When Grandma Played the Organ

In his 1995 book, The Five Love Languages, pastor Gary Chapman outlined five ways to express and experience love that he called "love languages": gift giving, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service (devotion), and physical touch. Everyone expresses themselves in each of those five languages to some extent, but almost everyone favors one above the others. The morning of August 21st, at age 91, my family lost someone who expressed herself through acts of service more than almost anyone else I have ever known.

When Alberta Jane Tuttle was born on August 29, 1925, in Summit, New Jersey, her father, Alfred, was 32, and her mother, Edna, was 30. Alberta and her big sister, Lyle, were raised in New Jersey. Their father, who had served as a bugler in the infantry for three years before World War I, worked as a manager for a chemical plant during the Depression. Their mother was a tough-but-sweet homemaker who had supported her five sisters before marrying Alfred; I wrote a bit about Edna's family in an earlier post.

Alberta "Bert" Tuttle
Columbia H.S.
1943

Alberta graduated from Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, Class of 1943. The Second World War was well underway, and a number of her classmates and faculty enlisted; the school yearbook was full of advertisements for war bonds and calls for victory.

At the end of World War II, Alberta married a tall, handsome sailor named Russell Hudson Clark on March 2, 1946, in Irvington, New Jersey, in a service held at the Reformed Church in America by Rev. Harry A. Olsen. The young couple honeymooned in Washington, DC, before moving out to Middletown, Ohio, but they soon moved back to New Jersey.

In fact, movement would turn out to be a defining characteristic of the household of Bert and Russ Clark.

When I showed an interest in family history, Grandma sent me a partial list of all of the places they had lived. She could only remember 33 moves between 1946 and 1984, but she assured me that there were more. They moved from New Jersey to Texas, to Arkansas, back to Texas; to California, Arizona, back to California; to Colorado, followed by a trip to visit New Jersey before moving back to Little Rock, Arkansas - and that only brings us up to 1962!

Alberta & Russ
2 March 1946

Somewhere between the end of the war and becoming a father, Russ became a preacher, and many of these moves were to follow his calling. I have written before about him, describing him as A Fire in the Desert. Bert went with him everywhere he traveled. Along the way, they had three children together, and I am sure that they have stories to share about growing up in so many places.

Russ would find work in a place, and settle for a while. He might find a church that was looking for a pastor, and they might go live in that community. Alberta could play the organ, and so she would accompany the choir or the congregation, and he would preach.  But there was always another call from elsewhere that he needed to follow, and she would go with him. Eventually, the kids grew up and it was just the two of them, always traveling.

It didn't matter where they were, whether you were in their home or they were in yours; Grandma would be busy. She loved to take care of her family. She was forever bustling around the kitchen, cleaning up, playing with the children, singing - always showing us all how much she loved us through those acts of service.

I discovered a few years ago that one of Grandma's ancestors, a surgeon named John Green, was a founding member of the First Baptist Church of Providence, along with the famous Roger Williams, who also established the colony that would become Rhode Island. Baptists place the conscience of the individual at the center of their faith, and Williams's conscience drove him to avoid organized religion - even if he was the one who organized it. In many ways, I could see Grandpa as a spiritual successor to Williams, always seeking, always following his calling. Grandma, as a committed Christian wife, following her own conscience just as fiercely as he followed his.

I know how important it is to my surviving family to mention the fact that Grandma was a strong Christian. She certainly was that, without question. A few years ago, I was going through some intensely difficult troubles, and she called me to make sure I was okay. I could tell that it broke her heart that we were 3,000 miles apart and that she couldn't come over and help with the children or do something to show her love. All she could do was ask, "Have you considered just giving the problem to Jesus?" Being a humanist who has no belief in the supernatural, I couldn't honestly tell her that I had. But being a humanist also means that I treasured the fact that she would dive in and exhaust herself trying to make things better for everyone around her before finally accepting that there were some things she could not fix.

That ferocious, patient love was what made her a great lady.

That philosophical stuff would have all been beyond my understanding when I was young. All I knew when I was a kid was that seeing Grandma and Grandpa Clark was an adventure. They always had a new house in a new place, or if they were between houses, they would have a different motorhome or trailer to live in. As we got older, we learned what they meant by "disability" and "fixed income" when they talked with the other adults at dinner.

She wouldn't complain, but sometimes we could tell that all of the moving around was hard on her. She would talk about finding a church home, putting down roots, and having a house she could call her own. Sometimes they even stayed on a piece of property long enough to build a house, and she could get her organ out of storage and set it up in her living room. I particularly loved the visits when she had room for her organ because she would play and sing those old revival hymns that made such a grand first impression on the churches they visited.

After Grandpa died in 2002, Grandma's life was not the same. How could it be after 54 years of life together? There was a brief time when we wondered what she would do next, and how she would adjust. We worried, but we should have known that she would find a way to feel useful.

Alberta and Sherwin, 2004

In September 2004, she then married Sherwin Nichols. In many ways, Sherwin reminded me of Grandpa; he had mobility issues, and some severe health problems, but he loved my Grandma, and most importantly, he gave her someone to take care of again with her ferocious intensity. She finally had a home where she could install her organ in a front room. By this time, it was old and the circuitry inside was fragile, so it didn't get played much, but at least it had a stable place to rest.

When Sherwin died in 2008, he and his family were generous enough to leave her his house and enough to live on. Grandma married a third time, once again choosing a preacher, but this time, she joked, she was marrying a much younger man - he was only 85! They were planning to buy a house and move to the north of Phoenix to get away from the heat and the city.

In 2011 her sister, Lyle, died after battling dementia for several years. Having watched Grandpa battle with Alzheimer's Disease before his death, Grandma told us that biggest fear was that she would lose her mind and not know who any of us were before she died. She worried that any time she forgot a name or misplaced something that it was a sign, but as far as I know, she was still fully herself when she began suffering from an elevated heart rate last week and went to the hospital.

She died at four o'clock in the morning on August 21, 2017, in a hospice in Surprise, Arizona, at the age of 91 years, 11 months, and 21 days. I will always remember her for her music, her laughter, and her constant, steady service to everyone she loved.

Grandpa & Grandma Clark, bound for their D.C. honeymoon

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.

So You Found an Obituary

While I'm taking my time to research the descendants of John and Sarah (Callin) Scott, I figured I'd share one of my favorite tools with you: the Obituary.

When I started out, I didn't really know what to do with an obituary; obviously, you can take information from it and add new names, dates, and places to your family tree, but I learned the hard way that you have to make sure to add the obit as a source for every single detail and do so in a way that makes it clear where every piece of information came from.

Here's an example. To protect the identities of any living people, all names and identifying dates have been changed, but otherwise, this is a real example of an obituary, and how I work it into my Ancestry tree:

Ivy Edith Borden
November 22, 2010 at 5:00 am
Mrs. Ivy Edith Borden, 87, of Townsville, [Wisconsin] died on Tuesday, November 21, 2010 at Townsville Memorial Hospital. She was born on October 6, 1923, in South Townsville, Illinois to Fred and Myrtle (Johnson) Small-Krauss. She was a graduate of South Townsville High School, Class of 1942.
Mrs. Borden worked at the Telephone Company and at the local Chemical Company. She married Julius Borden in 1950. She was an excellent homemaker. She greatly enjoyed bowling, camping, playing cards and working crossword puzzles. Most of all she loved spending time with her family. Mrs. Borden was a passionate Cubs fan.
She is survived by her children: Cheryl Borden - Chicago, Ill; Harold Borden (Pat Andrews) - S. Townsville, Ill; Two grandchildren: Joshua Borden and Richard Borden, both of Columbo, Ill. Also two great grandchildren. Many nieces and nephews including, Gerald and Roberta Yokum and Gary and Ann Sailors.
She was preceded in death by her parents, four brothers: Frank, Harry, Lester and Charles. One sister, Ethel Sailors-Mann.
The Memorial Service for Mrs. Ivy Borden will be held at 12:00 p.m. on November 27, 2010 at the Barry Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Greenlawn Cemetery.
Friends may call on Monday, November 27, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. until the time of service.

Finding the Obituary

There are abundant resources for locating obituaries that ran in newspapers. These days, funeral homes often also host obituaries on their websites. For someone who died more recently (ie, since the early 2000s), your best bet is to begin with Google.

If they died further back in time, internet searches become less useful, and you may need to turn to a service like Newspapers.com. If your ancestor died further back than the 1900s, you would be better off searching through local histories or genealogical surveys which might be available in Google books, the Internet Archive, or a service like Heritage Quest (which you ought to be able to access for free through your local public library).

Knowing what to search for is sometimes difficult. With our example, "Ivy Borden" is obviously Ivy's married name. If you are working "down the tree," as I often am, you may not start out knowing who she married, if she married, or when or where she died. Finding an obituary can be tricky under those circumstances, but it's not impossible.

Let's assume that in Ivy's case, I was researching her mother's line - so if I started with Myrtle Johnson, and found records of her marriage to Fred Small, I might have Census records for Myrtle's family, a marriage record for her and Fred, and possibly the 1930 and/or 1940 Census for Fred, Myrtle, and their other children (Frank, Harry, Lester, Charles, and Ethel).

If I were trying to find Ivy's obituary with that body of starting information, I would probably put this in my search:

Ivy Small obituary Fred Myrtle Johnson

Depending on what I see in my search results, I could add Ivy's birthdate and birthplace (which might not be exact, if I go by the Census records) or I could take out information to try to get better results. Adding the names of siblings may or may not be helpful. With a name like "Johnson," it may be better to leave it out and put a more unusual fact in.

Then, when this obituary turns up in my results, I know I have the right person because the parents and siblings match. (And yes, some obituaries leave a lot of that information out. We work with what we can find.) Obviously, finding the obituary is a skill that one refines with practice over time.

Using Internal Logic

There is a lot of useful information here. On the surface, you find Ivy's husband and children and get confirmation that her siblings all died before she did. You also get some other useful clues about what happened to her family in the time between the 1940 Census and Ivy's death in 2010.

One important detail in this particular example has to do with the location. You might not have noticed that Ivy died in "Townsville, Wisconsin" but was born in nearby "South Townsville, Illinois." It is always a good idea to learn about the geography around your ancestors, but in this case, it is particularly important that you know to search for records in both states. You may have gaps that could be filled in with information from just across the state line.

If you look at the way the obituary listed Ivy's parents - "Fred and Myrtle (Johnson) Small-Krauss" - you can see that Fred Small married Myrtle Johnson, and you can probably guess that after Fred died, Myrtle remarried. If you hadn't known that, it could help you find her obituary or death records under the name "Myrtle Krauss." That kind of information doesn't always show up in obituaries, especially if there was a divorce involved, but when you see it, make note of it.

You can see a similar construction with her sister, Ethel Sailors-Mann. The obit lists Ivy's nieces and nephews, including "Gary and Ann Sailors," so it's a pretty good bet that those are Ethel's children. And it looks like Ethel remarried after their father either died or after a divorce; and since the obit says Ivy's siblings pre-deceased her, you might find more by looking for "Ethel Mann" - either her death records or an obituary of her own.

Document, Document, Document

The first thing I do when I find a new obituary is to create a "Story" in my Ancestry tree. These kinds of stories should be attached to the main person the obituary is about. I either copy the text into that Story or, if I only find a scanned image of the obituary, I upload that as a photo, and transcribe it so I have it in a text format.

(Newspapers.com has a nice feature for clipping an obituary or other story and attaching it to the people in your Ancestry tree, but even with my World Deluxe membership, a lot of their papers are behind their paywall. If you can't afford that extra $60/year, it can be a pain to get that text, but it is worth trying. They usually have an OCR version of the page your obit appears on, though the OCR quality may not be great. Take what you can get, and just be sure to save the URL to their page, the name of the newspaper, and the date/page information so you can cite all of that as a source.)

Ancestry stories can be attached to everyone that is mentioned in the story, so I usually go through line by line and make sure that each person named in my obit is added to my tree, and then use the "Add link" to add each person to this story.

Once I've attached this obituary, with all of its sourcing information included, to all of these people, then I go to each person and add whatever facts the obit gave me about them. For example, I added Ivy's son, Harold, and attached the story to him; then I go to his Fact page, and add his wife and his 2010 residence: "Harold Borden (Pat Andrews) - S. Townsville, Ill." Then I make sure that I edit the fact and click on the Media tab to make sure that fact is associated with the obituary's Story.

I repeat this process for every fact I can extract from that obituary. For example, all I know about Ivy's brothers-in-law comes from her sister's name: "Ethel Sailors-Mann." I would add two spouses for Ethel, one "Sailors" and one "Mann," and then attach the obituary Story to each, and make sure their Name fact links to that Story. That's a lot of effort for a small fact, but if I don't get around to searching for their full names right away, I could forget where those clues came from without a proper source citation.

Trust, but Verify

If you started with the information I did, you already knew a bit about Ivy, her parents, and her siblings. Then you found this obituary, and you were probably able to add seven more people to your tree: her husband, children, grandchildren, and her sister's children. You also have a pretty good idea where those individuals were living at the time of Ivy's death.

But that's where the next round of work begins. You need to check for records to confirm all of this new information. U.S. Public Records databases in Ancestry can often verify those residences, and sometimes give you a birth date, too. You may know enough now to look for marriage records, more obituaries, and much more.

Sometimes, especially for living people, it will be hard to find this information. Respect their privacy, and protect their identities - by keeping your files private - but maybe also reach out to let them know that you're researching their family. They may ignore you, but for most families, I find that someone who has lost a parent or grandparent might be interested in learning more about their family history. Be ready to share, and don't pressure them for information until they're ready to offer it!

It's also a good idea to remember that any detail you have found could be wrong. Misspellings, incorrect dates, and other errors could always trip you up. Be flexible, and patient!

 - -- --- -- - 

As always, if you think you might be related to someone in the Callin Family History, I encourage you to reach out. You can comment below, join the Facebook group (link is in the right-hand column), or email my Gmail address, which is callintad.

Happy Hunting!

Update: Located in Illinois

I'm excited to announce another breakthrough; let me refresh the details for you (borrowing from The Rise of the Fergusons):

The year is 1835, and the younger of the Brothers Callin of Ohio, John Callin, has just died of tuberculosis. While the farm where John's children and nephews grew up must have begun to feel crowded by the end of the 1820s, during the 1830s and 1840s these children began to grow up and set off on their own.
Indeed, at least the older of John's children would have been married by the time of his death. His son, George Callin, was married though he may not have moved out to Huron county, yet. His daughter, Ann Callin Campbell, had certainly struck out on her own with Henry Campbell. And we have discussed how his nephew Alec Callin will soon embark on his journey to Iowa, taking wife and children with him, as well as his widowed mother (John's sister-in-law).
The Callin Family History (or CFH) is not very elaborate when it comes to conveying all of this activity and motion. It tends to compact a great deal of an individual's history into very little text. For example, the book has two lines about John's next two eldest daughters which seem to say very similar things, but which have very different stories to tell:
Sarah, born 1808, married John Scott, moved to Ills. About 1840.
Eliza, born 1811, married Jas. Ferguson, moved to Ind. 1851.
This doesn't specify when Sarah and John were married, though it might be safe to guess that it was probably within a year or two of 1830; Sarah would have been in her early twenties, then. But the real tragedy is that we know nothing else about this couple - because none of their children are named in the CFH, and we have no idea where in Illinois they might have gone.

After years of periodically running the same searches without seeing any results, Ancestry has added at least one Ohio marriage database containing a record of John Scott and Sarah Callin, who married in 1823 in Richland county, Ohio. I've also been checking in with other sites when I don't see results in Ancestry, and when I looked for Sarah and John at FamilySearch.org, I got a death record for a James Callin (1832-1916) which listed his father's name and his mother's maiden name: Sarah Callion.

That's all I needed. I began to pull that thread, and we now have another populous branch to add to the revised Callin Family History!

Joseph Scott was born in Pennsylvania in 1765. He may be the Joseph Scott who appeared in Washington, Pennsylvania, on the 1790 U.S. Census, but according to other researchers, he moved with his wife, Elizabeth Mary (1778-1848), to Ohio where all of his children were born. His oldest child, John Scott, was born in Richland County, Ohio, on 6 October 1798.

John Scott married Sarah Callen in Richland County on 18 January 1823. Depending on which record you trust for her birth date, she would have been anywhere from 15 (using the Callin Family History date of 1808) to 22 (using the date on her Find-A-Grave memorial). John and Sarah had their first three children there in Richland county before the Scott family relocated to Winnebago county, Illinois in about 1836.

North Burritt Cemetery, Winnebago, IL

John and Sarah's fourth child, Rebecca, was apparently born en route, while they were in Michigan, putting them in that state in 1837. They settled in an unincorporated area called Harrison, near Rockford, Illinois. There, they had three more children. In the coming weeks, we'll look at these children and their descendants in more detail:

• George Scott (1827–1905)
• James Scott (1832–1916)
• Sarah E Scott (1836–1854)
• Rebecca Scott Sharp (1837–1928)
• Nancy A Scott (b. 1840)
• Cyrus H Scott (1843–1931)
• Lucina Scott (b. 1845)

Sarah and John lived out their lives in Harrison, and died just a few weeks apart from each other; he died on 20 January 1872, and she died on 6 February 1872. They are buried in North Burritt Cemetery

 - -- --- -- -

I have seen several other names of researchers who seem interested in this branch of the family, so I'll be reaching out to them to let them know about this blog and the Callin Family History project. As always, if you are related to anyone named in the blog, I'd like to hear from you.

I'm on FTDNA if you'd like to look for our genetic connection, we have the Callin Family History group on Facebook (be prepared to explain how you're related before I approve any join requests), you can reach me at my Gmail address (callintad), and, of course, you can drop a comment below.

I always appreciate corrections, clarifications, and even new mysteries!

Breaking News: New Find-A-Grave photo for Mary Callin in Muscatine

Thanks to Find-A-Grave member Kelly Muldoon for fulfilling this photo request in the Oak Grove Cemetery, Muscatine, Iowa.

In case you don't recall the post The Distance of Close Connections, here's a quick quote:

Alec Callin, who felt The Pull of the West and moved further, from Ohio to Iowa. Just to refresh you on the details, the CFH says this of Alec:
"Married and moved with his family and mother to Iowa about the year of 1840. The mother referred to was 'Aunt Mary', wife of James 2nd who was killed with a gun. She sold the farm and went with Alec to Iowa where she died some years later. Nothing has been heard from that branch of the family since 1845."
There are several records of land grants to an Alexander Callin, one identifying him as a resident of Muscatine, Iowa in July 1854, and showing that he purchased a plots of land in the young state. There is also a Mary Callin buried in a Muscatine county cemetery, having died in 1846 at age 77.

The existing Find-A-Grave memorial for Mary Callin had that information - and if the photo had only been "head on," it would have merely confirmed what we already knew. I've scoured the records in the area trying to find connections to the Callin family in that area. But because Kelly also posted this photo, I got a bonus clue:

Mary Callin's memorial in Muscatine
(click to go to Find-A-Grave)

 I won't keep you in suspense - the memorial carved on the other side of that stone belongs to one Callin Rayburn. I had seen that name pop up in some of my searches, and it was interesting, but other researchers on Find-A-Grave connect his mother, Eleanor Callen Rayburn, back to the Patrick Callen family from Armstrong county, Pennsylvania.

This isn't concrete proof (pun intended), but it is a clue literally set in stone - at the very least, our Callin family was close enough to the descendants of Patrick Callen to be buried side by side in an Iowa cemetery.

I have a lot of work to do to see if I can find more information, but this is tantalizing and exciting!

(And, as always, if you're related to these Rayburn and/or Callen folks, please let me know! I'd love to compare notes!)

Things Are Looking Opp

I read somewhere recently that only about 7% of available genealogical records are online. So I always have to be careful about accepting records just because they're the only ones that fit what I know. Usually, I can take a record that I'm not 100% sure about, and test it against other kinds of records or searches, and if I can falsify it (meaning, I can use the information in two or more sources to prove that they aren't for the same family), I at least know that I've ruled out an incorrect line of research.

I try to communicate to you when I'm not certain about a detail or a relationship, and I try not to put more information in these posts than I think I can positively prove. This family made that very difficult, so I will do my best to show my sources, and let you decide how much confidence to assign to what I've written here.

The Opp families that lived in and around Easton, Pennsylvania, typically came to Philadelphia from town in the Rhineland during the 1730s or 1740s. They were generally members of the Evangelical Reformed Church (Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche), and many of them can be documented through church records available through Ancestry.

When I began writing up my Opp family, I discovered that I had fallen victim to a couple of common problems. Most of these Opp men I am researching were given traditional Reformation-style German names; almost all of them appeared in earlier records with the first name "Johan" or a variation. Their middle name was typically the name they used once they arrived in America, and it was common to name sons after themselves and their male relatives. As it turns out, I confused two men who lived in Easton and operated taverns - both of whom were named either "Johann Jacob Opp" or simply "Jacob Opp." After reviewing the available records, I think I've figured out who is who.

I suspect that three men with the Opp surname - Jacob, Michael, and Valentine - were either brothers or cousins who emigrated from the Rhineland when they were in their twenties. Their daughters married into families with names like Bixler and Bidleman, which were prominent in their way in the community. The Bixlers, in particular, would be important members of the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, which published some of the sources I will cite and runs the Sigal Museum (also at that link) in Easton.

Johan Michael Opp (1732-1803) appears in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1669-1999 database. He was buried at St. John's Lutheran Church in Easton, Northampton county, Pennsylvania on 28 May 1803. He is listed in many church and tax records as "Michael Opp" or "Michael Opp Sr," to differentiate him from his son, Michael Jr, who lived nearby.

Satellite image of the old Michael Opp farm

The senior Michael was a weaver, and property and tax records placed him in Easton. I took a description of the boundaries of his farm from Historic Easton from the window of a trolley-car, published in 1911, and used Google maps to make the image to the right, depicting the site of the old Opp farm. The Northampton County Courthouse and Prison occupy the western half of what was once Michael Opp's farm.

I believe Michael's wife was called Catharine Elizabeth, but I know very little about her. If my research bears out, then this couple would be my 6th-great grandparents. And their son, Jacob "Junior" would be my 5th-great grandfather. I found a mention of them in two articles published in 1997 in the local newspaper:

J Floyd S. Bixler, an early corresponding secretary of the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, wrote a history of Easton's early taverns in 1931. He noted that the Golden Swan Tavern was located at 460 Northampton St. This is confirmed by James A. Wright, whose 1993 history of taverns reaches beyond Easton to encompass all of Northampton County. Jacob Opp Jr., son of Michael Opp, was an early landlord at the Golden Swan. That was before 1813.
—The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania; Thursday, July 24, 1997, Page: 13

Bixler tells the story of Theophile Cazenove, an agent for the French Land company on a tour of observation. "This Frenchman was a man of distinctive tastes, and traveled with a coach and four, a valet, a coachman, and a postilion," says Bixler. "He also had an extra saddle horse along for a change when he became weary of his coach." Cazenove stopped at the Golden Swan. He had a party of three men and three horses. Jacob Opp was the proprietor at the time. He charged Cazenove $3.90 for the night's lodging. One assumes this included supper and breakfast. Bixler comments, "Jacob Opp was no profiteer." Profiteer, no. But promoter, yes. Good service and a good price prompted Cazenove to write that the town of Easton could be proud of the Golden Swan. Bixler writes, "As he Cazenove always chose the best hotels, and was a critical judge of the service rendered, we may judge that Opp's Golden Swan Hotel was a credit to Easton in its day."
—The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania; Thursday, July 24, 1997, Page: 25

Church records from St. John's Lutheran Church in Easton also establish that Jacob was Michael's son. For a long time, I mistakenly believed Jacob's father was "John Jacob Opp," who is described in two histories of the area:

In September of 1757 this property was conveyed to Adam Yohe, who had previously occupied the premises as a tenant. Yohe conducted a tavern which he called the Red Lion. This was Easton's principal hostelry during the French and Indian War. Yohe disposed of the property in 1760 to George Cungware who still owned it in 1772. Later Jacob Opp became owner and continued to operate the tavern. Just when Opp secured possession is not known but as the 1776 assessment list refers to him as a tavern keeper owning a house it is assumed that he lived here during the war. In 1806 the Orphans Court adjudges the property to Elizabeth, the daughter of Jacob Opp, and the wife of Abraham Horn. Eve, the eldest daughter of Opp, married Daniel Wagener. Opp's daughter Catharine married Christian Bixler.

A frontier village, pre-revolutionary Easton p. 239-240; by Andrew Dwight Chidsey, 1940; Easton, Pennsylvania

Notably, this source ruled out the relationship to my ancestor:

John Jacob Opp, father of Catherine Opp, was born in Chur-Paltz, Germany, in the year 1740, came to the colony of Pennsylvania and died in 1805. He was appointed a commissioner of Northampton county June 22, 1776, to receive bounty money to be paid to the three hundred and twenty-seven men who completed Northampton's first quota to the forces of the Flying Camp, as shown by the muster roll of Revolutionary militia. In addition to the sum of $981, he was also to exchange all saltpetre made in the county, this to be handed over to Capt. George Huber, to be used in the manufacture of gun-powder. John Jacob Opp became a large landowner in Easton, and by his wife, Anna Maria Hoffman, had four daughters, one of whom became the wife of Christian Bixler, the founder of the jewelry business which has been in the Bixler family one hundred and thirty-three years...

History of Northampton County (Pennsylvania) and the grand valley of the Lehigh, p. 316; by William Jacob Heller, American Historical Society, Boston New York etc., 1920

Michael Opp and his wife had at least one other son, Michael Jr. (1767-1843), and a daughter, Anna Margareta, who married Michael Odenwalder (1750–1828) on 8 March 1775. Michael Sr. left behind a will, recorded in an index record in Pennsylvania, Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993. It looks like I will need to make a trip to Easton one of these days to find that will and learn more about these folks.

Jacob Opp Junior (1763-1848) may have been named for an uncle or grandfather, which suggests to me that Michael Opp Sr. and John Jacob Opp (of the Red Lion tavern) might have been related. Whatever the case, my Jacob - the proprietor of the Golden Swan - married a widow named Elizabeth Reynale, probably around the time of Michael's death in 1803, if not a bit later. Elizabeth had a son from her first marriage, and she and Jacob also had a son in 1811 who they named Henry. Jacob relocated the family to Dansville, New York, around 1814.

Once again, property and tax records seem to support what the local histories published later claim about their biographical information. Jacob figures into the biography of Elizabeth's son, Dr. William H. Reynale:

Dr. Reynale was one of the earliest physicians and surgeons of Dansville. He was born at Quakertown, Hunterdon county, N.J., Feb 27, 1794. Very early in life he lost his father. His mother died in 1835. Soon after his father's death he was adopted by Henry Bidleman, a maternal uncle [N.B. - suggesting Elizabeth's maiden name must have been Bidleman] who was an accomplished scholar... After a severe and critical course of medical reading, he entered the University of Pennsylvania in January, 1811, as a medical student, and was graduated from there April 9, 1814. Soon after this he went to Dansville, at the invitation of Jacob Opp, a connection of Dr. Reynale, who was at that time building the well-known flouring and grist-mill south of Dansville, which is now, and has been for several years, owned by Benj. F. Readshaw.

History of Livingston County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, pg. 194-195; by James H. Smith, Publisher: D. Mason, Syracuse, N.Y., 1881

And according to his newspaper obituary, "Dr. Reynale came to Dansville for the first time in 1814, with his stepfather, Mr. Jacob Opp." (Dansville Advertiser, Dansville, Livingston County, New York; Thursday, August 11, 1870 - emphasis mine.)

Jacob's move to Dansville was further documented in the History of Livingston County:

[Col. Nathaniel] Rochester took up his residence in Dansville in , and purchased a large tract of land, embracing most of the water power within the village, including the mills built by Daniel Sholl for the Pultney estate. He added to the other mills a paper mill, which was the pioneer of its kind in Western New York. In 1814 he disposed of his property in Dansville, in part to Rev. Christian Endress, of Easton, Penn., and in part to Jacob Opp, from the same place. ...Jacob Opp's purchase, which embraced the present Readshaw mill and site, was made in January, 1814, and in May of that year he moved his family here from Easton. He continued his interest in the mill property till about 1840, and died in Dansville in 1847, aged 84 years. Henry B. Opp is the only one of his family left here.

p. 162

The grist-mill owned by Benjamin F. Readshaw, on the corner of Gibson and Main streets, to which reference has been made in connection with the early settlement of the town, occupies the site of the gris-mill built in 1796 by David Sholl for the Pultney estate. It was soon after burned and rebuilt by Sholl, who eventually became its owner, and was succeeded in possession of the property by Col. Nathaniel Rochester, the founder of the city of Rochester. In January, 1814, Mr. Rochester sold it to Jacob Opp, who owned it till about 1840. The mill contains three runs of stones, which are propelled by water from Little Mill creek, with a fall of thirteen and a half feet.

p. 174

Henry B. Opp (1811–1884) was born in Easton, and at the age of three, moved with his family to Dansville, New York, in Livingston county. Henry was known as a miller, though after his father sold the mill around 1840, when Henry was 29, records list Henry's occupation as farm laborer.

Around 1839, he married Susan Karcher (1818–1903), daughter of William Karcher (1782–1852) and Magdalena Welch (1786–1869). Henry and Susan are my 4th-great grandparents. They spent their entire lives in Dansville, where they had five sons and two daughters.

     I. Henry K Opp (1840–1908) served in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. He was the paymaster aboard the USS Pocahontas. After the war, he married a woman named Mary, and they settled in Wellsville, New York, where he ran a clothing store.

Jacob Edward Opp

     II. Jacob Edward Opp (1842–1913) was my 3rd-great grandfather. He married Mary Elizabeth Palmer, and we looked at their descendants in a previous post.

     III. William Opp (1845–1920) served in the 21st Regiment, New York Cavalry during the Civil War. In 1868, he married Martha E. Fenstermacher (1846–1919), and they raised three daughters:

     A. Theda W Opp (1871–1961) remained single her whole life, working for many years as a saleslady in a dry goods store in Wellsville. About her 70th year, she moved to Rockland, Maine, to live with her niece's family. She is buried in Wellsville.

     B. Adela "Addie" Opp (1873–1954) also remained single, working as a clerk or as a housekeeper to support herself. When Theda went to Maine, she appears to have gone with her, and she, too, was buried in Wellsville after her death.

     C. Edna P Opp (1877–1954) was born in Dansville, grew up in Wellsville, and married William F. Yewdall (1870–1932) in 1901. She moved to Thomaston, Maine, to live near her daughters after his death, and her sisters follow a few years later.

     i. Helen Marlee Yewdall (1908–2008) married Joel Murray Miller Jr (1908–1987), and was 100 years old when she died.

     ii. Margaret F Yewdall (1914–2011) married Dr. Frederick Collins Dennison (1908–1994). He served in the Knox County Hospital for many years. They are survived by their daughter, three grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

     IV. Amelia J. Opp (1847–1922) She married Samuel H. Peterson, whom you might recall from the post about his grandfather, Samuel Peterson, New Jersey Shipwright. Samuel (b. 1847) was five years old on the 1850 Census, but later records dispute his birth date. On the 1860 Census, Samuel and his sister, Annie, appear listed in the same James Palmer household as their grandfather, Sam Peterson. According to a newspaper obituary for Amelia, they married in 1873, and moved to New York state.

Samuel and Amelia were in Deerpark, New York, according to the 1875 New York State Census, and they were in North Dansville with their daughter and three sons in 1880. When Amelia shows up in 1900, she is listed in North Dansville as a widow, but I have not been able to find Samuel's death records. Amelia lived in North Dansville until her death in 1922, and she was buried near two of her sons in Green Mount Cemetery.

They had a daughter and three sons, altogether:

     A. Susan Peterson was born in 1874, and only appeared in the 1880 U.S. Census. It is possible that she grew up and married, or may have died young. Until some records turn up, I do not know.

     B. James Henry Peterson (1875–1942) lived in East Rochester, New York, where he likely worked for the Foster & Armstrong Company manufacturing pianos. He married Julia H Sullivan (1878–1950) about 1903, and they had five children. The couple is buried in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester.

     i. Charles H Peterson was born about 1904, and appeared in the 1905 New State census and the 1910 and 1920 U.S. Census records with his family.

     ii. Helen Amelia Peterson (1907–1942) married Joseph Seward Little (1897–1939) in 1937. He was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War I who died just two years later while living in the Veteran's Administration facility in Tucson, Arizona; he was only 41.

     iii. James H Peterson Jr (born 1907) followed his father in the piano-building business.

     iv. George Peterson was born about 1913, and was seven years old in the 1920 U.S. Census, which is the only record I have for him.

     v. John Richard Peterson (1916–1985) married Margaret Jean Race (1926–2003) in the 1940s, and they lived in Rochester, where they raised four sons and a daughter. They were survived by their children and seven grandchildren.

     C. Samuel Hoffman Peterson (1878–1951) was a lifelong bachelor and resident of Dansville. He worked in a plant nursery for many years.

     D. Henry K Peterson (1880–1962) married Charlotte Alice "Lottie" Wilcox (1880–1964). He served as superintendent of mails at the post office at the time of his retirement, and lived in Dansville his whole life.

     V. Lewis Isaac Opp (1851–1927) was a lifelong bachelor who spent his whole life in the Dansville area. He died at 74 of a stroke.

     VI. George Benjamin Opp (born 1859) lived with his older brother, Henry, in Wellsville, from at least 1870. I have not found any records for him more recent than his appearance in Henry's household in the 1880 U.S. Census.

     VII. Mary Elizabeth Opp (1864–1867) died at age 3, and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery, in Dansville, near her parents.

 - -- --- -- - 

There you have it - to me, it always seems like a lot of names, but also a lot of "lifelong bachelors," which makes finding modern cousins tricky. I especially dislike having so many mysterious loose ends, but until more records are online - or I find time to travel around the Eastern seaboard! - they will remain mysterious.

Of course, if you recognize any of these folks from your own research, I'd love to hear from you. I welcome any corrections and updates.

You can reach me at my Gmail address, callintad, or through the comment section below. I'm also on Twitter @tadmaster, and on Facebook. (Be prepared to tell me how we're related before I approve any Facebook requests, though - a boy can't be too careful these days.)

James C. Palmer and Martha Peterson

James C Palmer was born in April 1814 in New York. He married Martha Peterson (1815–1882) around 1836; they are my 4th-great grandparents. Our previous post focused on Martha's father, Samuel Peterson, and on his descendants.

I know very little about James Palmer, as the earliest record I have found online that identifies him is the 1860 U.S. Census. He appears in four of the U.S. Census records (1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900), three state census records (two for New Jersey, and one for New York), and about 16 city directories, so we know that he was born in New York state (the minority of records say New Jersey), that he worked as a shipwright, like his father-in-law, and that from 1871 forward, he and his family lived in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The family's first documented appearance was in Washington, Middlesex county, New Jersey, in 1860, according to the U.S. Census. The household in that record included Martha's father, niece, and nephew. Sam Peterson died in 1862, and in 1865, the remaining Palmer family (plus two Petersons) lived in Brooklyn, New York, according to that year's State Census. By 1870, they were in Jersey City, and all of the subsequent records show James living there.

James and Martha had four daughters, spread out over 19 years. When Martha died in 1882, at age 66, James lived on his own for about ten years, but eventually went to live with his second-youngest daughter, Sarah Decker.  He died in 1904 at the impressive age of 90.

I. Mary Elizabeth Palmer (1837–1889)

Jacob E. Opp, about 1910

Sources are pretty evenly split on the subject of where Mary was born; most records say New York, a few say New Jersey. As with her father, the earliest record I have that lists Mary is the 1860 U.S. Census. She appears three times in the U.S. Census (1860, 1870, and 1880) and once in the New York State Census (1865). The only other records I have is of her death, in the New Jersey, Deaths and Burials Index, 1798-1971.

Mary Elizabeth married Jacob Edward Opp (1842–1913) about 1867. (They are my 3rd-great grandparents.) Jacob was a Civil War veteran and railroad engineer from North Dansville, Livingston county, New York, and his pension record from the National Archives was very helpful to me when I began researching this branch of the family. I'll talk more about him and his ancestors in future posts.

Mary and Jacob had three children, two daughters and a son. They raised their family in Paterson, Pasaic county, New Jersey, but also appear to have been close to the Opp family in Dansville. After Mary died in 1889, Jacob relocated from Paterson to his daughter's home in Newark, but still appeared in the U.S. Census in his mother's household in Dansville on the 1900, as did his daughter's family (the Freys).

The records imply that Jacob never stopped working as an engineer, driving trains right up until his death from pneumonia on 17 July 1913.

     A. Lillie May Opp (1868–1881) died young, only aged 13 years 6 months. She is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Dansville, Livingston county, New York.

     B. James Henry Opp (1870–1941) married three times, and had a total of eight children. Because marriage and birth records were sparse, I can't be sure that I correctly associated children with the correct mother, so please let me know in the comment section at the bottom of this post if I need to make any updates.

James was born in Dansville on 11 March 1870, and grew up in Paterson. His first marriage was on 14 July 1889, when he married his cousin, Evelyn Stevens (b. 1870). His mother died in September of that year.

James and Evelyn had two children together, but did not stay together for very long. Evelyn remarried in 1900, and we will discuss her later in this post.

     1. Richard Dana Opp (1890–1944) was born 11 August 1890 in Jersey City, and married Helen Platt (1886–1965) in 1913. A few years later, he joined the New York National Guard in 1917, where he served in the 7th Infantry as a corporal. A couple of years later, he joined his father in relocating to Elmira, New York, where he worked for the Aluminum Ware Manufacturing Company.

I don't know when they were married, but in 1920, he was listed in the U.S. Census with his second wife, Anna S Klein (1890–1973), and in 1922, Helen Platt Opp took her father-in-law, James H. Opp, to court over an unspecified debt.

     a. Richard Dana Opp Jr. (1917–1991) was born on July 22, 1917, in Bronx, New York. He entered the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1937, and would eventually retire from the U.S. Marine Corps at the rank of Lt. Colonel. He and his wife, Ruth O'Connor (1913–2002), had one son and one daughter, both of whom are still living. He died on February 13, 1991, in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, at the age of 73, and was buried in Arlington, Virginia.


     b. Edna Mae Opp (1920–1993) was born on March 28, 1920, in Elmira, New York. She worked in a credit union until World War II broke out, and she then enlisted in the Women's Army Corps (W.A.C.). After the war, her arthritis forced her to move to a hot, dry climate, and so she relocated to El Paso, Texas. She lived there with her mother until Anna's death in 1973. Edna died on June 2, 1993, in El Paso, Texas, at the age of 73, and was buried there.

     2. Lillian Elizabeth Opp (b. 1893) married William Corwin Johnson Jr (b. 1888) in 1916, and we know they had a son (possibly still living), and two daughters: Charlotte Elaine Johnson Bloch (1917–1989) and Lillian Joy Johnson  Franklin (1921–2003).
   
James married his second wife, Lillian Jones (1871–1915), on 20 January 1896.  James worked in New York City, and the family lived in Newark, New Jersey. In 1900, James's company, Opp & Grundy, went into bankruptcy. Still, he worked hard and eventually got back on his feet.

They had five children before Lillian's death in 1915.

     3. Julian Theyer Opp (1899–1978) was a mechanic who lived in Union county, New Jersey. He married Charlotte L Jacques (1913–1997) around 1930, and they had two daughters, who may still be living.

     4. Lucinda Opp (1901–1902) died before her first birthday, and was buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Westchester County, New York.

     5. Emily A Opp (1904–1917) was born on 23 February 1904 in Kings county, New York. She died just over a month before her thirteenth birthday on 15 January 1917, and was also buried in Sleepy Hollow.

     6. Stanley Walter Opp (1912–2001) was born in New York City, and grew up in Newark, where he met his wife, Eleanor Bertha Ficke (1915–2004). They married around 1937, then lived in Denville, New Jersey, from 1944 until 1973. He was a warehouse supervisor at Bendix Corp. in Teterboro for 29 years, retiring in 1971. They had two children, one son, Stanley Charles Opp (1938–1993), and a daughter, still living.

Stanley and Eleanor then moved to Tuckerton, New Jersey, where he was a licensed optician. They lived there from 1973 until 1989, and retired to Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania. He received his optician degree from Camden Community College in 1980. He also owned and operated, with his late son, the Stanley Shell, later known as Stanley's Sunoco, in Denville.

     7. Dorothy Opp (b. 1915) remains a bit of a mystery; her brother Stanley's 2001 obituary mentioned her (as "Dorothy Campbell") and said she died previously, but did not say when. And she appeared in the 1940 Census in her younger brother James's household in Hillside, New Jersey, where her surname looks like "Comboy" (possibly a mis-hearing of "Campbell").

After the 1915 death of Lillian, James H. Opp's third marriage was to Jessica Viola "Jessie" Owens (1896–1987). They had one son in 1917, and then about a year after that, in 1918, James and his business associates took over the Aluminum War Manufacturing Company headquartered in Elmira, New York. James and his family all relocated to Elmira, and James purchased the famous Glove House there.

James's oldest son, Richard D., worked for him at this company, and James soon took over as president of the company from his partners. But within a couple of years, questions over the company's finances led to the Opps giving up control of the company, and moving back to New Jersey. It isn't clear that anyone did anything wrong, but the newspapers of the time implied that this was a local controversy.

     8. James Henry Opp Jr (1917–2010) married Shirley Cole (1920–1986), and they had two children: a daughter, still living, and a son, James Michael Opp (1956–1989). The family lived in Southern California from the mid-1950s, and James and Shirley are buried in Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park, Westlake Village, Los Angeles county.

     C. Emily Amelia Opp (1871–1913) married Emil C Frey; they are my 2nd-great grandparents, so I will cover their family in more detail in future posts. I told much of Emil's story here on the blog a few years ago in Love and Loss in Old New York (and New Jersey).

II. Emily M. Palmer (b. 1842)

Emily married Alexander Charles Radcliffe (1819–1900)  on November 5, 1871, in Jersey City, New Jersey. They had one son, Loder B Radcliffe born and died in 1873. After Alexander's death, Emily was living in Philadelphia, where she was last seen in 1912. I have not found any record of her death.

III. Sarah D. Palmer (b. 1854)

Sarah was born in May 1854 in New Jersey, and she married James L W Decker (b. 1858) on October 9, 1884, in Jersey City, New Jersey. They had four children in 11 years. They appeared together with their children in the 1900 and 1910 U.S. Census, and on birth and death records for the three younger children; there is also a marriage record for them in the New Jersey, Marriage Records, 1670-1965 database.

I don't know precisely when Sarah or James died, but she is listed in a U.S. City Directory at their home on Graham St. in 1918 as "wid. Jas. W." - and she appears in the 1930 Census in the household of her son-in-law, John T. Denmead.

     A. Theresa Decker (b. 1885) last appears in her parents' home on the 1910 U.S. Census, where they lived on Graham St. in Jersey City. She is single and 25 years old, with no listed occupation.

     B. Gordon Thayer Decker (1888–1952) married Marie Augusta Harnisch (1892–1972) on 21 December 1915, and they lived in the house on Graham St. with his parents. Gordon and Marie soon had their daughter, and they moved to East Orange around 1920. Gordon worked as a machinist and engineer until the 1940s, when he and Marie appear to have retired, either to San Diego, or to New York. Marie appears in both New Jersey and San Diego on the 1940 Census; in New Jersey, she lived with Gordon and her elderly parents, and in San Diego, she lived with her daughter and son-in-law.

Gordon died 8 April 1952, and was buried in San Diego, and Marie died there in 1972.

     1. Lois Decker (1917–1977) married Robert Edward Cullmer (1911–1968) of Montclair, New Jersey, probably in 1935. They moved to San Diego, California, where their son was born: Robert Morrison Cullmer (1937–2001).

     C. Grace P Decker (1889) died in June 1889 at five months of age.

     D. Caroline C Decker 1897–1993) was born on March 10, 1897, in Jersey City, New Jersey. She married John Tennant Denmead, Jr. (1894–1939) about 1921. They had six sons between 1922 and 1939, when John died. One son is still living.

Caroline remarried Julius Leo Briegel (1898-1977), and lived in Netcong, New Jersey, for many years. She was an assistant librarian at the Netcong Library from 1957 to 1967. She was a member of the Netcong Board of Education from 1950 to 1967, and served on the Juvenile Conference Committee of Morris County Juvenile Court from 1960 to 1965. She was a World War II Gold Star Mother and a past president and member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Lakeland Post 2347 Ladies' Auxiliary of Netcong.

She died in 1993 in Passaic, New Jersey, at the age of 96, and was buried in Netcong, New Jersey.

     1. John T Denmead III (1922–2013) was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and lived most of his life in the Netcong/Stanhope area. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps. during WW II as a water survival instructor in Fresno, California. After the war, Jack worked as a salesman for Vita Frost Frozen Foods until it closed. He then worked as Superintendent of Building and Grounds with Lenape Valley Regional High School for over 25 years before retiring in 1987.

Jack was well known in his community for his historical knowledge of lakes Musconetcong and Hopatcong. He conducted water safety instruction for the Sussex County American Red Cross, certifying lifeguards in the area.

Jack married Patricia Jane Black (1923–1993) in 1943, and was survived by his brother, three children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

     2. Donald R Denmead (1923–1943) enlisted in the Army Air Corps, and served as a ball turret gunner on the B-17 #4230872, 'Ole Puss,' which collided with another aircraft on 16 December 1943. The plane crashed into North Sea, and Sgt. Denmead was lost with the rest of the crew.

     3. James G Denmead (1928–2013) James served in the Marine Corps during World War II, and married Doris Louise Tobin (1923–2002) on 11 October 1952. He worked for Fablock Mills in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, as a computer data and construction manager. He was a member of the Warren Township American Legion Post 293. In his spare time he enjoyed oil painting, and sang with  the Hounds for Harmony Barbershop Chorus in Plainfield, New Jersey.

James and Doris are survived by their daughter.

     4. Bruce P Denmead (1933–1991) was born on June 12, 1933, in Dover, New Jersey, and lived in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, much of his life. He was a dispatcher at Jersey Central Power & Light Co. in Phillipsburg for 28 years before retiring in 1986. He was a member of Westley United Methodist Church in Phillipsburg. He also was a Cub Scout Webelos leader for Pack 62 in Budd Lake.

He died on January 20, 1991, at the age of 57, and was buried in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is survived by his wife, a son, four daughters, and seven grandchildren.

     6. Harry Wadsworth Denmead (1939–2008) was born on April 21, 1939, in Dover, New Jersey. He married Mary Ann Parliment (1940–2013) on 24 October 1958 in Vance, North Carolina, and enlisted in the U.S. Army from 1963-1965. They resided in Netcong prior to moving to the Budd Lake section of Mount Olive Township, New Jersey, in 1965.

Mary Ann was a nurse, working for many years at Dover General and Karen Ann Quinlin Hospice. Harry retired in 1998 after 38 years as a production planner with Westinghouse in Randolph. He was a life member of Stanhope United Methodist Church in Stanhope, and he was a member of the Barber Shop Harmony Society for 50 years.

Harry died on Wednesday afternoon, Oct 1, 2008, at St Clare's Hospital, Denville, after a short illness. MaryAnn died on Friday morning, April 19, 2013 at her home in Netcong after a long illness. They were survived by a son, two daughters, and two grand-children.

IV. Carrie W. Palmer (b. 1856)

When Carrie Palmer married Charles H Stevens (1840–1921) on October 8, 1879, in Jersey City, New Jersey, she was 22 years old. He was a boot & shoe maker with two children from a previous marriage. They had two more children.

Carrie's new step-children were William A. Stevens (b. 1866) and Evelyn Stevens (b. 1870). She is the Evelyn Stevens who married her step-cousin, James Henry Opp (1870–1941). After they divorced, Evelyn remarried George W. Gifford (b. 1868) on 11 August 1900.

Carrie died in 1931 in New Jersey at the age of 75, and was buried in Morristown, New Jersey.

     A. Charles H Stevens Jr. (1882–1923) married Jeannette "Jennie" Kalshoven (1886–1979) in 1908. He worked as a bank clerk, and died at only 41 years of age. They were survived by a son, Charles H Stevens (1910–1985).

     B. Clara R H Stevens (b. 1892) married William Fredrick Wing (1889–1942) on 22 December 1912, and they appeared together in her parents' household on the 1920 U.S. Census - but by 1922, William was no longer listed in Jersey City with Clara. He seems to have remarried by 1925. The last record I have of Clara is her listing in the 1922 U.S. City Directory for Jersey City, living in her parents' home on Grant St.

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As you can imagine, this is a very time consuming project! I'm planning to continue, but it certainly won't be a weekly exercise.

If you're a relative of any of the people named here, I am always eager to hear from cousins - especially if they can help me fix any mistakes I might have made in the course of my research.

If you've had your DNA tested through FTDNA.com, look for me in your Matches; you can reach me through my "callintad" Gmail address (listed there on my profile, too) or you can drop a comment below.