relatives. It is easy to become focused on one individual and forget that he or she had family members that may lead to possible clues. Research siblings, parents, children.

(4) Search for other resources. Don't limit yourself to just one database or institution. If possible, use your public library's genealogy database subscriptions or try non-fee-based resources such as https://familysearch.org/ or http://www.cyndislist.com/ .

(5) Seek help from others! It is easy (and helpful) to become self-reliant, but it is not always the best strategy when performing genealogy research. Check out your local archives or genealogy department in your public library, join the local genealogy society or reach out to them for advice. There are also private genealogists that can help (for a fee).

Holidays

As the holiday season is in full swing, a lot of us are spending time with our families. Use this time to take a minute (or two) to remember family members who have passed and to share stories about ancestors you did not have the opportunity to meet. My family seems to shrink year after year and sadness sometimes overshadows our hearts when we remember those losses. But, let us give thanks for those around us and let us share our cheerfulness with others. This holiday season, take some time away from the hustle and bustle  to label family members in old photographs, or listen and learn a new family legend told by an older relative.

Our relatives are tremendous sources for family history information, and if you're just starting out, living relatives should be the start of your journey. Tracing your roots is easier when you have others with whom to share your knowledge.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Good Luck tracing your roots!

Mary Boleyn, c. 1500-1543

Yes, THE Mary Boleyn, aka "the other Boleyn girl." She was the sister of King Henry VIII's second wife, Anne "the most happy." I am directly descended from Mary Boleyn Carey twice: through her daughter, Catherine, and her son, Henry. Subsequently, she is my 13th great grandmother twice. To put this relationship into perspective, I found this handy chart that can be accessed here http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pamonval/howbig.html . The chart calculates how many grandparents we have in each generation through the 15th great grandparents. It's pretty mind-blowing.

Generation #	Relationship	No. in generation	Accumulated Total
1	Parents	2	2
2	Grand Parents	4	6
3	Great Grandparents	8	14
4	2 X Great grandparents	16	30
5	3 X Great grandparents	32	62
6	4 X Great grandparents	64	126
7	5 X Great grandparents	128	254
8	6X Great grandparents	256	510
9	7X Great grandparents	512	1,022
10	8 X Great grandparents	1,024	2,046
11	9 X Great grandparents	2,048	4,094
12	10 X Great grandparents	4,096	8,190
13	11 X Great grandparents	8,192	16,382
14	12 X Great grandparents	16,384	32,766
15	13 X Great grandparents	32,768	65,534
16	14 X Great grandparents	65,536	131,070
17	15 X Great grandparents	131,072	262,142

That's right. Mary Boleyn is two of my 32,768 13th great grandparents! This is why genealogy takes some people a lifetime. I would have to track down over 400,000 people to complete a pedigree chart that goes back 17 generations. Depressing and exciting all at once!

On another very cool note, Mary's daughter Catherine (12th great-grandmother) is accepted by many historians as the illegitimate daughter of King Henry VIII and her son Henry (my 12th great-grandfather) has also been speculated to have been Henry's son. That means Henry VIII is pretty well accepted to have been my 13th great grandfather at least once, and maybe twice.

I'll briefly describe the lineage for Mary Boleyn within both lines:

                                                         Mary Boleyn 1500-1543

Catherine Carey (1524-1569)                                                                  Henry Carey (1526-1596)
Lady Anne Knoylls (1557-1608)                                                             John Carey (?-1617)
Gov John West (1590-1669)                                                                   Thomas Carey (1613-1687)
Col John West (1632-1689)                                                                    Thomas C Carey (1633-1681)
Cap Thomas West (1670-1714)                                                              Thomas Carey (1666-1720)
Thomas West (1690-1777)                         married                                  Bridget Carey (?-1777?)
                                                        Thomas West (1740-1802)

                                                        Thomas West (1760-1848)     

                                                        John F West (1796-1885)

                                                        Barney West (1827-1914)

                                                        James West (1858-?)

                                                        Hazel West (1917-1974)

                                                        My Grandma (1949-living)

                                                        My Mom (1967-living)

                                                        Me (1987-living)      

There's more to come along these lines. In the West part of my family (my great-grandmother was born a West), there are several noble and royal lines. Once you find one noble or royal, you usually find an abundance. I've also learned that many of these aristocratic lines ended up being American colonial settlers. I thought my family was full of recent immigrants, but I was wrong. A lot of my family lines end up being colonial. 

                                                      

Tracing my Roots

I have begun to find fascinating facts about several of my family lines. These family histories date back to the colonial days of America and some date back to medieval Europe. With my recent family history discoveries I have had to change my perception of certain family traits and mottoes. For the longest time I believed my tree was tenuously rooted in a dusty, red clay-soil with no hope of recovering a past that involved illiterate, undocumented farmers and housewives. Recently, I have begun to uncover a treasure trove of ancient family lines that I hope to share with anyone willing to listen.

To begin, I have to preface these fantastic discoveries by telling of my most recent ancestors. My grandmother grew up in the 1950s and 60s with no running water or electricity. To put this into perspective, color TV began broadcasting in the early1950s. My grandmother had never seen white bread, or any other pre-packaged food until her marriage in the mid-1960s. Put bluntly, she was poor and inexperienced. Her parents were uneducated and believed in working hard, playing harder and dying young. She has told me that the only thing she ever learned from her parents and grandparents was how to survive, that they were too busy feeding the family to worry about bettering their children's lives. I am using this brief description to put into context my grandmother's rich, noble, and royal family history.

More to come...

Cinderella Vankirk, 1855-????

Cinderella Vankirk was born in May 1855 in Virginia to Arthur Vankirk of Ohio and Elonvia (maiden name unknown) of Virginia. The surname Vankirk is, according to Ancestry.com, 100% German. Cinderella is my third great-grandmother through my paternal side. The lineage is as follows: Cinderella Vankirk was the mother of Mary J. Woodruff, who was the mother of Thelma Clotine Sayles, who was the mother of my grandfather, who was the father of my father, who is the father of yours truly.

Cinderella married Cornelius C. Woodruff on February 24, 1876 in Sangamon County, Illinois. They had two children (according to the 1900 census): Mary J. in 1887 and Marion in 1891. The 1900 federal census places Cindrella in Champaign, Illinois at the age of 45. I have yet to find a record of her death, but she may have died between 1900 and 1910.

In the 1904 directory for Champaign, Illinois I discovered an entry for Cornelius Woodruff, electrician, living with Mary Woodruff (who would have been 17 years old at the time.) I then discovered a Nov. 1903 document from the "Judge's Miscellaneous Journal" that states Cinderella Woodruff was committed to a hospital for the insane in Kankakee, Ill in November of 1903. After that, she disappears off the grid. There is no record of her death in the state of Illinois.

I will add to this entry if I find anymore information. I'm currently (yes, like right now!) searching through the 1910 census record for the Kankakee State Hospital. Sometimes genealogy is detective work...

May Lindley Nelson diary continued

Here are a few more entries from the Nelson diary. I couldn't help transcribing the events of the 1885 summer months. 

June 1885 

 Davis* called (he is sergeant and wore his uniform) and said he was disappointed in me.

 *Davis appears in several earlier entries as a family friend. I assume he is close in age to May, perhaps a few years older. He features in many routine entries, especially ones concerning school dances, driving around town with friends, and parties. 

 June 1885

 L. wants me to marry him--never saw anyone so passionate and jealous in my life. Uncle D. won’t let L. come anymore says he is wild and I can’t go with him. He says he loves me “above heaven and Earth.” And talks dreadful. (I don’t like the way he talks.) says I am his first, best and only darling, etc. says will get married at the parsonage and [defer] Uncle’s folks. and my people too. he says Papa and Mamma wouldn’t approve of him and I don’t truly suppose they would. 

 June 1885

 I told L. not to come as it was best not to, since they all objected to him I think I spoke ladylike and nice. but he--well he swore at me and threatened me! dared to. I called Uncle & he came in to show him out and behold! he was no where to be seen.

 June 5 1885

 Went driving with Richard. he told me to be afraid of L. that he was dreadful. asked me to write to him. 

 June 1885

 C. came up & bid me farewell and asked to write to me etc. etc. and gave me his photo. talked sentimental! (he’s that kind.)

 June 1885 

 Anna and I attend Regents Reception. L. came up to me (he lives in Atlanta, Georgia) and asked me to shake hands and forgive him before he went away. also Anna, whom he had talked about because she told me about him. and dear old U of I. Good bye, his bad ways. 

 July 1885

 Maplewood again.
I receive the largest package of letters each week or so. Received a box of confectionary from C.W. Foster of Chicago__the violinest. 

 Aug 1885

 Have not answered Mr. C.’s last letter, think I shall not--he is so very irreligious and kind of cynical. Mamma thinks I ought to stop writing so I will. 

 Aug 1885

 Received such a lovely gold bangle with my initials on one side and June 5 ‘85 on the other also the most loving, boyish, trusting letter I ever received saying “I can trust you dearest--I feel sure you will be true to me” etc. (I never promised anything though.) I wish to enjoy myself--not to get married for a long--while. 

 Nov. 1885

 We attend the Beacher lecture. I go with Mr. G. jolly time and Oh. how fine the lecture was.

 Dec. 1885

 Albert sent me some flowers from New Mexico. We have sleighing parties here often from Urbana to Philo. 

 Christmas

 A dear, quiet day at Maplewood. 

 New Years 1886

 A nice day Arie and Ruth are here.

 Feb 1886

 Chas Parkman and sister organized a society and wish me to belong. it is the H.L.S.

 Feb 1886 

 Oh the fun we have at the H.L.S. ! Our paper and dialogues, etc. And the time L.H. fell over in the chair and broke it! I laugh and laugh all the time when I think of how he looked!

 Feb 1886

Anna wrote a letter to me. (we correspond I think of her as next-to-Nell in my affections. a dear friend indeed and always was such.) telling me not to have anything to do with Albert Richards as her brother who was with him in Mexico knew something against him. I asked for all my letters back--they were truly friendship letters still I would like them back. he is not the dear nice boy I thought him so I will have nothing to do with him. Anna would know best about him anyway. He wrote a terrible letter and said Anna had lied and that he was coming back to find out. 



 *Transcribed from the Anna May Lindley Nelson diary located at the Champaign County Historical Archives of The Urbana Free Library. Materials are to be used for educational purposes and are not meant to infringe upon copyright laws. Permission is required before using these materials for publication. 

May Nelson's diary

Anna May Lindley Nelson, ca. 1870-1931

Brief Description: 

May Lindley Nelson's diary begins as that of a young girl recounting some of her earliest and fondest memories. Her diary entries date from 1877-1909. The first half of the diary describes silly, girlish activities, such as the number of callers she has received over a single summer. She also recounts heartbreaking tragedy, like the loss of her eldest brother (24 years old) and her youngest sister (7 years old) within two months of one another. Both frivolity and tragedy are depicted with a young girl's fervor and vivacity making the diary a fascinating historical artifact for the reader's immersion into late nineteenth century life.

Brief Bio:

Anna May Lindley was born in 1870 or 1871 to Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Lindley, who were early pioneers of the Philo, Illinois Township. She married Urbana jeweler John R. Nelson in 1890 and the two resided in Urbana until 1920 when they moved to Hollywood, California. She died in 1931 in Hollywood, California at the age of 60 after a battle with stomach cancer.

A few early entries transcribed:

September 1877

I remember farther back than this, but not very well. One of the things I remember was riding a big sled through deep, deep snow, cuddled up close and warm to Mamma, also Papa used to sing me to sleep on his breast with some old fashioned church song, Old Langsyn [sic], and how he told us stories--the “eagle story” for one, and always took our part when we were naughty and deserved punishing. I also remember when Josie was born. One thing I cannot forget is how extremely mischievous and full of pranks, romantic, exciting and otherwise I was. The dear old Christmas times, how we hung our little stockings and the lovely things old Santa Claus gave us, that wonderful feeling of mystery and joy. I remember those times well. And when I attended beautiful festivals and wanted to stay in Papa’s arms the entire evening because I was afraid. I use [sic] to speak some and can remember yet how gratifying the applaus [sic] was, I was so little then. And dear Aunt Mattie and her stories and many, many other things, after all, but I will commence at Sept. 1877 with our dear old Pickwick Society. I read of it in “Little Women” and straightway organized a society--Nell Edwards my one dearest and best chum with her sister Minn, and my sisters Bert and Josie with myself constituted the society and what fun we had.

Sept 1880

Our brother Melville died. Ah, it seemed terrible.
Melville Watson Lindley--died
5 o’ clock a.m. Mond. Oct. [?] 1880.
(he died a Christian.) Aged--24.

Nov. 1880.

Josie Lindley--died. Thur Nov. 16. 1880
aged. 7. yrs.
The darling baby of the family. truly. This year is terrible for us all!

Sept 1884

My people say I can go to College if I will give up on M., they think it is all for my good. M. asked me to elope (think of it.) with him. I told him I knew nothing of housework, how to run a house I mean, so he would not like me but he said he did not want a housekeeper but a wife to love. He also said he would love me...and be a help to me through my life and that I should have all the joy, pleasure and love that he could give “God help him” he said. I told him to wait and maybe I would love him after I had been away and had a chance in the world, but he said when I saw others I would forget and that if I gave him up it would be almost death to him as he had never loved anyone else so well he begged me so hard. I hardly knew what to say.

Feb 1885

M. has gone out west he wrote a not very complimentary or kind letter first.

May 1885

Mr. Piper called to bid me goodbye and coaxed so hard for my photo said if I would write to him, etc, etc, would bring down the loveliest ring he could find in Chicago to me if I would take it. And a lot more. but I couldn't let him have the photo. I like him because he is a thorough gentleman.

The boy said he loved me and was going to ask me___for he told one of them so, etc. but, I at least never gave him any cause to think I was in love with him I never never will again do as I did with Mr. P. and then have them accusing you and calling you that dreaded thing "a flirt"!





All transcribed material was retrieved from original documents housed at the Champaign County Historical Archives of The Urbana Free Library. Duplication is provided for educational use and is not intended to violate copyright laws.