CFH First Draft: Fred Edward Sharp

This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

Fred Edward Sharp is the 103th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

Please use the Contact Form (at right) to send questions or corrections.

CFH First Draft: Alice Augusta Sharp Rogers

 This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

Alice Augusta Sharp is the 99th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

Please use the Contact Form (at right) to send questions or corrections.

CFH First Draft: Margaret Jane Ferguson Gallaher

 This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

Margaret Jane Ferguson is the 46th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

Please use the Contact Form (at right) to send questions or corrections.

Harvey Dobson's Legacy

Welcome Back!

Harvey's place in the Callin Family History

This week, we are continuing with Harvey, the second of seven children born to Joseph and Lucina (Scott) Dobson.

     II. Harvey N Dobson (1866–1905)

Harvey was born in March 1866 and grew up in Burritt Township, Illinois. He married Carrie P Ackra (1870–1935) in 1888. Carrie was born in Norway on 12 September 1870; her parents, Albert Ackra (1837–1922) and Carrie Johnson (1848–1921), brought their family to the United States around 1882.

Harvey and Carrie had two daughters and two sons in Rockford before Harvey died in about 1905, before he turned 40. I have been unable to find any record of Harvey's death to pin down the precise date or a cause of death.

Carrie remarried Walter A Holcomb (1860–1932) on 1 May 1907, and they lived in Rockford for the rest of their lives, raising the younger Dobson children and another son, Walter Holcomb, Jr. (b. 1913). Walter died on 30 April 1902, and Carrie on 7 August 1935. Walter is buried in Silver Creek Cemetery, located in Leaf River, Ogle County, Illinois.

     A. Eva May Dobson (1889–1983) was born on 19 December 1889 in Illinois, probably Rockford. She married Harland Roscoe Snyder (1881–1942), son of John W Snyder (1847–1929) and Elizabeth Thomas (1849–1937), on her 18th birthday in 1907. They lived in Stephenson County, Illinois, not far from where Harland was born in Lancaster township on 14 March 1881.

The young couple had three children: two sons and a daughter. Harland worked for the Henney Motor Company for 25 years, but he died unexpectedly on 28 January 1942, a week after having an appendectomy. Eva survived him by 41 years and remained in their home on 10 South Albert Street, in Freeport, Illinois, supporting herself by working as a laundress for the Sanitary Laundry & Dry Cleaners. She remained in Freeport until at least 1960.

Eva died on 21 October 1983 in Sacramento County, California, and was buried near Harland in Oakland Cemetery in Freeport, Illinois. She was 93 years old.

     1. Ralph H Snyder (1909–1987) was born on 4 September 1909, in Freeport, Illinois. He married Margaret F Strohacker (1903–1982) on 26 February 1938. Margaret was born on 3 November 1903 to the late William Strohacker (1872–1936) and Matilda Neberman (1875–1935).

The couple lived in Freeport where Ralph worked as a machine operator for the Fairbanks Morse Engine company. Margaret died in December 1982 in Freeport at the age of 79, and Ralph died in June 1987 at the age of 77. They are buried in Oakland Cemetery in Freeport.

Seabees recruits · Wed, Aug 25, 1943 – Page 4 · Freeport Journal-Standard (Freeport, Illinois) · Newspapers.com
     2. Clarence Albert Snyder (1913–1991) was born in Freeport, Illinois, on 4 December 1913. After he graduated from Freeport High School in 1932, he worked as a file clerk in Freeport. After the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the Seabees from 27 August 1943 to 25 November 1945.

After the war, he lived with his widowed mother on 10 S. Albert, and worked as an inspector, specializing in gauges. In 1960, he was a foreman at the Micro Switch company.

Clarence died in Sacramento, California, on 15 May 1991. I found no evidence that he married or had children, but it's possible that he did. He and his mother likely moved to California together during the 1960s or 1970s. He is also buried in Oakland Cemetery, back in Freeport, Illinois.

     3. Helen Dora Snyder (1918–2001) was born on 12 February 1918 in Freeport, Illinois. She graduated from Freeport High School in 1936 and took a trip to Bermuda that year. After high school, she worked as a bookbinder in Lancaster, Illinois.

Helen married Harry Bernard Kintzel (1920–2003) on 15 March 1941. He was the son of William Henry Kintzel (1887–1927) and Harriett Dorothy "Hattie" Boetker (b. 1891). William died when Harry was seven years old, and Harry grew up in his step-father's house.

Records are sparse, but based on what I have found, Harry and Helen had at least one son and a daughter (still living) before they divorced. Helen remarried Walter Weis (1913–1955) on 26 May 1951. Walter died after being struck by a car in December 1954. Harry married Lillian Schulze (1920–1985) on 18 November 1955 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Lillian died on 20 October 1985 in Neshkoro, Wisconsin; Harry died 16 May 2003 in Freeport.

Helen Weis moved out to Sacramento, California, possibly around the same time her mother and brother did. She died in Sacramento on 24 August 2001.

     a. Kary Kaye Kintzel (1944–2002) was the son of Harry B. and Helen D. (Snyder) Kintzel. He was born on 15 January 1944 in Freeport, Illinois, and he attended Freeport High School. He lived in Milwaukee for a time and died there on 12 January 2002.

     B. George W Dobson (1892–1977) was born on 22 February 1892 and raised in Rockford, Illinois. After his father, Harvey, died in 1905, and his mother married Walter Holcomb, George probably lived with them until setting out on his own. He was 18 years old in 1910, and he may be the hired man who appears in the Census in De Kalb, Illinois, in the household of Fred Munson.

George enlisted in the U.S. Army on 25 May 1916 and served as a private during World War I. He was discharged on 20 February 1919 and went back to Rockford, where he was listed in the Holcomb household with his two younger siblings in 1920. I suspect that during his time in the Army, George was probably stationed in Oklahoma, as that's where he married Ruby B Maddox (1905–1991) on 20 January 1926. She was the daughter of James Edgar Maddox (1878–1956) and Lydia M Gilliland (1887–1966) born on 20 March 1905.

George and Ruby lived in Fort Gibson and Muskogee, where George worked as a driver and laborer. They raised two daughters, both still living. George died in Muskogee on 6 March 1977 and was buried in Fort Gibson National Cemetery. Ruby died on 1 November 1991 and was buried near her husband.

     C. Clarence A Dobson (1896–1977) grew up in Rockford, raised by his mother and step-father. He enlisted in the U.S. Army National Guard on 23 June 1916 and was assigned to Company H, 129th Infantry. The unit shipped out from Hoboken, New Jersey, on 10 May 1918 aboard the ship President Lincoln. He was wounded in action on 11 November, as the 129th was still engaged in fighting up to 30 minutes before World War I ended. Clarence remained in France until he was shipped back from Brest on 15 May 1919, likely to allow him time to recuperate. He was discharged from active duty on 6 June 1919, but he seems to have remained in the Guard.

Clarence married Norma Elizabeth Nelson (1897–1960), the daughter of Swedish immigrants, Nels Nelson (b. 1867) and Tilda Christine Anderson (b. 1865), and they had two daughters. Norma was born on 7 July 1897 in Rockford. The family seems to have lived with Norma's mother, as Clarence and Norma are listed as living at 123 Regan St. in 1925 and 1926, and Norma and the girls were listed as living there on the 1930 and 1940 Census records.

Clarence was listed in 1930 as a soldier residing at the Fort Sheridan Military Reservation in Lake County, Illinois, and in 1940 as a divorced boarder living in Lyndon, Juneau County, Wisconsin. Records don't show when they might have divorced, but Clarence did remarry. His second wife was Amanda Ethel Stratton (1894–1992), daughter of William Arthur Stratton (1869–1933) and Emma E Cooper (born 1864).

Norma died on 24 December 1960 in Winnebago County, and Clarence died on 11 January 1977 in Quincy, Adams County, Illinois. Clarence and Ethel were buried in Sunset Cemetery in Quincy.

     1. Ruth Elizabeth Dobson (1920–2005) was born on Boxing Day, 26 December 1920, in Rockford, Illinois. She grew up in a household with her grandmother, Tilda Rehn, her aunt Della, and her mother and sister. She married Howard Glenn Allen (1916–1991) in Rockford on 2 May 1942.

Howard was born 29 January 1916 in Rockford to William Allen Jr (1885–1963) and Katherine E Ott (1889–1963). He was enlisted in the U.S. Army from 12 June 1943 through 21 February 1946 and was a city firefighter in Rockford during the 1940s and 1950s.

Howard died on 5 October 1991 and was buried in the Scandinavian Cemetery in Rockford. Ruth died on 27 May 2005 and was buried with him. Their marker indicates that they were parents, but I have found no sources to say how many children they had or who they were.

     2. June Alberta Dobson (1922–1991) was born on 27 August 1922 in Rockford and graduated from East High School in 1942. She worked for many years as a clerk and notary public before she married Wilferd Otinius Benson (1920–1991), the son of Ole Benson (1872–1956) and Laura Andrea Peterson (1880–1948). According to other researchers, their wedding was on 27 April 1963 in Rockford, Illinois; however, I have not been able to corroborate that fact with available records.

Wilferd was born 17 February 1920 in Boscobel, Grant County, Wisconsin, and he worked at home on the family farm until his enlistment in the U.S. Army on 24 September 1942. After World War II he lived in Rockford, where he worked as a gas fitter for the Central Illinois Electric & Gas company.

June and Wilferd both died on 27 August 1991 in Wisconsin, but aside from the Wisconsin Death Index and Social Security records, I have not found any documents or obituaries that explain what happened. They are buried together in Scandinavian Cemetery in Rockford, and I presume they left no children behind.

     D. Jessie Marie Dobson (1903–1999) was born on 13 October 1903 in South Grove, De Kalb County, Illinois, but she grew up in the Rockford home of her mother and step-father. She was listed in Rockford in 1918 at the same address as her brothers, George and Clarence, who were both serving in the Army at the time.

After the 1920 Census, Jessie left few records to help me tell her story. We know from the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 that she was married, and that her married name was registered as Jessie Marie Hamlin in 1977 and 1987. That document also lists her parents' names, her date and place of birth, and her death on 14 March 1999. The Social Security Death Index tells us that her last benefit was paid in Chula Vista, San Diego County, California.

Working backward, there is a 1993 record in the U.S. Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002 database which places Jessie M. Hamlin at 2674 Woodmar Road in Rockford; and in 1950 she is listed in Rockford at 634 Johnson Avenue with Raymond S. Hamlin.

Raymond (1908-1982) was the younger son of longtime Rockford firefighter and fire captain Edward Adams Hamlin (1882–1958) and Estella Shearer (1882–1955). He died on 6 June 1982 in Chula Vista, San Diego County, California. Because he was married previously, I estimate that Raymond divorced his first wife around 1943 when he enlisted in the Navy during World War II, and he clearly married Jessie by 1950.

I suspect that Jessie married sometime between 1920 and her marriage to Raymond since I found no 1930 or 1940 records for a Jessie Dobson, but I also found no marriage record for Jessie and Raymond, which would normally tell me her married name from her previous marriage. There is certainly time between 1920 and 1950 for her to have raised a family, had a career, or done any number of interesting things.

Perhaps one day we'll learn more.

 - -- --- -- - 

School is back in full swing for me, so time to work on the remaining Dobsons is limited for now. I expect I won't be able to post much during the months of April and May, and we still have five more of Harvey's siblings to review!

As always, if you recognize any of these families and spot missing or incorrect information, please let me know! You can drop a note in the comments below, or email me at "callintad" at Gmail dot com. If you're descended from this family, you're welcome to follow the link above to the Callin Family History Group on Facebook; it's a private group, so you'll see a couple of brief questions to answer to make sure you're family, but once you're in the group, anything you say will be between other members of the family (and whomever Facebook sells us out to, naturally).

Until next time, happy hunting!

Following Tenuous Connections

We can thank the next individual for being the one who left behind a key record for me to find, which led to my discovery of the Scott family. I like to think that doing patient, methodical research is the foundation of my family history work, but sometimes I also have to rely on luck. In this case, I took a stab at running a query in the FamilySearch records on the off chance that they might have something that I wasn't finding with the Ancestry search - and I hit pay dirt with a death record in the Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947 database.

The major clue there was the listing of his parents:

Father Name: John Scott
Father Birth Place: Ohio
Mother Name: Sarah Callion
Mother Birth Place: Ohio

Working my way back from there, I found more records for this whole Scott branch of the family. This week, we'll look at James and one of his sisters.

     James Scott (1832-1916)

When James Scott was born on November 18, 1832, in Milton Township, Richland County, Ohio, his father, John, was 34 and his mother, Sarah, was 24. Earlier that year Charles Darwin and the crew of HMS Beagle arrived in South America for the first time. That spring, in nearby Hiram, Ohio, just the other side of the state from Milton, a group of men beat, tarred and feathered Mormon leader Joseph Smith. And just a couple of weeks after James was born, Andrew Jackson was re-elected president of the United States.

When James was about seven years old, his father moved the family from Ohio to Winnebago County, Illinois, and he grew up on the farm in Harrison township. He married Charlotte "Lottie" Brown (1842–1935) in 1856.

Lottie was the middle child of nine born to Simon Brown (1807–1865) and Mary M Pickens (1808–1875). She was born in East Saint Louis, Illinois, just over the state line from St. Louis, Missouri, and many of her records place her birth in that state. Before the birth of her younger brother, John, the family relocated to Jefferson, in Green County, Wisconsin, which is about 30 miles west of the Rockford, Illinois, area.

They had three children in 12 years. James died on January 26, 1916, in Shirland, Illinois, having lived a long life of 83 years. Lottie died on June 16, 1935, in Shirland, Illinois, at the age of 93, and they were buried together in the North Burritt Cemetery, Winnebago County, Illinois.

     I. Christopher Columbus Scott (1857–1947)

Grew up to be a farmer, and in 1879, at 22 years of age, he married Ellen Maria "Kitty" Putman (1861–1944), the daughter of Stephen C Putnam (1833–1879) and Susan Caroline Wheeler (1836–1889). Lum died on December 26, 1947, in Shirland, Illinois, at the age of 90, and Kitty died on May 3, 1944, in Shirland, Illinois, at the age of 83. Like his parents, Lum and Kitty were buried together in the North Burritt Cemetery.

     II. Mary Scott (1860–1947)

Mary was born on June 29, 1860, in Harrison, Illinois, and she married Albert Taylor (1861–1939) in 1890. Albert was born in Rockton, Illinois, and his parents were John G Taylor (1828–1881) and Frances A Gleason (1838–1917).

The couple had only one daughter and lived in Shirland for many years. Albert died on June 9, 1939, in Shirland, Illinois, at the age of 77, and Mary died on April 12, 1947, in Shirland, Illinois, at the age of 86. They can be found buried together in the North Burritt Cemetery.

     A. Charlotte B "Lottie" Taylor (1892–1959) married her second cousin, Walter Scott Wicks (1887–1969) around 1913. They were included in the previous post (Two Younger Siblings), but I'll repeat their biography here:

Walter and Lottie began their family in Burritt, before moving to Shirland, where they lived in 1920, and they eventually settled in Rockford. Walter worked as a harness maker up until the 1930s, when he began working as a painter.
Lottie died in 1959, and Walter survived her until his death on 27 February 1969. They were buried together in North Burritt Cemetery.
     1. Guida Mae Wicks (1914–1978) married Martin M Studler (1902–1998) about 1933. He was the son of Adolph Studler (1877–1972) and Barbara Hengeler (1875–1912), who immigrated from Switzerland to Minnesota just before Martin's older sister was born in 1902.
     a. LeRoy Walter Studler (1934-2000) was born on 6 May 1934, in Rockford, Illinois. He was married, and his wife presumedly survives him. He died on 26 August 2000, in his hometown at the age of 66.

     III. William Scott (b. 1869)

Little is known about William. He appears in his family's census record in 1870, but not in the 1880 record. In the absence of other records, my guess is that he died during the 1870s, but until further evidence is found, his fate remains a mystery.


     Sarah E. Scott (1836-1854)

Named after her mother, Sarah was the last child of John and Sarah Callin Scott born in Ohio before the family relocated. She was three years old when her sister was born in Michigan, and seven when her brother, Cyrus, was born in Harrison Township, Winnebago County, Illinois.

She died at age 18 and was buried in North Burritt Cemetery.

 - -- --- -- - 

It's the end of another year, now, and I feel like I've still got a long way to go before I can move on to the task of publishing all of the information I've gathered since 2015. Genealogy is one of those endeavors that always feels both limited and eternal.

For example, look at today's family - James and Lottie Scott. Consider that for all of the time and effort it took to prepare this post, there are really only 13 people named here, and half of those appeared in an earlier post because a pair of second cousins married.

But until the research is done, and all of the leads and threads are followed, the possibility that there could be dozens or hundreds more relatives unaccounted for. If William Scott survived childhood, and simply struck out on his own before 1880, there could be untold numbers of cousins out there waiting to be discovered.

I long ago accepted the fact that no matter how hard I try to "complete" the Callin Family History, it never really will be finished. People, and history, keep moving forward. Children grow, marry, and die - sometimes leaving more children behind. Sometimes not.

The lesson I take away from it all is that we are all family at some level, and we need to do our best to take care of each other - even if that just means documenting the fact that we were here.

Hope your holidays are happy ones, this year and into the future!

Rockford Files - George Scott

Since announcing that I identified the family of John and Sarah (Callin) Scott, I have been working on tracing their descendants. Beginning with their eldest son, here is the next chapter of their story!

Winnebago County in 1837
courtesy of Wikimedia

George Scott was born on 1 August 1827, in Richland County, Ohio. His father, John, was 28 and his mother, the former Sarah Callin, was 19. They had been married for almost four years, and George was their first child. George was five years old when his brother, James, was born; he was nine when his sister, Sarah, was born in 1836.

Three years later, in 1839, the Scott family moved from Ohio to Illinois. This would have been a journey of nearly 420 miles on the modern US-30W, but the family likely took a longer route, as evidenced by the fact that another sister, Rebecca, was born in Michigan that year.

Winnebago County, Illinois, was formed in January of 1836, and in 1837 its boundaries were changed to what they are today. Several of these related Scott families settled in and around Burritt Township, where George's grandfather, Joseph Scott, would be buried around 1851. George's father established a farm in the unincorporated area of Harrison, northwest of the young city of Rockford, where he and Sarah lived out their days.

North Burritt Cemetery
(Find-A-Grave)

George married Lucetta P Beach (1833–1912) in 1851. Lucetta's parents were Asher Beach (1800–1860) and Mercy Yaw (1797–1854) of New York and Vermont, respectively. Lucetta was born in New York, and Asher Beach relocated his family to Illinois in the 1840s.

After their marriage, George and Lucetta lived for a few years in Iowa, where their two eldest children were born. They appeared in the 1856 Census in Wayne, Mitchell County, Iowa, but by 1860, they were back in Harrison, Illinois.

The couple had five children in 10 years, and George farmed until he retired. He died on 10 September 1905, having lived a long life of 78 years, and Lucetta followed him on 4 November 1912, at the age of 79. They were buried together in the North Burritt Cemetery in Winnebago, Illinois.

In this post, we'll be looking at the descendants of their daughter:

I. Violetta Scott (1856–1928)

Was the oldest child of George and Lucetta. Born in Iowa on 12 February 1856, Violetta grew up in Harrison, Illinois, on her father's farm. She married Nathan H Knight (1851–1919) on 30 December 1874 in Rock County, Wisconsin, just north of the Illinois state line.

Nathan was born in Maine, and his family moved to Winnebago County during the 1850s, after his birth. His parents were Peter Knight (1794–1865) and Ann Hall Knight (1816–1897). He and Violetta farmed and raised five daughters in Harrison township. After Nathan's death, Violetta moved in with her daughters who were living in Shirland. When she died, she was buried next to Nathan in the North Burritt Cemetery.

     A. Lucetta A Knight (1876–1885) was named after her grandmother, but she died at only nine years of age.

     B. Elsie Leah Knight (1879–1938) was born on 12 January 1879, in Harrison, Illinois. She married Frank Horace Austin (1876–1954) on 5 June 1901, in Winnebago, Illinois.

Two of Frank's brothers, Albert and Ferdinand, would also marry two of Elsie's sisters, Iva and Blanche. The Austins' parents were Edward D. Austin (1843–1929) and Adelaide Elizabeth "Addie" Belcher (1856–1944). Edward was born in Troy, New York, and enlisted in the Union Army, first as a private in Company C of the 35th Regiment, New York Infantry and later as a sergeant in Company K of the 14th Regiment, New York Heavy Artillery. Addie Belcher was born in Lenawee County, Michigan, and married Edward in Tekamah, Nebraska, on 30 September 1873.

The young Austin family moved quite a bit; Frank was born in Nebraska, Albert in Iowa, and after living briefly in Kansas, they settled in Missouri, where the three younger Austin siblings—Edward, Ferdinand, and Lena—were born. Records show that Edward Austin was baptized a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on 9 June 1895 at Clarksdale, DeKalb, Missouri; but from at least 1900 onward, Census records show the family living in either Rockton, Illinois, or South Beloit, Wisconsin.

It isn't completely clear from the records, but I believe Frank and Elsie were divorced sometime before 1930. Elsie appears in the 1930 U.S. Census in Rockford, where she is listed as Divorced and living with her sister, niece, and grand-nephew. However, city directories for Beloit, Wisconsin, show an Elsie and Frank Austin living in that town in the 1930s; confusingly, there is another Frank Austin listed, too, with a wife named Edna.

Whatever their marital situation may have been, the couple did not have any children, as far as I can tell. Elsie died on 15 December 1938, in Rockford, Illinois, at the age of 59, and was buried in the North Burritt Cemetery in Winnebago, Illinois. Frank lived until 1954, died in Beloit, and was buried in the Rockton Township Cemetery in Rockton.

     C. Iva Viola Knight (1881–1923) was born in May 1881 in Illinois, and she spent practically all of her life in the vicinity of Harrison. She married Albert Jesse Austin (1878–1941) on December 30, 1908, and they had four children in their 12 years together. She died in Shirland, on 12 March 1923, at the age of 41, most likely from complications that arose during childbirth.

The year before, Albert had moved the family to Mattoon, Wisconsin, but it seems that when Iva was close to having their fourth child, she went to Shirland to have the baby and left her sister, Elsie, in Mattoon to care for the other three children. After receiving word of his wife's death on 14 March, it took Albert until March 20 to arrive in Rockford due to deep snow and storms. Other than the newspaper clipping that recorded this account, there are no other records of a fourth child born to Iva and Albert.

After Iva's death, Albert moved back to Rockton, where he died in 1941, and was buried in the Rockton Township Cemetery.

     1. Beulah Marie Austin (1910–1968) was born on 13 June 1910, in Rockton, Illinois, and she was 13 years old when her mother died. By the time of the 1930 Census, she was married to a man named O'Rourke and had a son, who may still be living. That first marriage did not last more than a couple of years, and she married John Rollie Henderson (1897-1969) on 10 November 1934, in Rockford, Illinois. She died on 30 September 1968, in Monroe, Wisconsin, at the age of 58, and was buried in her hometown. John died the following year, on 13 November 1969.

     2. Kenneth Donald Austin (1915–2006) was born 24 October 1915, in Harrison. He joined the U.S. Army in 1941 and served with the 21st General Hospital, where he saw service in North Africa and the European Theater. He was married on 5 September 1942, at Fort Benning, Georgia, and his wife survives him, along with two of their three children, five grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren.

After an honorable discharge in 1945, Kenneth worked at Beloit Iron Works until 1962, then relocated to Littleton, Colorado, and retired in 1995 to Kerrville, Texas.

His son, Rodney Craig Austin (1951–1980), enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and died in a non-hostile incident at the age of 29. He was a petty officer second class and was buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.

     3. Leonard Jesse Austin (1920–1991) was born on 29 May 1920, in Rockford, Illinois. He was two years old when his mother, Iva, died. He served in the U.S. Army from 14 April 1942 through 1 November 1943.

Jesse married twice after the war, first to Edna May Needham (1924–2008) in 1943, then to Georgia Kathryn Mathis (1922–1996) on 16 October 1948 in Joplin, Missouri. As far as I can tell, there were no children from either marriage. He married again, briefly, in 1971.

He died on June 11, 1991, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, at the age of 71, and was buried there in the Fort Smith National Cemetery.

     D. Alice Bessie Knight (1884–1958) was born in August 1884 in Illinois. She married George Graham Helmer (1877–1943) on 31 January 1911 in Winnebago, Illinois. They divorced sometime during the 1920s, and she married Edward Reckinger (1901-1977) in 1936 in Boone, Illinois. She died on December 24, 1958, in Winnebago, Illinois, at the age of 74, and was buried in Belvidere, Illinois.

     E. Blanche Nathalia Knight (1889–1971) was born on 14 September 1889, in Illinois, and her story was difficult to piece together. I found records of her marriage in the Illinois, County Marriages, 1800-1940 database that indicate that she married Ferdinand J Austin (1885–1929) on 3 July 1912. He was better known as John F Austin. They had a son, Donovan, but divorced rather soon after that.

Ferdinand (or John F., as he appears in the Illinois, County Marriages, 1800-1940 database) married Bessie Marie (Burdick) Austin (b. 1885) on 8 September 1916. Bessie was the widow of John's brother, Allen Edward Austin, who had died on 16 January 1916.

Blanche and Donovan Austin appeared in her mother's household in Shirland on the 1920 Census, but she was soon remarried to Ora Lewis Critser (1882–1944), a widowed tenant farmer. Blanche and Ora had three more children during the 1920s and moved across the state line to Clinton, Rock County, Wisconsin. By the time of the 1940 Census, they were divorced, as well, and Blanche had relocated with the children to Cherry Valley, in Winnebago county, Illinois.

Blanche eventually followed her sons when they moved out to California. She died on November 4, 1971, in Placer County, California, at the age of 82, and was buried in Roseville, California.

     1. Donovan Douglas Austin (1914–1976) was born on 30 October 1913 in Harrison, Illinois. He grew up in his step-father's home from about seven years of age. He married Frieda Alvina Berger (1913–2000) in 1936. They had four daughters together but divorced not long after the birth of the youngest. By 1950 he had remarried Vera Josephine Anderson (1918–2013), who had recently divorced her first husband, Ralph L Stegg (1915-2008).

Donovan and Vera moved out to Roseville, California, in Placer County. Donovan died there in 1976, just five years after his mother's death. Frieda remained in Cherry Valley, where she raised their daughters by herself. She died on 1 August 2000 and was buried in the Cherry Valley Cemetery.

     i. Dolores Edna Austin (1937–1994) was born on 22 March 1937, in Rockford, Illinois. She graduated from East High School in Rockford in 1956. She died on January 19, 1994, in Cherry Valley, Illinois, at the age of 56, and was buried there.

     iii. Alice Beverly Austin Brown (1940–2015) was born 29 April 1940 in Cherry Valley, Illinois. She was married in 1958 in Cherry Valley, and she and her husband moved to the Monroe, Wisconsin, area where they lived and raised a family. She retired from Advance Transformer after 25 years. Alice loved horses and enjoyed music. She was survived by her husband, four daughters, two sons, 17 grandchildren, and 9 great-grandchildren.

     2. Leo D Critser (1922–1972) was born on 1 August 1921, in Illinois. He attended Rockford High School in 1939 and hoped to enter the state teacher's college at DeKalb. He enlisted in the Army on 26 August 1942. After the war, he lived and worked around Rockford. He died on 8 June 1972, in San Francisco, California, at the age of 50, and was buried in Roseville, California, next to his mother, Blanche.

     3. Elsworth Orrin Critser (1923–1998) was born on 13 September 1923, in Harrison, Illinois. He was in the Army from 12 November 1924 through 11 February 1944, and after the war, he married and had three daughters, still living. He worked as a heavy equipment mechanic, and after living there for six years, he died on November 9, 1998, in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the age of 75. He was buried in Belvidere, Illinois.

     4. Faye Virginia Critser Garner (1929–2017) was born on 16 January 1929, in Rock County, Wisconsin. She was married on 24 November 1948, in Winnebago County, Illinois. She and her husband raised four daughters. She died on 13 August 2017, in Loves Park, Illinois, at the age of 88.

Survivors include three of her daughters, seven grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by a daughter, Carla, and a grandson, Andrew.

 - -- --- -- -

As of this writing, it has been less than a week since the death of Faye Critser Garner, and she was the last person I needed to research before completing this post. It's not as if doing this work isn't enough of a reminder that we are all here temporarily; finding out that you're related to someone a week after their death just feels like a missed opportunity.

If nothing else, it motivates me to call mom and dad, while I still can.

But, that brings us to the end of Violetta Scott Knight's descendants; she has four more siblings for us to talk about over the coming months. I hope if you're among those descendants, you'll drop a note below in the comment section, send an email to callintad at Gmail.com, or join the Callin Family History group on Facebook. (My first question will be, "How are we related?")

Now, if you can, go hug a living loved one.

Cardinal Rules

• Rule number one: You are never "done" with your family history.

This project to update and document the descendants of James Callin is something I've been working toward for twenty years or so. And in the past, when I've gone over what I know about the part of the family we'll be looking at today - Margaret Ferguson and her descendants - I have never been able to find much beyond what the Callin Family History told me:

"Record of Margret Ferguson who was the 4th daughter of Eliza Callin Ferguson who was the 3rd daughter of John Callin who was the 2nd son of James 1st.

Born 1839, died 1902.
Married to Jerome Gallaher.
To this union two children were born:
Mary, married.
Helen, married, two children."

So when I began drafting this post, I expected that to be all I could tell you about Margaret Jane (Ferguson) Gallaher. Assuming I could scrape together names of the husbands of Mary and Helen, and find out the names of Helen's two children, I might have bare-bones minimalist biographies of six or eight people, tops.

• Rule number two: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Evidence is the life blood of this project. Without documents that say when and where people lived, and what they did there, I can't rule out anything. And for the longest time, I could only find bits and pieces of this family's story - while the rest was a great, empty possibility.

Then I found an obituary...

Jerome Bohan Gallaher was born 23 August 1833, in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was one of eight children and moved westward when he was a young man settling at various points in Ohio and Indiana. He married Margaret Jane Ferguson (1839-1901) on August 15, 1858, in DeKalb county, Indiana, and they had two daughters: Mary (or Mollie), in 1860, and Helen in 1862.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Jerome enlisted in the 2nd Indiana regiment, in which he served until 25 August 1865. At the time of mustering out he had attained the position of Quartermaster of his regiment. After the close of the Civil War the Gallaher family moved to Black River Falls, Wisconsin, where Mr. Gallaher engaged in his old business of photography. In 1872 they moved to the newly incorporated town of Chippewa Falls, where they resided until the early 1890's, when he settled on a homestead outside of town.

Margaret preceded her husband to the grave in May 1901, and after that he lived alone most of the time on his farm. For the last two years of his life, he had been rather feeble, but when his friends planned to have him come to town where he could be looked after, he always vetoed their plans, expressing the wish to remain on the old farm as long as he lived. He died in January 1912.

     I. Mary A (Mollie) Gallaher (1860-1913) married William John Ickstadt (1865-1906) in September 1883. William took her away to the neighboring town of Edson where he was appointed as postmaster in October 1883, and he became a prominent real estate and business man in the Boyd area. In 1906, at the age of 47, he drowned in a boating accident on Pike lake. Mollie only lived another seven years, dying at 53.

     A. Jerome Monroe Ickstadt was born on 19 June 1884. He married Marie A Street in Boyd, Chippewa county, on 20 May 1912. The couple settled in Fond du Lac, where Jerome was a fireman with the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad company. The last record I have found for them placed them in Fond du Lac in 1921; there is another placing Marie in that town in 1924, but with no further listing for Jerome. I have found nothing to indicate when or where either of them died, or whether they had any children.

     B. Alice Mae Ickstadt (1888–1973) married Louis Floyd Shilts (1894–1947), probably around 1910. Louis was a veteran of World War I, and he worked as an auto mechanic in a Chippewa Falls garage. Mae taught in the local schools.

     C. Arthur J Ickstadt (1890–1927) grew up in Chippewa county, and worked at the State Home - what is now known as the Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled. He married Louisa Rosalie Krenz (1894–1959) around 1925, and she was pregnant with their second son when he died in March 1927. The state later awarded her $7,000 in settlement, one month before the birth of that second son.


Found on Newspapers.com

       1. Donald W Ickstadt (1927–2013) graduated from Chippewa High School in 1945, then served one and ½ years in the Navy aboard the USS Chara and the USS Parikutin. He matriculated at Wisconsin State College at Eau Claire in 1947 and graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Sciences, Physical Education/Secondary Education. He then attended the University of Southern California graduate school in 1952. Married in 1954, his wife, three sons, and two daughters are all still living. Don worked in employment services for the state of Wisconsin his whole career, retiring in 1987.

       2. Arthur Joseph Ickstadt Jr (1928–2013) was a Veteran of WWII and the Korean War. After leaving the Army, he settled in the Seattle, Washington, area. His mother, Louisa, died there in 1959. Art was survived by his wife, son, three daughters, and "16 Grandchildren, 13 Great-Grandchildren, 1 Great-Great Grandchild and numerous nieces and nephews."

     II. Helen J Gallaher (b. 1862) and her husband, Wesley J. Gregg (b. 1851) presented a few challenges to this researcher. First, there is a marriage record for a Helen Gallagher in 1879, which, even though the database does not link the bride record to the groom's record, seems to imply that she married a man named Amasa Nichols. Until I found Jerome's obituary, I did not know to look for Mr. Gregg, but once I did, I found Helen and Wesley in the four Census records (1900-1930), which indicated they were married in 1885. The birth record for their younger daughter, Jennie, lists Helen's maiden name as "Nichols," so I assume that 1879 record is correct. (And looking through the Chippewa county marriage records, Amasa Nichols seemed to marry quite often; there may be a whole other story there!)

But, Wesley appears to have farmed and worked for the railroad as a clerk for a time; and they raised two daughters. As of 1930, 79-year-old Wesley and 69-year-old Helen were retired and living on their farm. I have not been able to determine when they died or find any records of their burial, but I know from some mentions in the Eau Claire Leader that they were living in the area in the 1920s, and the 1930 Census shows them in Arthur, in Chippewa county.

     A. Ruby Gregg (b. 1883) grew up in Chippewa Falls, and appeared on the 1900 Federal and 1905 State Census in her parents' home. She would have been 21 in 1905, and the 1907 Chippewa Falls city directory indicates that she lived at home while working as a domestic servant for the Mcgilvary family. After that, however, the trail of records dries up, and I can't tell what happened to Ruby.

     B. Jennie H Gregg (1887–1931) married George Jerome Cardinal (1887–1963) on 9 December 1905 in Bayfield, Wisconsin. George was a musician and decorator, and was listed as a painter in the Census and city directories. The couple had nine children before Jennie's death in 1931 at the age of 44.

      1. Wesley G Cardinal (1906–1982) married Katherine Quinlan (1910–??) in about 1930. Wesley was listed in the 1930 Census in his family home, working as a painter/decorator, like his father. In 1940, he and Katherine and their two sons were renting their own place in Chippewa Falls, and Wesley was a musician in an orchestra. They may have had more children after the 1940 Census, but I have only managed to track down the eldest. I assume any other children they had are still living, or my searches would have turned up something. (Though, searching through results for people with the name "Cardinal" is surprisingly difficult.)

       a. Peter Paul Cardinal (1931–1997) served in the U.S. Navy during both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, according to his grave marker. Based on the incomplete information I have found, I would guess that he enlisted in the early 1950s. He was married by 1959, when he is listed in the city directory for Memphis, Tennessee, which is near the Naval Support Activity Mid-South Naval Base in Millington. And he received a commission as an ensign on 1 July 1963. He attained his highest rank as a Lieutenant on 1 January 1967, and retired 1 August 1978. When he died, he had been living in Pegram, Tennessee.

      2. Linus Cardinal (b. 1909) is another minor mystery, in that I lose track of him after 1930. There are two items in the November 1921 Eau Claire Leader newspapers that describe how he was wounded when a gun discharged, and was later rushed to the hospital with "lockjaw" (probably tetanus) from the resulting infection. That happened when he was 12, and we see him listed at home in the 1930 Census, when he was 21, so we know he survived that episode, at least.

      3. George P Cardinal Jr (1910–1997) appears to have served in World War II, but like his older brothers, left little in the way of records, and his obituary does not seem to be online. I have not been able to find anything between the 1930 Census and the records of his death in Elk Mound, Wisconsin. His wife is still living, and I assume any children they have are, too.

      4. Jane Rosemary Cardinal (1914–1991) married Lloyd A Fransway (1910–1966) and they had five sons and seven daughters, in total. Most of them are still living. Lloyd was a painter, employed by Mikesell's Painting contractors for 25 years; he was the union president of Painters Local 259 from 1958 to 1964. He and Jane took in her three youngest siblings some time after the death of their mother; Lyman, Betty Mae, and the brother who is still living were all listed as Lloyd's foster children in his 1966 obituary.

       a. Mary Jo Fransway: died in infancy.

       b. Patricia Jane "Patty" Fransway (1935–2012) was married to Arthur Sedani (1935–1978), and they had two sons who are still living. Patty worked at the Chippewa Woolen Mill, Creamland Dairy, and the Northern Center for the Developmentally Disabled in Chippewa Falls until she retired. She mentored students through the Chippewa Falls Mentoring Program, headed up the spring and fall suppers for Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, and oversaw funeral luncheons. Patty was a beautiful seamstress and was a member of the Quilters and the Altar Guild.

       c. Lloyd Archie Fransway Jr (1937–1998) was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving from 12 May 1954 to 14 November 1957. He married at the end of 1960, and his wife and three sons are still living. They also had a daughter.

      i. Robin M Fransway (1961–2011) attended Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming. She lived in the Powell/Cody area and worked as a secretary and bookkeeper, raising her daughter, who is still living. Robin married on July 7, 2001, and her husband is still living, also.

       d. Anthony L "Tony" Fransway, Sr (1945–2009) served in the U.S. Army National Guard for eight years after he graduated high school. He married in 1968, and his wife, son, and daughter are all still living. He worked at Amoco-Pactiv for 39 years until he retired in 2004. He lived in Chippewa Falls his entire life.

       e. Laura Fransway (1946–2013) grew up in Chippewa Falls and graduated from Chippewa Falls Senior High in 1965. She married in 1977. One daughter and one son are still living. Over her lifetime, she worked for Amoco Chemicals, Whitetail Golf Course, Viking Bowl and retired from the Myrtle Werth Hospital. She was a member of Barum Lutheran Church in Elk Mound.

     i. Chad T Brown (1977-2002) was the oldest son of Laura Fransway. He graduated from Colfax High School in May of 1995, and was employed at Big Timber Saw Mill in Colfax until the time of his death from cancer. He was 25 years old when he died.

       f. Samuel Cardinal "Sammy" Fransway (1960–2003) was employed by Markquart Motors for the 14 years before he died. Sam was also a Chef at a number of local Wisconsin restaurants, as well as in Florida. He owned and operated Sammy's Saloon in Chippewa Falls from 1983 to 1987. He left behind one son.

      5. Kathryn Arlene Cardinal (1916–2007) married Fenton Norman Goss (1914–1999), and they left three sons and two daughters, still living. Fenton served in the U.S. Army during the last few months of 1946.

      6. John Samuel "Jack" Cardinal (1919–1990) served in the U.S. Army throughout World War II, from 6 April 1942 through 18 October 1945. He married in October 1946, and settled in the Detroit area with his wife, who is still living.

      7. Lyman Eugene Cardinal (1921–1977) served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. If I'm reading the records correctly, he enlisted in the Army in 1940, before Pearl Harbor, and switched to the Navy ten years later, retiring after twenty years in October of 1960. He and his wife settled in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. They had at least one son, who is still living.

      8. (Still Living) Cardinal - there is one son from this family still living. Here's hoping I don't need to update this entry until he is good and ready!

      9. Betty Mae Cardinal (1926–2015) graduated from Chippewa Falls High School and worked at the A & P Store, where she met her future husband. On April 18, 1948, the two were united in marriage in Chippewa Falls. They resided in Chippewa Falls where Bette worked at the Northern Center as the food service supervisor, retiring from there in 1986. She left behind her husband and two daughters.


And there you have it: just one timely find can add dozens of people to the family tree!