A Few Words About the Walkers

After reposting my piece on the 20th Century Callin Clan, I wanted to take some time to share what I've learned about the parents and siblings of Amanda Walker Callin since that piece was originally written. Strictly speaking, this extended Walker family isn't part of the Callin Family History, but they have presented several tough puzzles and brick walls over the years, and I wanted to document what I know for sure.

William Walker was born on 24 July 1833 in Ithaca, Tompkins county, New York. He died on 27 December 1915 in Perrysburg, Wood county, Ohio. He was known in Webster township as "Yankee Walker," according to one obituary. He farmed and had raised his family in Scotch Ridge, and was buried in the Webster Township Cemetery there. Here is a detailed obituary I found in the Perrysburg Journal:
Found on Newspapers.com

He married Lydia Bowen in Fairfield, Huron county, Ohio, on 13 May 1856 (note the erasure of her identity from the obituary), and we find their young family in the 1860 U.S. Federal Census living in Webster township, Wood county, Ohio - the post office listed is Scotch Ridge.

There are three people listed who ought to give us important clues to identifying the parents of both William and Lydia:

Household members:
Name Age
William Walker 32
Lydia A Walker 28
Lydia A Walker 3
Martina Walker 2
William Walker 1
Adelade Bowin 14
Elizabeth Walker 60
Jesse Walker 21

This 1860 record has a few details wrong - this is the only record I've found that puts William's birthday around 1828 instead of 1833 - but it is definitely our William Walker. The 3-year-old "Lydia A" is our Amanda (referred to as "Mrs. Mandy Collin of Elyria" in his obituary), and Martina and William (age 1) match her two eldest siblings. While the 1860 Census does not identify relationships the way more recent Censuses do, Elizabeth Walker (60) is most likely William's mother, and Jesse Walker (21) could be a brother or nephew.

Looking at the 1840 Census for Ithaca, there is a Richard Walker listed who had two sons between the ages of 5 and 9; they could well be William and Jesse There are also three other Walker men listed in Tompkins county, all living in Lansing: Edward, James, and William. Each of them have sons who could plausibly be our William Walker. The 1850 Census does not seem to have any records that would tie the 1860 Walker family to anyone in the 1840, and I have not found anything that indicates when Elizabeth Walker might have died.

Jesse Walker, though, left a lot of records behind. He enlisted in the Union Army on 1 July 1863, in Webster, Wood county, Ohio. According to his Veteran's Headstone application, he reached the rank of Sergeant. After the war, he married Anna Samantha Fox (1844–1918), and they established a farm in Swan Creek, Fulton county, Ohio. They raised five sons and three daughters, and in the early 1900s, they relocated to Michigan. Annie and Jesse each died in Coldwater, Branch county, Michigan. Jesse died on 25 March 1925 and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery. His death record (which puts his birthday on 13 March 1838) does not name his mother, and only gives his father's surname.

Lydia A. Bowen (1828-1879) leaves almost as many questions as her husband. A lovely Ancestry user uploaded a scan of their 1856 marriage certificate, which confirms the date and location - Huron county, Ohio - and based on that, I think we can safely identify her in the Bowen family listed in Fairfield, Huron county, on the 1850 Census:


Household members:
Name Age
William Bowen 67
Mary Bowen 62
John Bowen 25
Lidia Bowen 23
Edward Bowen 18
Edwin Ball 26

Clearly, Lydia would have aged more than 5 years between 1850 and 1860, but that just tells us that the 1860 record has misstated her age, the way it misstated William Walker's age.

I have high confidence that the William (67) and Mary (62) Bowen listed here in 1850 are Lydia's parents, and her brothers are John (25) and Edward (18). I am slightly less confident that the same family is listed in Fairfield in the 1840 Census (the enumerator's handwriting could say "Brown"), but there are about six children listed in that record whose ages would accommodate John, Lidia, and Edward.

There is a Mary Bowen buried in the "Old" Cemetery in North Fairfield. The marker (pictured to the right) gives her date of death as August 2, 1863, and her age: 80y 6m 13d. The 1850 record approximates her birth in 1788 in New Jersey.

There are at least two men named William Bowen who have records in Ancestry's Wills & Probate database, but they died in Stark and Jackson counties, respectively, and neither will mentions people who match our Bowen family. Mary is listed in the 1860 Census, living with their son, Edward, and his wife and daughter in Fairfield, but William is not; I would expect to find a record of his death in the 1850s, but so far, no luck.

But, we still have the mystery of who Adelade Bowin might be. She is listed in the Walker household in 1860; she would seem not to be Lydia's sister - otherwise, she ought to have appeared in the 1850 record as a girl between the ages of 4 and 6. Unfortunately, none of the records for Adelaide or Adeline Bowen (or similar spellings) turn up any clues that match what we already know about the Bowen family.

The children of William and Lydia Bowen Walker

     I. Amanda Lydia Walker (1857–1933) married John Henry Callin, and you can learn more about their family in the previous post. I'll be posting about their descendants over the following weeks, too.

     II. Martina D. Walker (1858–1922) married Frank Springstead (1860–1935) on 14 May 1894; they divorced in 1910. They had two sons and a daughter. Martina lived in Quincy, Branch county, Michigan, but she died while in Missouri; she was probably there in February to prepare for the May wedding of her youngest son, Russell.

     III. William Riley Walker (1859–1925) married Amy Ann Grim (1868–1912) in 1888. They raised two sons and two daughters. After Amy's death in 1912, William went to live with his eldest daughter, Goldie, in Sherwood, Michigan, where he died in October 1925.

     IV. John Bowen Walker (1861–1937) married Amanda Warner (1860–1932) in 1884. They had four daughters, and were lifelong residents of Wood county.

     V. Mary Annette "Nettie" Walker (1862–??) married William J Dennis (1853–1928) in Monroe, Michigan, on 14 June 1881. They had four daughters and three sons over the next 15 years, mostly while living in Wood county. The family settled in Jackson, Paulding county, Ohio, around 1896, and remained there at least through 1910. In 1920, they were living in Detroit, Michigan. That is where William died in 1928.

     VI. James Perry Walker (1864–1954) married Anna Bell Keiser (1866–1932) in 1887, and they raised three sons and three daughters in Madison, Sandusky county, Ohio. Perry died in 1954, in Denver, Colorado; but he was buried back in Gibsonburg, Ohio, with Annabell.

     VII. Henry Franklin Walker (1867–1939) married Lottie Belle Younkin (1878–1937) in 1896, and they raised a daughter and a son in Bowling Green. They retired to Toledo, where they were living in 1930.

     VIII. Jane Alice (Algany) Walker (1868–1943) married William F Budd (1867–1922) in 1888, and they had 14 children over the following 24 years. In most of the records, she is referred to as "Jane," but "Algany" or "Algania" appear in the 1880 and 1910 Census records, respectively. Her 1943 Michigan death record gives her full name as "Jane Alice."

     IX. Emma E. Walker (1869–1947) married Oscar Fremont Kelly (1864–1946) in 1888, and they had seven children. Some time between 1915 and 1920, when she was approaching her 50th birthday, Emma was committed to the Toledo State Hospital, where she spent the remainder of her life.

After Lydia's death in 1879, William remarried in 1885. His second wife was Louisa Klinger (1843–1918), the widow of a Civil War veteran named Samuel T. Defrehn (1844–1876). Louisa had a daughter named Kittie (Catherine S.) Defrehn (1874-1925) would married Charles E. Muir in 1893. Louisa and William Walker also had a son.

     X. Herold Eugene Walker (1890–1966) married Nellie E Dennis (1893–1974) around 1917. (She does not seem to be related to William J Dennis, the husband of Herold's half-sister, Mary Annette Walker.) Herold and Nellie had three sons together, but at some point, Herold left the family in Toledo, and moved to Barnstable, Massachusetts. He was an artist, by occupation, and he settled in Provincetown by 1930, which is where he died in 1966.

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Thanks for sticking with me on this one! I hope it helps clear up some of your mysteries - and if you happen to be a Walker or Bowen researcher with more information, let me know!

Also, my DNA profile is on FTDNA.com, if you're researching that way. I'm still pretty lost when it comes to navigating alleles and sequences, but I've got the paper trail!

Myers Family B - One of the Cool Kids

Longtime readers know what a deep affection I have for interesting names. You may have also detected (or inherited?) my penchant for "dad jokes" - and this family you're about to study presents many opportunities for me to embarrass myself with both. If you suspect I'm making fun of one of your ancestor's fascinating monikers, I assure you I am only enjoying it in a way that is meant to express affection and appreciation. So please - be cool.

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John S. Cool (1828-1901) was born in Yates county, New York, the son of Philip and Mary Cool. Around 1833, Philip moved his family to Sandusky county, Ohio, but he soon died. Mary took her five youngest children (including John) back to New York, but her eldest son, Daniel, remained in Ohio. In 1839, eleven year old John went back to Ohio where he lived with Daniel until 1843, when John (now fifteen) and two other brothers, Christopher and Isaac, went to De Kalb county, Indiana.

In 1850, John traveled back through Ohio and headed to New Jersey, visiting family. A real, live pioneer visiting the Garden State, twenty-two years old, and with a forest cabin and farm back in Indiana, he must have seemed quite a catch to Sarah A. Wilson (1830-1892) of Sussex county, New Jersey. They married on 8 October 1851, and she returned to De Kalb county with him to raise a family. As the dusty old History of De Kalb County, Indiana put it, "They then came to his forest home and commenced housekeeping in the log cabin. Ten children have been born to them..."




 Amanda A. Myers (1865–1905) was, of course, the second eldest daughter of Welby and Eliza (Ferguson) Myers, who you may recall from previous posts. Amanda married Thomas J Cool (1860–1931) in 1882, not long after the birth of her brother, James Myers.

Tom was the fourth child to be born of the log cabin housekeeping of John and Sarah Cool. He was a farmer in Jackson township, which his father had helped found in 1874. The couple raised had six children before Amanda died in 1905. Her death certificate lists the cause of death as "toxemia," which is an out-dated term for pre-eclampsia, one of the many dangerous risks of pregnancy. She left behind two sons under ten, two daughters in their early teens, and three older children.

After Amanda's death, Tom remained unmarried, but he appears to have sold his farm and moved into Union City. This coincided with the rise of automobiles, and in 1910 Tom worked as a "dray man" for an auto factory.  In 1920, he worked in plumbing, but by 1930, he was working as a painter in an auto factory; probably the Auburn Automobile factory we've seen pop up in previous posts.

Tom died suddenly in 1931 from acute appendicitis. He was 71 years old.

• I. Helen Cool (1883-1972)

I have to confess that I almost missed Helen altogether when I put this post together. She did not show up in any of the Census records, and it was only after I found an obituary for her brother, Charles, that I even knew to start looking for her.

Once I did, I learned that she was the eldest child of Tom and Amanda, born 22 January 1883, according to most of the reliable records I found. Since Helen was not listed in the household in 1900, I assume that at 17, she may have found work outside the house, possibly as live-in hired help. She married Perry Ralph Davis (1872-1938) on 29 December 1905, in Detroit, and they moved to Toledo, where Perry was the proprietor of his own saloon.

They lived in Toledo until the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1919, put an end to Perry's saloon - at least legally. By 1920, the couple had moved to Long Beach, California, where Perry ran an auto accessories business, and eventually opened his own lunch room. After Perry died, around 1938, Helen stayed in Long Beach, and took work as a seamstress. She lived until 1972, and died in Downey, Los Angeles county, California.

• II. Charles Lewis Cool (1885–1928)

Charles grew up on his father's farm in Jackson township. He married Katherine "Kate" Gaskill (1890–1968) in April 1908, in Oceania, Michigan, and settled in the Pleasant township, located in Steuben county, not far from Angola, in the top/right-most corner of Indiana.

Kate was the daughter of  Richard J Gaskill (1842–1921) and Sylvina Wolcott (1846–1913), the youngest of their seven children. Their family had helped settle and establish Steuben county, much as the Cool family did De Kalb. She and Charley ran their farm in Pleasant township and had ten children before Charley's sudden death in October of 1928, at the age of 43. One night, he went out to check on his orchard, and was found dead that night at midnight, at the base of one of his trees.

I haven't found any documents to say how dire their situation was, but I know that just one year after Charley's death was Black Tuesday, the onset of what we now call the Great Depression. Farmers were typically not well off, as they were vulnerable to the boom-and-bust cycles of the economy, and rarely had the ability to build up savings. Dying at 43 was probably the most catastrophic thing that could happen to a farmer and his family.

This might explain what happened to this family between 1928 and the 1930 Census. Kate would have been pregnant with their tenth child when Charley died. Another, Henry, may have died in infancy in 1925; but that still left her with eight children who needed homes. There were two old enough to marry, one teen ager, and five who were under ten. Plus the year old baby, Elizabeth. Kate managed to find foster families for most of the younger children, and kept Elizabeth with her when she moved into her brother's home on North Wayne Street in Angola.

Kate eventually remarried, and moved to Bryan, Williams county, Ohio, with her second husband, Forest E Becker (1886–1969). She lived to be 79 years old, and Forest only outlived her by a few months.

     A. Margaret Ila Cool (1908–1987) married Oscar Leo Little (1906–1961) a few years before her father died. Ila and Oscar took in her 10 year old brother, Don, in 1930. Oscar was a farmer, and he and Ila raised one daughter on their farm. He died of a heart attack at the age of 54 in 1961. Ila stayed in their home, surviving until a stroke took her in 1987 at the age of 78.

     1. Betty Jean Little (1924–2003) married Richard A Yanka (1921–1986), who served in the U.S. Army in World War II as a Technical Sergeant. After the war, he completed a chemical engineering degree in 1948, and accepted a position in Chicago, Illinois, with the American Mayes Co. I don't believe the couple had any children.

     B. Gertrude Willidean Cool (1911–1991) married Elmo Earl Sams (1905–1971) on 13 October 1928 - the same month her father died. Elmo farmed and hired out as a laborer during the 1930s, staying mostly in Steuben county; but some time either before or after the Second World War, the family moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, where Elmo found work as a machinist.

The couple raised seven children, two of whom are still living.

     1. Mary Kathryn Sams (1929–2012) was born at the very beginning of the Great Depression, and grew up to marry Eugene Roy Latta (1926–2003) after World War II in Battle Creek. Mary was employed for 42 years at the Weston Biscuit Company (making Girl Scout Cookies) until her retirement in 1989. Two of their children died young, but Mary was survived by a son, three daughters, eleven grandchildren, thirty great-grandchildren.

     a. Diane Kay Latta (1948–1950) died at one year of age.

     b. Gordon E. "Gordie" Latta (1954–1979) died at 25 in Battle Creek, Michigan. I have not found any mention of a cause of death.

     3. Rebecca Jane (Sams) Miller (1931–2002) left behind very little in the records I have found. I know she married, and have her husband's name from one of her sibling's obituaries. I found her 1950 year book photo from Lakeview High school in Battle Creek. And I know that she died in 2002, but have no details. I have found no other information about her husband, so I don't know if he is still living.

     5. Charles Lewis Sams (1936–2000) was a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving in 1955 and 1956. After 1990 he lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan; he died in 2000 and was buried in the Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens in Grand Rapids.

     6. Earline Sue (Sams) Eldred (1940–2015) married on 1 March 1958, and her husband is still living. She worked at Hastings Aluminum and Hastings City Bank until retirement. After that, she and her husband had a trailer at Upper Crooked Lake, and enjoyed fishing. When she died Earline left behind her husband, four children, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

     7. Robert Eugene Sams Sr (1944–2011) graduated from Springfield High School in 1962, attended Western Michigan University, and proudly served in the USAF. He worked in the manufacturing and auto industry until moving to Las Vegas in 1990 where he was a 21 year employee of the Gold Strike Hotel & Casino. He was married to Jeanne Hilyard (1943–1981) about 1965, and they had four children, one of whom survives. After Jeanne died, Bob remarried, and his second wife is still alive, as well. I know very little about Bob's deceased children beyond their names and dates:

       a. Melissa Ann "Missa" Sams (1967–1997)
       b. Robert Eugene Sams Jr (1969–1975)
       c. Samantha A Sams (1988–1989)

     C. Thomas Richard Cool (1914–1977) was about 14 years old when his father died, and Thomas went to live with a foster family: Alva and Myrtle Masten. They remained close throughout Thomas's life. He married, and his wife survived him, but they did not have any children together.

     D. Don Charles Cool (1918–1994) went to live with his older sister, Ila Margaret, and her new husband and baby. His little niece was only a few years younger than he was. When Don grew up, he married Maxine Sanders (1918–1966) in February 1938. At first, they lived with her parents on their farm. They had four sons, two still living, before Maxine died in 1966.

     1. Lanny D Cool (1938–2010) worked for GE from 1966 until his retirement from Lockheed Martin in 2000. He served in the United States Air National Guard. He was married in 1961, and his wife survived him, along with two sons, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

     2. Kevin Lee Cool (1956–1979) was only 23 when he was in an auto accident that fractured his spine. He was a graduate of the Hamilton Community school.

     E. D. O. Cool (1920-1937) and his brother, Ted, went to live with elderly sisters, Rose and Irene Crain, after their father's death. D. O. was only 17 years old when he was killed in a car accident. He was described as an industrious young man, well liked by all.

     F. Ted Eugene Cool (1922–1997) graduated from Hamilton High School in 1941, earning his bachelor of science degree from Findlay College, and his master of art from Ball State University, Muncie. He served in World War II, and then taught school in Eaton and Selma in Delaware County.

He married Janice Lee Buller (1931–2013) 17 November 1951 in Eaton, Indiana, and they raised one daughter, who is still living. The couple lived in Muncie until 1995 when they moved to Attica, in Fountain county, Indiana. Janice was employed nearly 40 years with Ball State University, retiring in 1995, as head secretary in the math department.

     F. Ruth Marie (Cool) Wilson (1923–1987) went to live in the home of John and Amy Sowle after her father's death, when she was five years old. She may have also lived with Alva and Myrtle Masten, as her maiden name appeared as "Masten" in one record that I ran across.

She married, and she and her husband raised at least one daughter. Ruth died at age 64, but I haven't been able to find enough information about her husband to know whether he is still living.

     1. Sandra Ann (Wilson) English (1943-1998) was married several times, and I think she may have had at least one child; but the only thing that is certain is that she died very young.

     G. Henry Cool (b. 1925) presents a bit of a mystery; there is definitely a birth certificate for him, and the obituaries I have found for his siblings indicate that he predeceased them, but I haven't found any other records. I'm inclined to believe that he died in infancy, as some other researchers have concluded.

     H. Kenneth Leroy Cool (1926–2001) went to live with his older sister, Gertrude, and his brother-in-law, Elmo Sams, after their father died. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War, and definitely left a bride behind who visited his family in 1953; but I have not been able to track down any further information about his family until the records of his 1987, at age 64. That wife survives him.

     I. Elizabeth Jean (Cool) Kelly (1927–1993) was only a year old when her father died, and she went with her mother to live with her aunt and uncle; Kate Cool's brother, Jason (or Jay) and his wife Hattie Gaskill. Elizabeth also married multiple times, according to the records I've been able to find; she moved west at some point, and as best as I can tell, she married her last husband in 1975, and by 1977 they were living in Los Angeles, where she died not quite twenty years later.

     J. Charles Cool Jr (b. 1929) may be the most tragic part of this story. Once again, I only have a birth certificate, which clearly puts his birth date on 19 March 1929, and names his parents; but while he should be with Elizabeth and their mother on the 1930 Census, he is not. I suspect he also died in infancy, adding to the tragedy of his father's death a few months before.

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       Once again, we're short on time and space, and we've only covered the first two of Amanda and Tom Cool's children. Depending on how extensive each of their families are, we may need a few more weeks to look at the rest!

• III. Walter Perry Cool (1887–1979)
• IV. Grace E Cool (1890–1984)
• V. Bessie L Cool (1893–1980)
• VI. James Don Cool (1896–1972)
• VII. Frankie L Cool (1902–1977)

As always, please drop a comment below, send an email, or join the Callin Family History Facebook group if you are related to any of the people in this post. If you are, then you belong in the Callin Family History, too!

Until next time - be Cool!

(I couldn't resist...it didn't help that we're going through a heat wave this week in Maryland.)