Sunday's Obituary - Margaret (Porter) Douglass

Sarah Margaret (Porter) Douglass, my first cousin twice removed, died 23 December 1974 in Sidney, Richland County, Montana.

 “Douglass

SIDNEY — Margaret Douglass, 90, of Sidney, died Sunday in the Community Memorial Hospital.

She was born March 16, 1884, in Todd County, Minn., a daughter of Mrs. and Mrs. Cornelius Porter.

In 1906 she moved to Montana and homesteaded on Gossett Flats. She was married to Stephen Douglass Feb. 2, 1908, in Glendive. They ranched east of the Yellowstone River until 1924 when they worked for Holly Sugar Co. until 1945. In 1948 they moved to Crane where she worked as a post mistress until 1951 when they moved to Sidney.

She was a member of Lonsdale United Methodist Church, a charter member of Royal Neighbors, a charter member of Veterans of Foreign Wars and a charter member of Senior Citizens.

Survivors include a son, Charles Douglass of Helena; a daughter Mrs. Shirley Obergfell, of Sidney; a brother, Robert Porter of Glendive; a sister Nellie Powers of Columbus; 15 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday in Lonsdale United Methodist Church, the Rev. Howard Hunter officiating. Burial will be in the Sidney Cemetery. Fulkerson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.”

[SOURCE: "Douglass," Billings Gazette, 24 Dec 1974, p. 10, col. 7; digital images, AccessNewspaperArchive (access by subscription : accessed 6 Oct 2011).]

© 2012 Denise Spurlock

I Found Mama in the 1940 Census (and Grandma and Grandpa!)

I had done my homework so I knew my mother’s address in 1940: 3526 Farago, El Monte, Los Angeles County, California. I had figured out that was in Enumeration District 19-156, so once the 1940 census images became available on Ancestry.com, I knew just where to go! It didn’t take long to find her on Sheet 16A, along with her first husband, Archie Sherrell, and two of my older siblings, Deanna and Arnold (Arny):

Source: 1940 U.S. Census, Los Angeles County, California, population schedule,
El Monte Judicial Township, Enumeration District 19-156, Sheet 16A,
household number 361, Archie Sherrell; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com :
accessed 3 April 2012); citing NARA microfilm number T627.

I knew that my Aunt Jean lived next door to Mama at that time and she and her family were enumerated beginning on the previous page.

Since this was the first census on which my brother appeared, I emailed him a copy of the page. He remembers the house and living next door to Aunt Jean and her children.

Mama had told me that she and Archie were married in 1935 in Kansas City, Missouri, so I expected that, in all likelihood, they were living there, and I was right. However, their marriage license was issued in Johnson County, Missouri, and that had puzzled me. I think I found the answer to that question. Archie’s mother, Lola Carson, was living with them in 1940, and in 1935, she was living in Johnson County, Missouri!

Things must have been pretty tight financially. According to the census, Archie was a laborer in construction but had been unemployed for 52 weeks. Having two young children, Mama didn’t work. Lola had been a cook on a ranch, but had been unemployed for 36 weeks. Their total combined income in 1939 was less than $700!

I also had my Yawman grandparents’ address: 3304 Freer in El Monte. I wasn’t sure which Enumeration District that would be in, but had narrowed down to the same as my mother and one other. So after I found Mama, I just kept going through the pages. Two pages later, I found my grandparents on Sheet 17A:

Source: 1940 U.S. Census, Los Angeles County, California, population schedule,
El Monte Judicial Township, Enumeration District 19-156, Sheet 17A,
household number 387, William Yawman; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com :
accessed 3 April 2012); citing NARA microfilm number T627.

Grandpa Yawman was enumerated on line 14 so the supplementary questions were answered. But there was nothing there that I didn’t already know!

© 2012 Denise Spurlock

Surname Saturday - Ancestor #15 - Ruth Franklin

One of my goals for 2012 is to use the Surname Saturday blogging prompt as a way to assure that I spend some time researching each of my family lines and that I have appropriate source citations for the genealogical facts related to my ancestors. I’ve decided to use my ahnentafel report and work back through the generations starting with my grandparents, writing a summary of each ancestor. If you discovered this post through a search engine and find one of your ancestors listed here, please leave a comment to let me know.

My maternal great-grandmother Ruth FRANKLIN was born 12 March 1851 in Ohio.[1] She was the firstborn child of Joseph and Rhoda (CARY) FRANKLIN.[2]

Ruth grew into adulthood in Union County, Ohio,[3] and married David SNIDER on 5 January 1871.[4] The 1900 census record indicates she was the mother of 10 children:[5]

• Lawrence W. (1871-?)[6]
• Omer Roy (1873-before 1900)[7]
• Ottous Adelbert (1876-1942)[8]
• Myrtle Arminta (1878-1958)[9] – my grandmother
• Byron Lee (1880-1969)[10]
• Wilbur Grey (1884-1954)
• Ernest A. (1886-1978)[11]
• Nettie (1888-?)
• William L. (1890-?)
• Lester Evan (1893-1969)[12]

At some point after the 1880 census,[13] David and Ruth moved with their family to the southeastern area of Kansas.

Ruth died on 28 August 1914 and is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Parsons, Labette County, Kansas.[14]

All I know about Ruth is what I have been able to glean from records. She was my mother’s grandmother, but she died before my mother was born, so Mama never knew her. As I continue to do descendancy research on this family, I hope that I will be able to learn more about her. It would be wonderful if I could find a distant cousin who has a photograph of her!

---

[1] Labette County, Kansas, death certificate no. illegible (1914), Ruth Snider; Kansas Board of Health.

[2] 1860 U.S. census, population schedule, Leesburg Township, Union County, Ohio, p. 28, dwelling 421, family 397, Joseph Franklin; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Feb 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M653, roll 1044.

[3] 1870 U.S. census, population schedule, Taylor Township, Union County, Ohio, p. 1, dwelling 4, family 4, Joseph Franklin; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Feb 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M593, roll 1274.

[4] Union County, Ohio, marriage certificate no. 4852 (1871), Snider-Franklin; Union County Courthouse, Marysville.

[5] 1900 U.S. census, population schedule, Lincoln, Neosho County, Kansas, Enumeration District (ED) 155, sheet 1A, dwelling 3, family 3, David A. Snyder; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 April 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 493.

[6] "Ohio, Births and Christenings Index, 1800-1962," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Feb 2012), entry for Lawrence W. Snider; citing Family History Library film number 1015856.

[7] "Ohio, Births and Christenings Index, 1800-1962," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Feb 2012), entry for Omer Roy Snider; citing Family History Library film number 1015856.

[8] State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics, "California Death Index, 1940-1997," online database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Mar 2012), entry for Ottous A. Snider, died 9 Sep 1942.

[9] Washington State Department of Health, death certificate 10617 (1958), Myrtle A. Yawman; Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics, Olympia.

[10] findagrave.com, digital images (www.findagrave.com : accessed 27 Mar 2012), Find A Grave Memorial #28399745, Lee B. Snider, created by TiogaRose, 19 July 2008.

[11] Social Security Administration, "Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Dec 2009), entry for Ernest Snider, 1978, SS no. 338-12-2201.

[12] Social Security Administration, "Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Dec 2009), entry for Lester Snyder, 1969, SS no. 513-14-3782.

[13] 1880 U.S. census, population schedule, Leesburg, Union County, Ohio, enumeration district (ED) 81, p. 181A, dwelling (unreadable), family (unreadable), David A. Snider; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 Feb 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 1073.

[14] Labette County, Kansas, death certificate no. illegible (1914), Ruth Snider.


© 2012 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - Mama and her cast iron skillet

Digital image.

Beaulah Belle Yawman Spurlock

about 1978

(She loved her cast iron skillets!)

© 2012 Denise Spurlock

Amanuensis Monday - Land Grant - William Martindell 1817

On his TransylvanianDutch blog, John Newmark defines an amanuensis as “a person employed to write out what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.” For more information about this daily blogging prompt, see John’s post Amanuensis – Why?.

I have amassed quite a collection of scans of handwritten documents related to my ancestors—primarily marriage records, deeds, and wills. As I have been transcribing these documents, it occurred to me that most of these documents were not actually written by my ancestors, but rather dictated to someone else, and then transcribed by a clerk into official records.

Although I do not yet have enough evidence to prove the relationship, my hypothesis is that William Martindell/Martindale (born about 1780 and died after 1860) was the father of my paternal 2^nd great-grandfather Howell Brewer Martindale (born 1814 in Moore County, NC, died about 1866 in Arkansas) and that William’s wife was probably a Brewer. Only two Martindale men are enumerated in the 1820 Moore County, North Carolina, census that could be the father of Howell: Samuel Martindale and William Martindale. Samuel is considerably older than William and may be his father. The following land grant to William Martindell mentions Mycajah (Micajah) Brewer as an adjacent landowner; it is not uncommon for collateral families to be close neighbors.

Determining the parents of Howell Brewer Martindale is one of my goals this year, but it’s going to be tough!

“Book 134. State of North Carolina.

No. 2447. Know ye that we have granted unto William Martindell one hundred acres of land in Moore County; on the East side of fall Creek; Beginning at a stake in a rut between a pine post & red Oak Mycajah Brewers corner running thence as Brewers line North thirty East twenty chains to his corner, thence as his other line East forty one chains to his other corner thence North fifteen chains, thence South twenty eight East twenty one chains and seventy links Parsons second corner of two hundred acres thence as Parsons second line West twenty five chains to his third corner, thence as his third line South sixty three chains and twenty five links to the corner, thence North twelve and a half West fifty one chains to a pine Wills's corner thence as Wills's line to the Beginning. Entered 18th.February 1817. To Hold to the said William Martindell his heirs and assigns forever. Dated the 22d. day of December 1819.

Wm. Hil Secretary                                         Jno. Branch”

Source: Moore County, North Carolina, Record of Grants, Volume 2, page 705,
State of North Carolina to William Martindell, entered 18 February 1817;
 Family History Library microfilm 546530.

© 2012 Denise Spurlock

You may have heard...

the 1940 US Census was released this morning!

Woo hoo!

Because there is no name index, only images, I am restricting my searches to the following family members:

• Great-grandfather John F. Spurlock (Jonesboro, Jackson Parish, LA, probably in Enumeration District (ED) 25-5)
• Grandfather Jasper J. Spurlock (Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA, probably in ED 60-999)
• Grandmother Mamie Spurlock (Houston, Harris County, TX, probably in ED 258-37 or 258-38)
• Grandparents William and Myrtle Yawman (El Monte, Los Angeles County, CA, probably ED 19-387)
• Father Jasper J. Spurlock (likely enumerated with Mamie Spurlock)
• Mother Beaulah Sherrell (El Monte, Los Angeles County, CA, probably ED 19-156)

What will be really exciting is to see my three oldest siblings enumerated on the census—Jane, Deanna and Arny!

EVERYONE is looking for their ancestors and the sites that have the images are struggling to keep up with the demand. The only images I’ve been able to see have been for Delaware; here’s what the census pages look like:

I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

© 2012 Denise Spurlock

Sunday's Obituary - Ellison Snider

Ellison Snider, my first cousin twice removed, died 18 December 1963 in Marysville, Union County, Ohio.

“Ellison Snider

Found Dead At

Home Thursday

Ellison Snider, 75, 118 E. Eighth St., died sometime in the night Wednesday.

Marysville police discovered the body about 10:30 a.m. Thursday when they were called by neighbors who feared something was wrong when they saw no activity about the house. He lived alone and was the last member of his family.

A retired employee of the former Davis Chair Factory, he was born June 27, 1888, in Union County to Joseph and Melissa (Blue) Snider.

He was a member of the First Methodist Church, a veteran of World War I, a member of the American Legion, and the Disabled American Veterans.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Faulkner Funeral Home with the Rev. Paul Tropf officiating. Burial will be in Oakdale Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home any time.”

[SOURCE: "Ellison Snider Found Dead At Home Thursday," The Marysville Journal-Tribute, 19 Dec 1963, p. 2, col. 5; digital images, Genealogy Bank (www.genealogybank.com : accessed 4 Jul 2010).]

© 2012 Denise Spurlock