Category: Montgomery, Charles William

Newspaper Tales: C. W. Montgomery in Print

Posted on by spuddled

For today’s Newspaper Tales blog post, I’ve decided to take a look at various times in which my great-grandfather, Charles William Montgomery, showed up in newspapers throughout his lifetime. I’ve found that old newspapers can capture not only the important milestones, but also the small moments that help round out our understanding of our ancestors’ lives.

Charles was born 17 January 1861 in Lynchburg, Ohio, but the first newspaper mention of him that I have been able to find is from 1896, after he had moved twice: first to Richland County, Illinois, and then to Holdrege, Nebraska. Events in Charles’s life that did not make it into the newspaper (or at least not the newspapers I have seen) were his marriage to Laura Maud Walker on 22 February 1883 in Richland County, Illinois, and the births of daughters Myrtle, Mamie, Bessie, and Elta in Mansfield, Illinois, between 1884 and 1888. The family moved to Nebraska sometime around 1889. Charles’s first mention in print appears in The Political Forum of Holdrege: an article notes that C. W. Montgomery was to be appointed night watchman for the town, effective 5 February.1

There seems to have been something of a muddle over this appointment. An article appearing two days later in the Holdrege Weekly Progress also references Charles being made night watchman but noted that the former watchman whom C. W. had replaced was still “on the night turf.”2

The Holdrege Citizen similarly detailed this redundancy of night watchmen.3

Exactly what transpired next is unclear, but on 28 February 1896, The Holdrege Citizen reported that Charles had resigned his post. Interestingly, this notice appears on the same page as an account of Charles swearing out warrants the previous Wednesday against a group of men for public intoxication. The men pled guilty and were fined, and according to the article, the issue “caused considerable comment and feeling.” I can’t help but wonder if this somehow led to the resignation.4

Shortly after Charles’s resignation from his night watch post, a brief mention in The Holdrege Citizen provides information on his next employment situation. This one is night watch-adjacent.5

In all these articles, Charles appears fairly consistently as “C. W. Montgomery.” So I’m going to assume the “Chas. Montgomery” who took a car load of the mayor’s cattle to Omaha in June 1896 was a different individual. Though our Charles is back (and cattle-adjacent) in September 1897.6

Two years later, we learn, Laura’s sister, Eunice (Walker) Pilchard and her husband came to stay for “a few weeks” with Charles and Laura,7 though a later article revealed the visit had in actuality been only for 10 days.8 This later article refers to our Charles as “Chas. W. Montgomery, ” so maybe I should rethink that mayoral cattle business.

A month after the Pilchards’ visit, The Holdrege Daily Citizen coyly noted the arrival of “a handsome boy” at the home of Charles and Laura. This handsome boy was John Ward, the second of three sons born to the couple. The first son, Walter, had been born in March 1898 (10 years after the birth of Elta). John Ward, who would go by his middle name, was born 9 October 1899.9

Another bit of confusion comes next. Was it our C. W. Montgomery who was selected as “Chief Forester” for the Holdrege Modern Woodmen of America?10 Similarly, who was the “Chas. Montgomery” who attended the Nebraska State Volunteer Fire Department Association convention?11 I don’t know.

What does appear to be the next confirmed incident to befall Charles was that his employer at the Palace meat market sold the business. The new proprietor, Thomas Sword, would be assisted by his son as well as “Chas. Montgomery, the popular meat cutter.”12

The following month “the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. W. Montgomery” broke his collar bone by falling out of a swing. Was this John Ward, the “handsome boy”?13 Three months after that, Thomas Sword, the new proprietor of the Palace meat market, turned around and sold it to Chas. Hagstrom & Co. The article about the sale noted that our Charles would remain with the firm “for a month or two yet.”14

This “month or two” was an understatement. By April 1901 when the meat market changed ownership yet again, C. W. Montgomery was still working there, and would continue to do so.15 He seems to have been the one constant at that place.

Four months later another birth announcement for Charles’s family appeared in the newspaper. Though he wasn’t labeled as a “handsome boy” arriving at the house, it’s still exciting to see in print, as this was my grandfather, Lawrence Montgomery, born 26 August 1901.16

Before Grandpa was a year old, the family would move again, this time to Colorado. An article from May 1902 describes how Grandpa’s sister Mamie (then 16 years old) traveled to Sterling, Colorado, to prepare their new home for the family’s move.17

Even after his move, Charles continued to turn up in the Holdrege newspaper. Here he is connected with cattle again…18

Charles’s next appearance in print is a sad one that provides a lot of insight into the family’s history. His wife Laura was committed to an asylum in Pueblo, Colorado, and would spend the remaining thirty years of her life there. Even more poignant to me is the fact that her “youngest child” referenced here was my grandfather.19, 20

Six months later eldest daughter Myrtle, who had married in Colorado but then returned to Nebraska, came to visit “her parents.” I know from letters Mamie later wrote to her own daughter that Laura did write to her children from the asylum; perhaps Myrtle did in fact visit her there as well.21

Charles does not turn up as regularly in the Colorado newspapers as he did in Nebraska, at least at first. Interestingly, Fort Collins and Holdrege were roughly the same size (about 3000 people) in 1900, but by 1940, while Holdrege was holding steady at around 3400, Fort Collins had grown to over 12,000. Today Holdrege’s population is still only about 5500, while Fort Collins boasts about 170,000 residents.

Charles does show up in 1919 in an article concerning four acres of land he purchased. This article is tucked in between one asking citizens to buy War Savings Stamps and bread, and one advertising Bitro-Phosphate as a way to “increase one’s flesh.”22

Two years later Charles appears again, in an article noting he would be gone for several months to Cloverly, Wyoming.23 I wonder what was in Cloverly? It could not have been Buffalo Bill, even though Grandpa always said his father spent time “riding the range with Buffalo Bill,” because Buffalo Bill died in 1917.

Another less-mysterious trip was the one Charles took in December 1922 to Los Angeles, planning to stay for six months. At least it seems to be less mysterious: daughters Mamie, Bessie, and Elta would all eventually settle in California, though it’s not clear to me when each of them moved there with their families, and as we shall see, Elta, at least, was still in Colorado for a little while after 1922.24 This article also notes that Charles had lived for the past seven years at the New Antlers Hotel. This building still exists, and Mom, Dad, and I were able to see it in person in 2015.

In May 1923 a further article described Charles’s return from his trip. Though he enjoyed his time away, Colorado was still the winner in his book.25

Charles’s next appearance was in an article from September of that same year. This article tells us several important facts. Charles has returned to his prior occupation of being a night watchman, this time at the Great Western Sugar company. Also, daughter Elta was now living in Walsenburg, Colorado; Charles was taking a week’s vacation to visit her there.26

Charles was still employed at Great Western four years later, as an article describes how he was responsible for leading a class of eighth grade students from the Plummer School on a tour of the sugar company, describing the sugar-making process and answering the students’ questions.27

By 1933 both Elta and Bessie were living in Los Angeles, as in March of that year a newspaper article noted that Charles had wired both daughters but had not heard from him.28 It’s possible he was trying to reach them to relay information concerning their mother’s health; she would die in July of that year at age 70.

The following year Charles was the one with health concerns; a newspaper article from October 1934 notes he had been a surgical patient but was released back to his home at the Antlers Hotel.29

In May 1935 Elta sent Charles some freshly-picked California oranges. Charles shared his bounty with the staff of the newspaper which ran an article about this offering (the newspaper was then called The Fort Collins Express-Courier). Apparently this gift from Charles to the newspaper staff was not sufficient to prevent them from butchering Elta’s name; she is listed as “Alva” in the article.30

The following year Ward, the “handsome boy,” now 36 years old, visited Charles for a week. By this time Ward was married, had two children, and was living in Detroit.31

The following year it was Elta’s turn to visit Charles at 222 Linden Street (aka the Antlers Hotel).32

Then two years later in July 1939 Ward visited again. He was now a young widower, his wife having died in January of that year at age 31. The two young daughters, Jean and Ruth, were aged 10 and about 7.33

By this time Charles was nearing 80, but life would take at least one more surprising turn for him. In April 1941 an article in The Western Nebraska Observer noted that a marriage license had been been issued to Charles and a Lysle Cleave, both of Fort Collins.34 When they married on 27 March 1941 in Kimball, Nebraska, Charles was 80 and Lysle was 57.35 At some point I was sent a copy of a photograph of Charles and Lysle, which included notes written at the bottom of the page. It took some time to work out that “Mrs. Lyle” was in fact Lysle (Peterson) Cleave.

Part of what helped piece those details together was the final newspaper appearance we’ll look at today. As you might expect, that is Charles’s obituary, which appeared on 14 January 1942. Interestingly, the obituary states that Charles “would have been 75 Saturday,” when in fact he would have been 81.36 He died on 13 January 1942 in Fort Collins after a week’s illness. According to his death certificate, his cause of death was coronary occlusion and arteriosclerosis. So there you have it – Charles Montgomery’s life as described in newsprint. Now if only at least one article had mentioned Buffalo Bill…

  1. The Political Forum [Holdrege, Nebraska], 5 February 1896, pg. 3 ↩︎
  2. The Weekly Progress [Holdrege, Nebraska], 7 February 1896, pg. 1 ↩︎
  3. The Holdrege [Nebraska] Citizen, 7 February 1896, pg. 5 ↩︎
  4. The Holdrege [Nebraska] Citizen, 28 February 1896, pg. 5 ↩︎
  5. The Holdrege [Nebraska] Citizen, 17 April 1896, pg. 5 ↩︎
  6. The Holdrege [Nebraska] Citizen-Forum, 17 September 1897, pg. 8 ↩︎
  7. Holdrege [Nebraska] Daily Citizen, 8 September 1899, pg. 1 ↩︎
  8. The Weekly Progress [Holdrege, Nebraska], 15 September 1899, pg. 1 ↩︎
  9. Holdrege [Nebraska] Daily Citizen, 13 October 1899, pg. 1 ↩︎
  10. The Weekly Progress [Holdrege, Nebraska], 8 December 1899, pg. 1 ↩︎
  11. The Weekly Progress [Holdrege, Nebraska], 19 January 1900, pg. 1 ↩︎
  12. The Weekly Progress [Holdrege, Nebraska], 1 June 1900, pg. 1 ↩︎
  13. The Weekly Progress [Holdrege, Nebraska], 13 July 1900, pg. 8 ↩︎
  14. The Weekly Progress [Holdrege, Nebraska], 12 October 1900, pg. 1 ↩︎
  15. Holdrege [Nebraska] Daily Citizen, 19 April 1901, pg. 1 ↩︎
  16. The Weekly Progress [Holdrege, Nebraska], 30 August 1901, pg. 1 ↩︎
  17. Holdrege [Nebraska] Daily Citizen, 9 May 1902, pg. 1 ↩︎
  18. The Weekly Progress [Holdrege, Nebraska], 2 October 1903, pg. 1 ↩︎
  19. The Larimer County [Colorado] Independent, 28 December 1904, pg. 6 ↩︎
  20. The Fort Collins [Colorado] Express and The Fort Collins Review, 28 December 1904, pg. 4 ↩︎
  21. The Weekly Progress [Holdrege, Nebraska], 5 May 1905, pg. 1 ↩︎
  22. The Fort Collins [Colorado] Express, 21 March 1919, pg. 4 ↩︎
  23. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 27 January 1921, pg. 3 ↩︎
  24. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 16 December 1922, pg. 3 ↩︎
  25. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 16 May 1923, pg. 3 ↩︎
  26. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 21 September 1923, pg. 3 ↩︎
  27. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 20 January 1927, pg. 1 ↩︎
  28. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 14 March 1933, pg. 7 ↩︎
  29. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 9 October 1934, pg. 7 ↩︎
  30. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 28 May 1935, pg. 2 ↩︎
  31. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 6 August 1936, pg. 5 ↩︎
  32. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 25 July 1937, pg. 2 ↩︎
  33. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 30 July 1939, pg. 2 ↩︎
  34. The Western Nebraska Observer [Kimball, Nebraska], 3 April 1941, pg. 4 ↩︎
  35. Charles William Montgomery, Letter from Charles Montgomery (n.p: n.p, July 16, 1941). ↩︎
  36. Fort Collins [Colorado] Coloradoan, 14 January 1942, pg. 2 ↩︎

R Is for…Roomer

Posted on by spuddled

One thing I’ve noticed in my genealogical investigations is that there were all sorts of variable household configurations. Whether it was the presence of grown children living at home with their parents before they married, or parents living with their grown (and married) children and their families, the occasional niece or nephew living in a household, possibly helping with farm work or childcare, there were any number of ways in which family life could be arranged.

Another type of living arrangement which I’ve seen in various census and other records is that of the “roomer.” Again, roomers might actually be family members, or they could be individuals living in a boarding house or something similar. I’ve decided to highlight a few of these arrangements uncovered in our family tree; as we shall see, sometimes our relative is the roomer living with others, and in some cases our relative is the one taking in those roomers.

First up is sixth cousin once removed, Paul Frank Bryan. A descendant of our Slatten/Sweeney line, he was born in 1903 in Oklahoma Territory. By 1930 Paul had married Gladys Virginia Bailey, and he and Gladys were living in Chicago. Paul was working as a welder for a bookbinding company, and Gladys as a “sample paster” for (I’m guessing the same) bookbinding company. Also in their household was 17-year-old Gilbert Petty, roomer, who worked as a laborer on car radiators. By 1940 Paul and Gladys had moved to Ligonier, Indiana, where they lived with their two young sons and no random roomer.1

Henry Langworthy Burdick, fifth cousin 4 times removed, was born in Rhode Island in December 1879 and at various times played both roomer and…roomee (?). In the 1900 census, Henry was enumerated with the family of Henry B. and Nancy H. Edwards at 8 Lessee Street in Amherst, Massachusetts. Henry was listed as a student and a “lodger” (close enough). Henry would graduate from Amherst College in 1903.2 In 1910, Henry and his wife Ethel were living with Henry’s parents in Westerly, Rhode Island; Henry was a lawyer.3 In 1920 Henry and Ethel were still living in the same house in Westerly (at 37 Elm Street), though Henry’s parents appear to have passed away in the intervening years. But with the couple were Elizabeth Burdick, 29 and listed as a servant, and a 29-year-old man named Guy with an illegible surname, a house carpenter listed as being a roomer in the household.4

Also born in 1879 was second cousin 4 times removed, Irvin S. Cain. In 1930 he was living in Bloomington, Illinois. In his household with Irvin at 619 W Olive were his wife, Grace; children Dorothy (20), Russell (17), Mary (14), Hazel (12), Darrel (9), John (5); as well as 5 roomers. Irvin was listed as a general laborer doing odd jobs and paying monthly rent of $25; Irvin’s wife, Grace, was explicitly described as the proprietor of a rooming house.5

In 1920 in Rockford, Illinois, fourth cousin 5 times removed, Sarah L. Chaney, was listed as a 70-year-old roomer in the household of Ella E. Wilbur. Ella was a 64-year-old dressmaker living at 402 N Fourth Street.6 In earlier years Sarah, who never married, had worked as a bookkeeper; in 1910 she was living on her own with no occupation but with her “own income.”7

Arthur R. Schlegel, first cousin 3 times removed, was born in Banks, Oregon, in 1877. In 1900, he was a farm laborer in the household of Charles and Mary Taylor, though he was listed as “servant” and not roomer.8 Ten years later he, like Henry Langworthy Burdick, was on the other side of the roomer situation. He was now living in Portland with his wife Henrietta Mae Hunter. Arthur was working as the foreman of a box factory, and in the household with him and Henrietta was a roomer named Austin Durdin, who worked in the box factory as well, as a laborer.9

There are a few even closer relations who played a roomer role. My great-great-grandfather, Anders Roberg, was widowed in 1919. By 1930 he was living in Newman Grove, Nebraska, a roomer in the household of Fred and Letta Brown. Fred was a dry goods merchant.10 Ten years later, still in Newman Grove and now listed as a “lodger,” Anders was living in the household of George and Maude Smith.11 Within our Montgomery branch, great-grandfather Charles William Montgomery was listed as a roomer in Fort Collins, Colorado, in 1920, working as a farm laborer.12 In 1930 Charles was working as a watchman at the G. W. Sugar Company and was a lodger in the household of Charles and Minnie Reingold. Charles Reingold was the proprietor of a junk store, which sounds amazing.13 Charles’s youngest child (and my paternal grandfather), Lawrence Theodore Montgomery, was a widower enumerated in Winner, South Dakota, in 1930. Grandpa was listed as the driver of an oil truck and the solitary inhabitant at a home on Second Street. However, the next household enumerated, on Third Street, consisted of a furniture repairman named Henry Krugman; his wife Bertha, a laundress; their six daughters; and Grandpa’s two daughters, aunts Flo and Irene. Listed as aged 2 4/12 and 4/12 respectively, both motherless girls were listed as roomers of the Krugmans. Grandpa would marry Grandma later that year, and by 1940 he had moved Grandma, Flo, Irene, and 5 more children to Scottsbluff, Nebraska.14 I imagine their household (which would eventually include a total of 12 children) was too crowded to allow for any roomers.

Irene, Lawrence, and Flo Montgomery
  1. 1930 census; www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  2. 1900 census; www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  3. 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
  4. 1920 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  5. 1930 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  6. 1920 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  7. 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
  8. 1900 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  9. 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
  10. 1930 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  11. Ancestry.com, 1940 Census. ↩︎
  12. 1920 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  13. 1930 census. www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  14. 1930 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎

N Is for…Namesake

Posted on by spuddled

In some countries and time periods, there are specific naming conventions that determine namesakes: the first son named after the paternal grandfather, the second son after the maternal grandfather, the first daughter after the maternal grandmother, the second daughter after the paternal grandmother, etc.1 At other times, the process of selecting namesakes was less structured. Today I’m taking a look at Dad’s family to identify all the namesakes I can find there.

Grandpa Montgomery‘s name itself is something of a mystery, as I’ve covered here before. That’s the confusion over his middle name. It only just occurred to that his first name (Lawrence) may have been a tribute to his mother, Laura. Grandpa had a second cousin named Lawrence Extol Montgomery who was six years his senior, but that seems less likely to be a real namesake situation.

Charles William and Laura Maud (Walker) Montgomery and daughters (and dog)

Grandpa and his first wife, Antonia Marie Jelinek, had two daughters, Flo and Irene. Aunt Flo (Florence Marie), shared her mother’s middle name. I’m not immediately aware of anyone named Florence, Dorothy, or Irene in the family. After Grandpa’s first wife died, he married Grandma (Blanche Agnes Wilson), and they went on to have 10 children together. Grandma’s middle name, Agnes, is an anglicization of the name of her grandmother, Agnette, and in fact, Grandma’s baptismal record lists her as “Agneta Blanche.”2

The eldest child born to Grandma and Grandpa was Myrtle Charlotte. These are both family names (or variations thereof). Grandpa’s eldest sister was named Myrtle Pearl Montgomery, and his father, Charles William Montgomery, was the inspiration for Aunt Myrtle’s middle name. In later years she chose to go by Charlotte instead of Myrtle, and I remember her saying she wished her two names had been reversed.

After Myrtle came the oldest son, Morris Walter. I don’t know of any ancestral Morrises, though “our” Morris had a first cousin, Morris Frenier, who was five years his junior. Walter, though, was the name of Grandpa’s oldest brother, Walter Dewey Montgomery. After Morris came Marvin Lawrence. Similarly to Morris, I’m not aware of any namesake connections for Marvin’s first name, but Lawrence is obviously a callback to Grandpa’s first name. The third son in a row was William Clarence. Uncle Bill, unlike Morris and Marvin, had namesakes for both his names. Grandpa’s father, Charles William, we have of course already mentioned, and he, presumably, was named after his own grandfather, William Montgomery. And Grandma Montgomery had two Clarences in her immediate family: her older brother Anders Clarence died when he was two years old, and then eight years later another son born to the family was named Clarence Salmer.

The next daughter born to the family was Deanna Esther. Though Aunt Deanna had a first cousin once removed named Esther Myrtle Montgomery, I suspect that was just a coincidence, and I’m not aware of any other Esther connections in the family. Family lore (or at least the story Dad heard) was that Deanna was named not after a relative but after singer and actress Deanna Durbin. Deanna Durbin was only seventeen years old in 1939 when our Deanna was born, but her career had begun in a 1936 short with Judy Garland, so the timing is not out of the question.3

After Deanna came two more boys, Alwin Eugene and Theodore Richard. I haven’t been able to find any namesakes in our family tree for Uncle Gene or for Ted’s (aka Dad) middle name, Richard. The “Theodore,” however, shows up a couple of times. First, of course, as Grandpa’s maybe-middle-name, and then with Grandpa’s uncle, Joseph Theodore Montgomery.

Next after Dad came Gloria Blanche, who died at age five. This is another case in which the first name appears to have no precedent, but the middle name has clear family connections, with Gloria being given her middle name in honor of Grandma. After Gloria came Linda Lea; as with Uncle Gene, I’m not aware of any family links to either of Aunt Linda’s names, though when Dad started dating, and then married, Mom, also a Linda, the two Lindas became accidental namesakes, differentiated sometimes in conversation as “Linda Lea” and “Linda Jo.” Last in the family came Aunt Laura, and with her names (Laura Christine) she made up for Aunt Linda’s lack of family names, as she was named after both of her grandmothers, Laura Maud Walker and Sophie Christine Roberg.

Twelve children later, and we’ve reached the end of this look into one collection of family names and namesakes. Of course there are many more namesakes on both sides of the family tree, as well as other reasons for selecting names that don’t have anything to do with family history…at least not until the stories get told or written for posterity.

  1. https://englishancestors.blog/2020/04/01/english-naming-traditions/#:~:text=To%20recap:,after%20father’s%20eldest%20sister%20(patS) ↩︎
  2. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives; Elk Grove Village, Illinois; Congregational Records ↩︎
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanna_Durbin ↩︎

M Is for…Marriage Records

Posted on by spuddled

I’m going to trust the idiom about pictures and thousands of words and focus on the former for this blog post regarding marriage records. Here are the records I have (or of which I have copies) for the first few generations of my direct ancestors.

Generation 1:

26 August 1961
Caldwell, Canyon, Idaho
Theodore Richard Montgomery and Linda Jo Hoffmann
(parents)

Generation 2:

17 September 1930
Winner, Tripp, South Dakota
Lawrence Theodore Montgomery and Blanche Agnes Wilson
(paternal grandparents)
Not a marriage record, exactly, but an article from the Bloomington, Illinois Pantagraph (which makes me wonder…do I actually have the official document somewhere in all my piles?)
12 March 1938
Peoria, Peoria, Illinois
Joseph Benjamin Hoffmann
and Velma Marie Swing
(maternal grandparents)

Generation 3:

The marriage of paternal great-grandparents Charles William Montgomery and Laura Blanche Walker on 22 February 1883 in Richland County, Illinois appears in Ancestry.com’s Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940, but this database doesn’t include images, unfortunately. So moving along…

13 March 1907
Boone County, Nebraska
Carl Ozro Wilson and Sophie Christine Roberg
(paternal great-grandparents)
7 December 1902
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Paul Hoffmann and Emma Alice Slagel
(maternal great-grandparents)

Another one that’s missing (why have I not written away for these??):
18 June 1913; Peoria, Peoria, Illinois; Albert Carl Swing and Lena Agnes Hunkler (maternal great-grandparents)

Generation 4:

25 December 1858
Hamilton County, Ohio
John Montgomery and Belinda Simmons
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
15 February 1857
Noble, Richland, Illinois
Marcus Walker and Mary Ann Conklin
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
Another not-quite-document, but an excerpt
31 August 1879
Brush Creek, Fayette, Iowa
Wellington David Wilson and Lucinda Blanche Davis
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
Another one that’s more of an excerpt…
3 December 1878
Rushford, Fillmore, Minnesota
Anders Mathis Roberg and Agnette Evensdatter Lien
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
17 January 1875
Renaucourt, France
Jacob Hoffmann and Christine Schmidt
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
30 November 1875
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Samuel Slagel and Mary Demler
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
17 February 1884
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Albert Carl Swing and Catherine Marie Hoffmann
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
14 December 1886
Peoria, Peoria, Illinois
George John Hunkler and Maria Elizabeth Rusch
(maternal great-great-grandparents)

These are not all the marriage records I have, though they do become more sparse from here on out. I would keep adding more here, but I figure this blog post is already 13,000 words long, so that will do for now.

H Is for…Homestead

Posted on by spuddled

Today we are tracing the westward expansion of one particular branch of our family in search of the elusive “homestead.” Though the Homestead Act was signed in 1862, I don’t know that any of these family members took advantage of that particular legislation but instead were part of a more general migration west…sort of.1

This westward migration is first evidenced in the locations of birth, marriage, and death of my great-great-grandfather, Marcus Walker. He was born in 1831 in Ohio, the son of George and Sarah (Malotte) Walker. I have seen Sarah’s ancestry detailed for many generations back in numerous places online, but I have yet to feel certain enough that it is really “our” Sarah to bite that particular bullet. So we’ll just start with Marcus. He was enumerated in Batavia, Ohio, in 1850 with George and Sarah, and with his siblings Hiram, Ruth, Mary, Ezra, and Ellen.2

It appears that by 15 February 1857 Marcus had started his wandering; on that date he married Mary Ann Conklin in Noble, Illinois.3 Mary herself was also an Ohio native, having been born in Clermont County on 26 March 1835. Her parents were Stephen and Sarah (Mills) Conklin, both of whom had died in 1850, leaving her an orphan at 15.4 Between 1858 and 1877 Mary Ann gave birth to 8 children: Ella C., Eunice, Laura Maud (my great-grandmother), Minnie, Clara, William Henry, Orlando Clifton, and Bertha. Throughout those years the family was enumerated in each census in Denver, Illinois,5 6 7 and it was there that Mary Ann died on 28 April 1887 of “quick consumption” at the age of 52.

This latter fact comes to us not from official records but from letters Mary Ann’s granddaughter, Mary Edna (known as Mamie) wrote to her own daughter in 1958, and these letters provide a more colorful glimpse into the lives of these ancestors. After recounting the story of her grandmother’s death, Mamie went on to explain how her Aunt Clara and Uncles Cliff and Will had moved from Illinois to Nebraska and “taken a homestead near Holdrege.” Her Aunt Ella had also moved to the area and rented a farm. Mamie’s own parents (my great-grandparents Laura Maud (Walker) and Charles William Montgomery) then moved to Nebraska as well, following the earlier Walker migration. Charles Montgomery did not take up farming, though, instead working as a butcher. Charles and Laura had a total of seven children; the first four, daughters, were all born in Illinois; the final three, sons, were all born in Holdrege. The last of these was my grandfather, Lawrence.

Letter from Mary Edna (Montgomery) Kimble to Rozella (Kimble) Zerkle, 1 April 1958

Charles and Laura would continue their own migration farther west, to Colorado, and Grandpa would eventually end up in Idaho (because someone told him and Grandma that “the wind never blew in Idaho”). Of the other Walker kin, eldest daughter Ella and her husband Henry Marker raised four children; all are buried in Nebraska.8 Clara, the fifth child, was one of those who, along with her husband Arthur Simmons, moved to Holdrege, though like Laura and Charles, they did not remain there. In 1907 they moved to Kansas, and Clara died there in 1932.9 Though Mamie described Will (the sixth of Marcus and Mary Ann’s children) as having moved to Holdrege, it’s possible this was during the knowledge gap caused by the destruction by fire of the 1890 census, as by 1897 he was in Illinois when he married Grace Heikens,10 and he was enumerated in Piatt County, Illinois in 1900.11 Ten years later he and Grace were living in Kansas and remained there for the rest of their lives. Youngest Walker son Orlando Clifton “Cliff” married Lillie Maude Genoway in Passport, Illinois, in 1900;12 it appears he, too, had migrated westward and then returned to Illinois. By 1920, though, the family had moved on again, this time to Wisconsin, where the family would remain.13

The remaining three Walker offspring didn’t participate in the family migration wave to Nebraska, but after second child Eunice married Cyrus Pilchard in Richland County, Illinois in 1882, she and her new family did eventually move to Webster City, Iowa.14 Minnie Walker, child #4, married Joshua O. Bateman in Richland County in 1885. The family did move to Piatt County, Illinois, but no further. Joshua died there in 1930, and Minnie nine months later.15 The baby of the Walker family, Bertha L., was born in Richland County in December 1877 and died there in October 1878,16 with no opportunity either to migrate or to decide to remain.

  1. Sharon S. Iamele, Conklin Cousins: the Many Children of Joseph and Mary (Cory) Conkling, 2014 Kindle Version (2014), ; kindle, Purchased through Amazon, Amazon (https://read.amazon.com/?asin=B00IMQ2A7A&ref_=kwl_kr_iv_rec_1 : My Kindle Library 24 September 2024. ↩︎
  2. 1850 Census (n.p: www.ancestry.com, n.d). ↩︎
  3. Various Illinois County collections, “Illinois, County Marriage Records, 1800-1940,” marriage indexes, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 November 2024), Marcus Walker/Mary A. Conklin. ↩︎
  4. Iamele, Conklin Cousins: the Many Children of Joseph and Mary (Cory) Conkling. ↩︎
  5. 1860 Census (n.p: www.ancestry.com, n.d). ↩︎
  6. 1870 Census. ↩︎
  7. FamilyHistory Search and/or www.ancestry.com, 1880 Census, Denver, Richland, Illinois; Page 1, Sup 7, Enum 171. ↩︎
  8. www.findagrave.com, www.findagrave.com. ↩︎
  9. “Clara Walker Simmons Obituary,” obituary, Council Grove Republican, 6 June 1932, obituary; online images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : online 27 November 2024). ↩︎
  10. Various Illinois County collections, “Illinois, County Marriage Records, 1800-1940,” marriage indexes, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 December 2024), William Henry Walker/Grace Edna Heikens. ↩︎
  11. 1900 Census. ↩︎
  12. Various Illinois County collections, “Illinois, County Marriage Records, 1800-1940,” marriage indexes, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 December 2024), O Clifton Walker/Lillie M Genoway. ↩︎
  13. 1920 Census. ↩︎
  14. Various Illinois County collections, “Illinois, County Marriage Records, 1800-1940,” marriage indexes, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 November 2024), Eunice Walker/Cyrus R. Pilchard. ↩︎
  15. Various Illinois County collections, “Illinois, County Marriage Records, 1800-1940,” marriage indexes, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 November 2024), Minnie Walker/Joshua O. Bateman. ↩︎
  16. Iamele, Conklin Cousins: the Many Children of Joseph and Mary (Cory) Conkling, . ↩︎

Friday’s Faces from the Past – Lyle

Posted on by agnette

Several posts here have focused on my great-grandfather, Charles William Montgomery. This photograph depicts Charles and his second wife, Lyle, whom he married less than a year before his death. Family records I had seen early in my genealogical adventures referred to her as “Mrs. Lyle” – since then I have seen letters written to Grandpa by the newly-married couple from “Your father and Lyle,” and Charles’s death certificate lists his widow’s name as “Lyle Montgomery.” It would therefore seem Lyle was actually her first name, though the Baby Name Voyager indicates that at no time was Lyle in the top 1000 female names. I have a couple of letters Lyle wrote to my grandfather following Charles’s death, but after 1942 no record of her remains. This leaves a lot of unknowns – was she a widow when she married Charles at about age 55, or was this her first marriage?  Did she marry again after Charles’s death?  And when and where did she die?

Small World, Genealogy-Style

Posted on by agnette

Genealogical “small world” moments are always fun.  There was the day when I discovered that my soon-to-be sister-in-law was also my ninth cousin once removed. Then the moment when I found that my second cousin four times removed and her husband had been keepers of the Little Sable Lighthouse Mom and I had visited in Michigan three years earlier (you can read my earlier blog post about that discovery).

In trying to decide what to write about next, I dug out a letter from Charles Montgomery, my great-grandfather, whose census history I covered on Saturday. It’s one of those documents I had not yet explored for all its genealogical significance (aside: I really need to get organized) – obviously, since it contained previously-unknown marriage information for Charles and his second wife Lyle:

[Postmarked Fort Collins, Colorado, July 16, 1941; Addressed Mr. & Mrs. L C Montgomery, Scotts Bluff Neb. Box 675; Return address Mr. & Mrs. C W Montgomery, 231 Walnut St.; 3c postage]

                                                                        Ft Collins July 17, 41

Mr & Mrs L C Montgomery,
            Dear Children

I got your card this p.m. and sure was glad to hear from you, i am real well. What do you work at in Scottsbluff. Elta was here last winter sure was glad to see her. My wife meet her. i was married March 27 at Kimbell Nebr we get alone OK.
     Elta wrote they were coming here on there vacation. We just have a small apartment but like it, hope to hear from you soon igen.

                                                                         Lot of Love to you and yours,
                                                                                 Dad & Lyle.

            Adress
            231 Walnut St
                   Ft Collins
                        Colo.

As another aside – it’s intriguing that Lawrence’s own father addressed the envelope to “L. C. Montgomery” – there has always been uncertainly about whether Grandpa’s middle name was Theodore or Conklin.

Fast-forward 71 years from Charles and Lyle’s wedding, and Mom and I are making a cross-country trek to my 20-year high school reunion. In search of small mom-and-pop motels, we found one in – where else?  Kimball, Nebraska. We felt a little uncertain about this particular reservation because I made it over the phone and wasn’t sure everything was confirmed.  But obviously our visit was meant to be!

A Life in Census (Almost)

Posted on by agnette

Charles William Montgomery, my great-grandfather, was born January 17, 1861 in Lynchburg, Ohio, the son of John and Belinda (Simmons) Montgomery.  By 1870 his family had moved to Denver Township, Richland County, Illinois, where they were enumerated that year in June.  In the household that year are John, age 40; Belinda, age 31; Hattie, age 10; Charles, age 8; Franklin, age 7; Thomas, age 6; Harry, age 4; and Edward, age 2. John’s birthplace is listed as New Jersey, Belinda’s and the first three children’s as Ohio, and the youngest three children’s as Illinois.

In 1880, Charles, age 19, is still living at home with his parents in Richland County, but more children have been added to the family.  It now consists of John, age 50; Belinda, age 42; Hattie F., age 20; Chas W., age 19; Samuel F., age 18; Thos. M., age 16; Silas H., age 14; James E., age 12; Joseph T., age 8; John W., age 6; and Emma L., age 4.  The five oldest boys are all listed as “working on farm.”

Most of the 1890 census was destroyed by fire, so the next time we find Charles is in the 1900 census. By this time Charles has been married to Laura Maud Walker for 17 years and has moved to Holdrege, Nebraska.  Charles and Laura are the parents of six children; their youngest, my grandfather Lawrence, will be born the following year.  The household consists of Charles W., born January 1861; Laura, born July 1862; Myrtle P., born February 1884; Mamie E., born October 1886; Bessie B., born December 1888; Alta G., born August 1889; Walter D., born March 1898; and John W., born October 1899. Charles’s occupation is listed as butcher.

There is another 20-year gap in the census records before we find Charles again. Several of his children appear in various locations in the 1910 census, but to date I have yet to locate either Charles or Lawrence.  Between 1900 and 1920 the family underwent a number of changes. In December 1904 Charles’s wife, Laura, entered the Pueblo State Hospital in Colorado, where she remained for the rest of her life.  Myrtle, Mamie, Bessie, and Elta/Alta all married before 1910.  According to Grandpa (Lawrence), his father spent some of the intervening years “riding the range with Buffalo Bill.”  I have yet to determine what kernel of truth (if any) is to be found in that story!

In 1920 Charles finally reappears, now living in Fort Collins, Colorado.  He is one of many “roomers” living at 224 Linden Street, his family now dispersed.  He is listed as C. W. Montgomery, age 57, with “farm laborer” his occupation. It appears that this residence was known as Antler’s Hotel and still stands in Fort Collins.

By April 1930, Charles is still living in Fort Collins but has moved about two blocks away, to 326 Walnut Street.  He is now a lodger in the home of Charles and Minnie Reingold, Russian immigrants and proprietors of a junk store.  Charles is listed as age 69, paying $10 a month in rent.  He is employed as watchman at the G. W. (Great Western) Sugar Factory.

Charles’s wife Laura died in the Pueblo State Hospital in 1933.  Seven years later Charles has returned to Linden Street, though his street number is now 222. He is paying $10 rent again and is now listed as age 72 and unable to work.  Details provided by Charles indicate the highest educational level he completed was the eighth grade. The proprietors of Antler’s Hotel are Charles and Mary Bohnke.

About a year after this final census, Charles married a woman named Lyle who was born about 1884. In January 1942, Charles died at age 80 of a coronary occlusion.  He was buried on January 16 in Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins.