Obituary: Muriel Ince Michaels

"Google News," database, Google (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 31 December 2014), obituary for Michaels, Muriel, citing The Montreal Gazette, 5 January 1981, p. 46, col. 6, para. 5.

MICHAELS, Muriel. Suddenly at the Royal Victoria Hospital on Friday, January 2, 1981 Muriel Ince, beloved wife of the late Albert Michaels, loving mother of Emily Doyle of California, loving grandmother of Lynn, Brian and Robert. Dear sister of Ernie and William. Also survived by her dear friend Granny Newton. Resting at the J P Ferron and Sons Funeral Home, 2252 St. Antoine Street, (Vanier metro)  Funeral service in the Chapel on Tuesday, January 6, at 10 30 a.m. Interment Mount Royal Cemetery. Visiting hours 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m.

The Fenity Family Bible

I spoke on the phone with Aunt Shirley today, and got some amazing tidbits I didn't know. She told me that her father was in the National Guard during WWII, which may actually be good news. Aside from managing to avoid active combat and to stay with his family, his records may have survived that fire in the National Personnel Records Center.

The better news is that I got some clarity on these pages of the Fenity family Bible. It absolutely existed. Aunt Shirley saw it, and her mother Callie kept it for some time. Shirley said it was in very poor shape, and they had copies made before it got worse.

Whether the Bible still exists somewhere, I can't confirm. But the fact that I have what are surely some of the only existing copies is not lost on me.

I'm of the opinion that is Pomp's handwriting. His handwriting is not as fluid or tidy as his wife Annie's hand. The capital P and F seem like his. I saw him write the abbreviation of Virginia (Va) in his autograph album enough to say it looks the same presented here. I can't say I'm certain, but I would still present it as my strongest instinct.

I can confirm that this page of marriages is written in Annie Rorer Fenity's hand. I've seen enough of her handwriting to recognize it. The loops in her capital W's, the large initial rounding on her capital A, the double loop on her capital C--these are telltale signs of her writing. I couldn't be more sure of it.

This page presents multiple different hands, none of which are familiar to me. It demonstrates that the Bible was passed around, possibly from sibling to sibling.

What I find to be interesting is that most of this writing appears to be in the same hand, and the last entry was when my great grandmother Callie died in March of 2000. It also suggests that this Bible was still intact and in use as of that time. 

Where is it now? Who wrote in these final entries? Maybe one day I'll find out. But even if I never do, I have all the information there is to know about this family. It was recorded carefully by many, so that not one detail would be lost or forgotten.

Because it is now in my hands, I intend to do the same.

Doyle Family Migration

Richard C. Keatts and the Diphtheria Epidemic of 1882

Hannah Quinn Bailey

"Historical Vital Statistics," database, Nova Scotia Archives (https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ItemView.aspx?ImageFile=8-161&Event=death&ID=68704 : 18 November 2014), entry for Hannah Bailey, 1909; citing death index, no. 967, Halifax County.

Census Shenanigans

The family history of most people is made of hundreds of census records. Therefore, finding people in a census is an essential fundamental skill. Which is why it can be a little embarrassing when it proves to be difficult. It's not like I've done this 84,000 times...

WHY CAN'T I FIND YOU?!

But that's the thing about genealogy. Even when something is a fundamental skill doesn't mean you ever stop learning how to do it better. There are some of us that like to call ourselves experienced, but we're all still improving the same basic skills.

Defining the Problem

This round of census trouble is with my 2x great grandfather Pomp Fenity. You may recall that I did a video about him and his wife Annie on my Youtube channel. In 1924 he lost his wife to measles, and before long he lost his farm and his family to the Great Depression. His children were sent to friends, relatives, and jobs outside of Virginia, and he spent the next several years working for the Works Progress Administration.

What this translates into for me is no longer looking for a single family unit, but him and his surviving children scattered to the wind. I still have no idea where my great grandmother was during the Great Depression, or her father Pomp. But I have most of the siblings now, and just filled in one more piece of the puzzle for missing 1930 and 1940 census appearances.

Where was Pomp in 1940? 

Living as a lodger in the Pigg River District of Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

1940 U.S. census, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, population schedule, Pigg River, enumeration district (ED) 72-31, sheet 8-B, household 124, "Pomp Finnety"; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Novamber 2014); citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 4284.

What exactly was my error that kept me from finding this record sooner? The variation of his surname spelling isn't new, and I've seen more obtuse variations than this one. His age is also off by 10 years, which is a much larger range than I am accustomed to searching.

But my crucial error was one of insanity. I was searching over and over again with the same one website, finding nothing, and somehow expecting different results each time I tried. I was relying entirely on Ancestry.com to either find the record for me in shaky leaf hints, or to find it by playing around with enough sliders in their search field.

By the time I provided enough search parameters to weed out thousands of records irrelevant to me, I also weeded out the one thing I was trying to find.

Using HeritageQuest

The first time I tried something different was when the breakthrough happened, and it was with a website I think no one doing US research should ever overlook.

When I get into a census record jam, I like to use HeritageQuest. It's a website that is free to most Americans through their local state library system. Some of them even have remote access pages where you can log in with your library card number on your home computer.

Why do I use it when I have subscriptions to fancy sites like Ancestry.com and MyHeritage? Because its census search feature is simple, exhaustive, and the results are still relevant. It's a balance that I've never seen in another website, and I wish more of them would learn something from what HeritageQuest is doing so well.

By typing in Given and/or Surname, census year, and a state, I can see every instance of my search term in that state, broken down by county. I can start with the county where I'm accustomed to finding my ancestor, and see all the occurrences of his name. If I don't find him there, I can quickly change to a different county, or even to the whole state.

It places all of the results in an alphabetical list by Surname, but I can change it to sort by all of the options displayed in the drop-down list. So if I want to check possible name variants, I can sort by name. For people with common names, it's helpful to sort by age and narrow your results that way. Birthplace can also be an important filter.

Jargon on the Census

Overlooking information on any record is an excellent way to cheat yourself out of important information. I talked about this in my most recent video on Deciphering Jargon, and the same ideas apply to census records as well. Never pass over numbers, codes, or abbreviations. They can provide an impressive amount of important information.

A great census tool I discovered recently for decoding this type of information was created by Steve Morse. There are several series of codes on the 1910-1940 censuses, and you can look them up with their series of drop-down menus. The employment code ended up being useful to me because 988 V9 2 is for someone working in construction who is paid by the government. It was a useful confirmation that he was still a part of the WPA, without requesting his (very expensive) file from the National Archives.

Those codes can be an excellent way of determining who the informant was for the information as well. Pomp's education code on the 1940 census was "90" which means his education level is unknown and he's over the age of 6. Because I know he was literate enough to read and write, I know he attended school. Therefore, if the information is unknown it was because he wasn't the one providing it.

What dead ends have you had searching through the census? What are some of your favorite tools to work through census records?

Deciphering Jargon on Genealogy Records

Ever looked at a record and seen all kinds of letters and numbers and asked yourself, "What does that mean?"

Yeah. I made a video about that.

Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe!

Awesome Finds, Big Ships, and the Great War

Lester Edgar Ince Sr is one of those ancestors I have on the back burner. I've had him there for some time, but it always amazes me the way breakthroughs can still happen in ways you didn't expect.

HMS Ariadne, provided by Wikimedia Commons

According to the 1911 Canadian census, he immigrated from Barbados (then the British West Indies) to Canada some time around 1900. I have not yet located him on the 1901 census, which could be because he immigrated after the census was taken. The absence of proof makes me question when exactly he immigrated to Canada, and how I can prove it.

To answer that question, I need to understand more of how he spent his life before moving to Canada, as well as the policies controlling immigration between the British West Indies and Canada. 

One new find has given me what I need to begin painting the picture of his life before immigration. He served in the Royal Navy aboard the ship HMS Ariadne, and his service record provides me with some crucial missing information.

Discovery, digital images, The National Archives - Kew, (http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6795093 : 27 October 2014), Entry for Lester Ince, citing ADM 188/551/362251

Check out that Place of Birth. Lester was born in the parish of Saint Peter!

Barbados is divided into regions called parishes, and all local records in Barbados are organized according to parish. Anyone who does research in the Caribbean knows that if you don't have a parish, you are out of luck. No parish = No happy dance!

Gettin' that parish!

And I can tell you from personal experience, these Royal Navy records do not always include parish information. This was pure luck. Finding someone's parish usually is.

I also find it interesting that Lester was a jeweler, especially since his father's occupation on his marriage record was given as a cooper. How does the son of a barrel maker become a jeweler? You know there's an interesting story at the other end of that question.

As for policies limiting immigration between the British West Indies and Canada, both countries were territories of the United Kingdom. From what I can tell, they all held British citizenship. There was no legal requirement for British subjects to be naturalized upon immigration to other British territories. This makes tracing his or anyone else's entrance from the Caribbean into Canada a unique challenge.

Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics, digital images, Nova Scotia Archvies, (https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ItemView.aspx?ImageFile=1821-16&Event=marriage&ID=69164 : 27 October 2014), Entry for marriage of Lester Ince and Ethel May Pinheiro, citing Halifax County, Nova Scotia, "Registration Year 1909, Book 1821," p. 16, line 228.

In 1909, Lester Ince married Ethel May Pinheiro. They lived with her parents, and gave birth to five children in the harbor area of Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

Soldiers of the First World War: 1914-1918, digital images, Library and Archives Canada, (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=487849 : 27 October 2014), Attestation papers for Lester Edgar Ince, citing RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4688 - 18 [Page 1 of 2.]

After the outbreak of World War I, Lester Ince Sr. enlisted for military service. He was not the only black man to do so, but was one of the few who were chosen. He was assigned to the 60th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces. Colored regiments were formed after he enlisted, and there is no record to suggest he served in a colored regiment.

The records that would shed more light on his military service are available at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. All of the World War I service records are in the process of being digitized and published online. They anticipate finishing with the project some time in 2015.

But thanks to Ancestry.com, I recently discovered a passenger list that is shedding some light on the end of Lester's military service in World War I.

Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, digital images, Ancestry.com, (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1263 : 27 October 2014), Entry for L. E. Ince entering Halifax, Nova Scotia on 14 November 1917, citing Library and Archives Canada RG 76-C, T-4756

Note that L. E. Ince's number (458117) matches the number on his attestation papers. This is the same man married to Ethel May Ince, of 54 Gerrish Street in Halifax. Although the list title says it's of medically unfit men, that's an oversimplification. Browsing through the list reveals men being sent to Canada for non-medical reasons. The reason for discharge given for Lester Ince is "Dis. of A.G." I have been searching for over an hour for some clue as to what that is, or 1Que Reserve unit, or Military district 6, or classification 3.

Ancestry.com gives the arrival date of the Olympic in Halifax, Nova Scotia as 14 November 1917. One notable fact about the Olympic is that it was a massive ocean liner, a sister ship to the Titanic.

RMS Olympic, image provided by Wikimedia Commons

I think it is safe to assume Lester Ince arrived in Canada alive, given that no note is given on the passenger list of his death. So the question becomes, what happened to him between November 1917, and when the 1921 census was taken? Why didn't he return to his family? And if he did return and left, why and where did he go?

I have a feeling that I won't have all of the answers until I see his full service file. But of course, you never know. I said that before, and I have this much more information without it. Sometimes patience done properly has its rewards.

Lynchburg: A City Directory, A Pair of Shoes, and the Great Depression

After a long hiatus from working on my genealogy, sometimes the hardest question for me to answer is where to start again. But if time and experience have taught me anything, it's that you can't really go wrong. Start anywhere. No matter how much you think you know about anyone, there is always more you can learn.

I've had some city directories for my great grandmother Callie Fenity Keats for a while. I went looking for them because I was trying to trace her migration from Pittyslvania County, Virginia up to Baltimore, Maryland where she spent the rest of her life. From 1936 to 1940 I have her documented going back and forth between Lynchburg and Roanoke, Virginia.

Once I had the dates and places, I didn't give the directories any more thought. But there is more to find from U.S. city directories, especially in terms of information about jobs.

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2469&enc=1), Callie M Finety, citing Hill’s Lynchburg (Campbell County, VA.) Directory 1936 (Richmond: Hill Directory Co., Inc., Publishers, 1936) p. 173.

An important element of these city directories is seeing past the abbreviations. The line of interest to me here is "Finety Callie M stitcher Craddock-Terry Co r1814 Park av."

What can we glean from that one line? Well, we know that the directory is for the city of Lynchburg, and everything after the letter "r" is to delineate a residence or a room, perhaps to suggest a rental. Note the distinction of "h" which is to represent householder, or we would say homeowner.

So we have an address for Callie M Fenity (note the spelling variation of her maiden name) while she was living in Lynchburg.We see that she is renting what was probably a room at 1814 Park Avenue.

The "emp" means employment. In this case, her job position is given first, then the place of her employment. She was a stitcher at Craddock-Terry Company. Through cross referencing with the other directories and a little bit of Google searching, I discovered that Craddock-Terry was a very large shoe company.

Image available on Wikimedia Commons

How large? Try the first shoe factory south of the Mason Dixon line, and the fifth largest producer of shoes in the world in its time. Their factory has since gone on to become one of the premier historic hotels in the South, the Craddock-Terry Hotel. But according to their own description, they once produced everything "from baby shoes to combat boots." The motif of shoes still plays a prominent role in the upscale hotel design and experience. But no doubt the stark contrast would be an incredible stretch to the imagination of someone like my great grandmother if she could see it now.

How many long hours did she spend in that factory? What were her working conditions like? I see the statistic that at one time they produced 2,500 pairs of ladies shoes a day. In their prime they produced 100,000 pairs of shoes a day. But how does that translate into the life of a young woman trying to survive during the Great Depression?

Enormous success is always built on the backs of hundreds of seemingly nameless people. Only now, at least to our family, one of those women of the Great Depression is no longer nameless. Her name is Callie May Fenity Keats.

And if I'm lucky, some record of hers may have survived in the massive haul of Craddock-Terry Shoe Company records saved by the Virginia Historical Society. Here's to hoping!

Until then, the directories give us an indication of how long she worked there. She appears as an employee to the factory again in 1937, by which point she has married Giles Blanton Keats and has taken his surname. But notice that her address has changed...

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2469&enc=1), Callie R Keats, citing Hill’s Lynchburg (Campbell County, VA.) Directory 1937 (Richmond: Hill Directory Co., Inc., Publishers, 1937) p. 251.

And changes again in 1940...

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2469&enc=1), Callie F Keats, citing Hill’s Lynchburg (Campbell County, VA.) Directory 1940 (Richmond: Hill Directory Co., Inc., Publishers, 1940) p. 243.

But where was she the from 1938-1939? And even more interestingly, where is her husband? She was married on Christmas Eve in December of 1936. Why doesn't her husband appear with her in some of these directories?

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2469&enc=1), Callie Keith, citing Hill’s Roanoke (Roanoke County, VA.) Directory 1938 Including Salem and Vinton (Richmond: Hill Directory Co., Inc., Publishers, 1938) p. 808.

Apparently he's in Roanoke--the place they will both eventually end up and give birth to their first daughter. But for now they appear to be separated from each other.

They likely lived apart in order to maintain their jobs, Giles living in Roanoke and Callie living in Lynchburg. Given that the Great Depression was still in full swing during this time period, this actually isn't that unlikely of a scenario.

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2469&enc=1), Callie M Keats, citing Hill’s Roanoke (Roanoke County, VA.) Directory 1939 Including Salem and Vinton (Richmond: Hill Directory Co., Inc., Publishers, 1939) p. 288.

Because the economy did not fully recover from the Depression until 1939 with the beginning of World War II, no one turned their nose up at a job when they found one. Making sacrifices for a paycheck was the hallmark of that generation. If it meant dividing the family to make ends meat, I'm sure Giles and Callie were not the only ones to make that sacrifice.