March 7, 2012
There’s a great deal of raw artistic talent among the Shea descendants and I often wonder how much of that is a trait passed on or whether it is other influences on the line. This is a drawing said to be by Ellen Cunningham Shea of her son, my great grandfather, Robert James Shea.
The original drawing is on something like cardborad but not canvas. It resides in the collection of my Great Aunt.
Happy Hunting,
Jess
March 4, 2012
Today would have been my Great-Grandfather’s 107th Birthday. I don’t know a lot about him personally. I don’t remember him, though I was seven when he died. For practical purposes my Great Grandfather was Grandma’s second husband, my Grandpa Bailey.
Robert was the son of William Amos Johnson and Lena Grove Baker, he had one sister, Betty Lou, who was much younger and died at the age of twelve. Like many members of the extended family, he worked a stint at the shoe factory in Rockford and is subsequently listed as working in manufacturing. He married my Great Grandmother Crystal in April of 1927 and they had four children. And sometime between 1933 and 1934 there was a nasty divorce. But regardless of the reasons for the subsequent estrangement, he was able to have a relationship with his family later in life.
This is a section of a photo postcard from the collection of the Rockford Historical Museum.
Happy Hunting,
Jess
March 3, 2012
Today marks the 225th anniversary of the birth of the father of our first Bailey family to settle in Kent County, Smith Bailey.
Smith was a native of Vermont and married Eunice King in January of 1807. The couple began their family in Vermont, relocated for a time to Oswego, NY, and then moved on to Washtenaw Co., Michigan in time for the 1840 Census. The Bailey’s and their extended family had settled in Cannon Twp, Kent Co., Michigan sometime in the 1840s. But in 1846 they had established their farm and home and hosted the organizing meeting for the First Congregational Church at Steele’s Corner’s, now Bostwick Lake Congregational Church.
The couple had ten children: Helena V. (who married Henry Sherman), Jerusha King (who married J. W. Scott), Eunice King (who married Harrison Pitcher), Chloe (who married Simon Scott), Smith Jr. (who married Marian Waite), William King (who married Susan Howard), Luther (died unmarried), Sarah (who married Harvey Porter—Seth’s Brother) and Emeline who married John Kronk.
Smith Bailey died Jun 19, 1864 at the age of 77.
My Grandpa Bailey was the grandson of William King Bailey, through his son George.
Happy Hunting,
Jess
February 29, 2012
Tomorrow is the 100th Anniversary of the birth of my Great Aunt Rosie Lee Trotter Johnson. To the best of our knowledge she was oldest child of Harrison and Rhoda (Rogers) Trotter. She married Leroy Johnson in August of 1932 and the couple had nine children.
The digital file is from my father’s collection but the originals were turned in during a call for photos before our last Trotter-Rogers Reunion.
Happy Hunting,
Jess
February 24, 2012
Yesterday marked the 135th anniversary of the death of, by all accounts, a grand old lady… Mrs. Hannah Gilbert Dubois (my 6th Great Grandmother), known at the time to Rockford and much of West Michigan as Mother Gilbert.
She was born in Vermont the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran, David Johnson and his wife Mary Joiner. At the age of sixteen she married Asa Gilbert in Saratoga, New York and they lived first in Genesee County and then back in Saratoga, New York. In 1828 the couple and nine children (two married), became pioneers of Washtenaw County, Michigan where Mrs. Gilbert faced tremendous loss. Asa died within the year, and a son followed during a harsh winter in 1843. She married a much older widower, Jacob DuBois of Alaiedon Township, Ingham County, Michigan in 1841 who died three years later. But Mrs. Gilbert, noted in reminiscences in the Michigan Pioneer Collection, as “Aunt Hannah” was evidently a devout, strong woman and this only accounts for the first 60 years of her life. Her remaining 30 plus, saw years of devoted service to the Methodist church, her large family, and her communities.
Mother Gilbert issued the invitations and enjoyed the festivities of her daughter, Katherine Gilbert Lapham’s, Golden Wedding in 1876. She saw the births of numerous great great grandchildren. And, according to her obituary in the Rockford Register, she was only slowed by age and infirmity in the last three years of her life. She died 23 Feb 1877 at the home of Smith and Katherine Gilbert Lapham.
Scan of an image from the Gilbert Surname file at the Rockford Historical Museum, Rockford MI
Happy hunting,
Jess
February 22, 2012
My grandfather would have been 91 this week.
Happy Hunting,
Jess
February 18, 2012
In the process of looking for information to fill out a future blog entry, I happened upon the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections. It is a collection that I had heard of and I’d seen things transcribed from, but I’d never had the opportunity to use it. And with a portion of my family solidly planted in the Michigan Territory prior to the 1830s, this is a source I had planned to check out. So I was thrilled to find an MSU Libraries Research Guide that linked to the Hathi Trust Digital Library’s catalog entry for the digitized volumes.
The collection takes some searching. It consists of three distinct series of varying quality from reminiscences to solid historical research largely covering a span from 1650-1850. Also digitized are two indexes covering about 30 of the 40 volumes; but the rest are individually searchable. I spent way too much time just searching various family names. I hit solidly on my Lapham and Gilbert connections and their allied lines, finding a mix of anecdotal and more trustworthy notes. If you’ve got Michigan pioneer ancestors this is worth checking out and infinitely easier now that it’s digitized.
Happy hunting,
Jess
February 15, 2012
I’ve always viewed February as Gran’s month. I‘m sure you’re thrilled but… Love you, Grandma!
This is Gran and her cousin Flora. Gran’s the taller one… I rarely get to say that.
Happy Hunting,
Jess
February 13, 2012
So, I was hanging out at my parents working on genealogy on my computer when my nephews and niece came over. My seven-year-old nephew came right over and wanted to know what I was doing. At the time I was bouncing between Ancestry.com and my database. He asked when the person I was working on was born; it was about 308 years ago. He thought that was cool. Then he wanted to see a chart from him, and one from his brother. He was picking out people that he knew. It was a lovely moment.
Then, his three-year-old sister came around and wanted to see pictures. So I showed her pictures of her brothers that I have tied to their database entries, then pictures of their parents. Then she asked to see pictures of me. So, I showed her the ones of me ranging from probably age 2 up to 32. She looked at two of the pictures and said, “That’s me!!” In the grand scheme of things we look nothing alike, but she would not be convinced—she was right as only a very stubborn three-year-old can be.
This is not my niece!
I am hoping I have a chance to convert the eldest to genealogy but I don’t have such high hopes with darling little Miss Thing. Though, all three have offered to be cemetery assistants this summer!
Happy Hunting,
Jess
February 11, 2012
I’ve managed to sneak over to the Library of Michigan a few times in the last couple weeks with the hopes of checking my oldest research and sources. I actually did a bit of a double take when I realized how long I’ve been working on some of my families and how haphazardly I cited when I started. Please believe I have improved dramatically!
That said, I forget sometimes—as it’s in my own backyard—just how fabulous the Genealogy Collection is at LOM. The microform, book, and newspaper collections kept me going for years before I ever travelled to another institution. This past week I worked with a 2 volume, fabulously footnoted, genealogy of the Holden family and a couple of county histories from New York. Next week will probably be a couple of different New York Counties and looking for Kent County obituaries. And I know that there are hundreds of relatives still tucked away in the collection for me to find.
All politics aside—and there has been a lot surrounding the Library in the last 3 or 4 years as the State tried to decide what it would fund—it’s still a notable collection for researchers in general, and Michigan families in particular. If you haven’t already, check it out.
Happy Hunting,
Jess
Genie Road Trip 