Success! You Can Run but You Can't Hide

Sometimes -- just sometimes, there is a reward for obsessive behavior.  And victory is sweet.

For the past couple of years, I have dilly dallied with old childhood memories.  There are two of them that are so brilliant, I felt I owed it to myself to at least make an attempt to see what they were about.  This is what I've been working on:

1. I remember visiting a farm with my dad.  I remember walking behind him in a field of grass that reached up to my waist.  I do not remember any of my brothers being with us -- which is crazy, because my dad usually hauled us kids every where.
2. My dad called the man we were with "Uncle Howard."
3. After the funeral of my grandfather, Don Dee Drake (he died after MY dad), we went to a farm.  At this farm there were horses, and I met a cousin named Marti (also my name) Manigold, and we road ponies all day.   I knew she was connected -- somehow -- to "Uncle Howard."
4. The farm couldn't be too far from my grandparents in Union City, Michigan as we didn't have a chance to get bored on the drive over.
5. My dad had a favorite cousin named Majorie.

Can I tell you how many hundreds of hours I've spent looking for a Howard Drake or a Howard Scoville?

In 1975, I was listening to the radio and there was a news report that a small plane had crashed over by Niles, Michigan.  The pilot and three passengers were killed.  One of the passengers was a Marti Manigold who was a year younger than myself. Years later, I wonder why we never followed up on that, why we didn't go to a funeral or something.  Then I remembered that it was right around this time (January 8) that my mom was diagnosed with cancer and we probably weren't thinking about anything else.

In the last couple of years I've done some random sporadic research and have found absolutely nothing.   Then, I found a tribute to my cousin Marti Manigold -- also known as Martha Ellen Manigold -- that's right -- same first and middle name and our birthdays are 1 day and one year apart.  She writer and classmate of Marti, wrote lovingly about her, but there wasn't any details that I could track down.  I even tried to track the writer down but no such luck.  Back on the back burner.

Then one day, I randomly started googling small plane crashes around the Chicago area and I found two articles.  Unfortunately, the article had been read and transcribed by a computer.  It was hard to decipher, but at least I learned where and when the crash had occurred.  What I was looking for was surviving family, but, alas, the article was only partial.  Still, not to be daunted, I emailed the public library in Berrien Springs, Michigan, to see if they had back issues of the local newspaper.  A research librarian emailed me back that they, indeed, had microfilm for the dates I was inquiring about.  Well, it wasn't ideal, but I was going to be going to Michigan in the winter and I thought I could take a day and make a run down there. I emailed the librarian and asked her what their hours were going to be over Christmas.  She emailed me back and said that if I could provide her with the dates I was looking at, she would try and look it up for me.  WHAT???? Really????

And so I did.

A week later I received another email from that lovely librarian in which she informed me that she had found a couple of articles concerning the plane crash.  She wanted my address so she could mail them to me.  Are you kidding me?  I asked her how much I owed her for copies and postage and time and she said NOTHING. Consider it a random act of genealogical kindness.

And at the end of one of the articles was a list of the survivors which included Mr. and Mrs. Howard E. Berry, Union City.

Okay.  This means I wasn't crazy.  Now what?

Back through the family tree again.  There was NO Berry family to be found.  Then I went through all the women I could find to see if someone -- anyone -- had married a Berry, or had a daughter that married a Berry.  No freaking luck.

So I've been mulling this over.  And over.  And over.

Then, I went to FamilySearch.org and found a marriage record for Howard Herbert Berry and Anna Elmira Dickey.  Married in 1918.  Howard Herbert Berry was born in 1898, two years after my Grandpa Don Dee Drake.  Howard was born in Barry, County -- not too terribly far away.  Then I thought maybe I was looking at this wrong.  Fall back  and regroup.  Again.

Today, I found another marriage record for Howard Herbert Berry.  In the 1930 United States Census, there is a Howard H Berry living in Union, Branch, Michigan.  His wife's name was Noldine and they had a daughter, Majorie Ellen.  Bingo!  And there the name Ellen was cropping up again.

So, I started looking into Noldine.  And I found another marriage license with the bride being a Noldine Fitzgerald.  Fitzgerald was the last name of my Grandpa Don Dee Drake's second wife.  I knew HER to be Ellen Fitzgerald and when she married my grandfather she had a son named David.  I have always ASSUMED (and you know what that means) that her married name was Fitzgerald.  I ASSUMED she was a widow. Anyhoo, I found a United State Census from 1910 with Noldine Fitzgerald listed as the 12 year old daughter of Guy E. and Etta Fitzgerald.  There was also a a son -- Markham -- and a little baby girl named Elizabeth.  Who was 0 years old.  The year was right for my step grandmother's birth, but her name was Ellen.  Not Elizabeth.

A little backtracking through Censuses and I found Guy Fitzgerald.  His mother's name was Ellen.  So my next question -- and I didn't expect much -- was Elizabeth's middle name Ellen?  And did she go by Ellen?  My family is a great one for calling each other by their middle names.  My dad was Donald Duane Drake.  All his friends and coaches called him "Dobbie" -- which is another long story.  All the family called him Duane.  Only my mom called him Don.

So then I went to Ancestry.com and did a search on public family trees and there I found my step grandmother Elizabeth Ellen Fitzgerald.  Correct birthday, and it shows her marrying a Don Dee Drake.  Apparently my family isn't as important to them as it is to me.

This is great news.  I can safely say that Howard Berry was not actually an uncle, but a step uncle with his wife Noldine and my step gran being sisters.

You would think this is the end of it but it's not.  I now have a whole bunch of unanswered questions.  I don't think actually pursuing them would do me any good, as these involve family members that are not blood.  How hard do you pursue something like that?  I only have so much time.

I will eventually transcribe the newspaper articles concerning my cousin Marti Manigold's death.

Family Reunions

I used to really love the family reunions that we used to have at my grandfather's house on Bedford Road, in Urbandale, Michigan.  Actually, I think there was only one, but it was pretty great.  All my cousins were there:  Charlene, Dee and Kay.  That's right.  Three measly cousins.  Charlene was way older than us, Kay and my little brother Mike Drake were practically babies and worthless.  So that left me, Dee and Dob.  And Dob didn't have much use for us and went off to hang out with my dad and Uncle Jack.  Dee or Deeter as we called him, laid in the hammock and talked about how much we hated Dob.  There was always a ton of great food, no naps unless we accidentally fell asleep.  And this set the stage on how family reunions were supposed to be. 

In another direction -- and stay with me -- when tracing your family tree, we sometimes forget that we are not all descending from only child homes.  That most generations had more than one child and when you get back past the turn of the century (the 1900s not the 2000s) there were many, many children and many children that died and are long buried. 

When I get stuck, I will sometimes take a couple and list all their siblings, like I was getting ready to send out invites for a family reunion.  I recently did that with my great grand parents Allison Royce Drake and Jane Myers Drake.  For as much as I know about them, I certainly don't know very much about them.  And this kills me because I knew people that knew them, that could have told me a lot, I'm sure, if I had only been so inclined to ask.  But I wasn't into family trees at that time.  The only thing I was interested in about families is how to get away from mine.

So here's what I discovered and you can see the glaring gaps:

Allison Royce Drake had 9 siblings:

1. James Amos Drake
2. Ann Drake
3. Sidney Drake
4. Mary Cerenus Drake
5. Alfred Bird Drake
6. Jane Drake
7. Lucy Drake
8. John C Drake

 I might note here that there are some people that will claim that there were 10 Drake kids in all, but I believe that Alfred Bird Drake and Bird A Drake are the same person in spite of the 1820 US Federal Census that lists them both, 2 years apart.  And I will prove that before I die.

Jane Myers Drake had 7 siblings:

1. Eveline Myers
2. Huldah Myers
3. Stephan Myers
4. Mary Myers
5. John H Myers
6. Joshua Myers
7. Mattie Bell Myers

So you'd think that if they all got together that it would be a helluva a family reunion, right?

So far, this is what my quick research has discovered.  And I haven't run down every single lead, with every single piece of information at Ancestry and the Internet.  This might not be 100% accurate, which is why I'm putting it here, until I can verify.

Here we go:

1. Allison Royce Drake married Jane Myers and had 4 children -- Hattie, Don Dee, Allison Royce and Lucia
2. James Amos Drake married Mary A Wright and had 4 children -- Ethie, Hiram, Carrie and John Haight.
3. Eugene Emery Drake married a gal named Amelia and had 5 children:  Minie F, Issa May, Clarance, Lloyd B and Eva.
4. Ann Drake never married.
5. Sidney Drake married Sarrah and had one daughter: Lucredia
6. Mary Cerenus Drake -- I have no record of her marrying or having a child.
7. Alfred Bird Drake married Eugenia Priestly.  Eugenia may have been nicknamed Mattie.  I have no record of them having any children.
8. Jane Drake married George Priestly.  George and Eugenia were brother and sister.  They had three children:  Earl, Katie and Fern.
9. Lucy Drake, died at 23 years old of consumption.  I have no record of her marrying or having children.
10. John C Drake was born and died in 1871 and is buried with his mom, Lucia Cahoon Drake.  There still seems to be controversy over the spelling of Cahoon.  I am wondering if the C initial in John's name would be her maiden name.  I should order the birth certificate.

For all the Drake siblings, there are a total of 17 cousins.  For the time and the number of people that were involved, that wasn't very many.

On to Jane Myers siblings:

1. Eveline Myers married David Cope and had 5 children:  Clarence Earl, Edgar Floyd, Albert Roy, Harriet L, Iva B.
2. Huldah Myers married Elisha M. McElhenie and had two sons:  Walter Scott and Charles Edgar.
3. Stephan Myers I believe died in 1874 at 12 years old with no wife or issue.
4. Mary Myers -- I can find no records at all.
5. John H Myers -- no record.
6. Joshua Myers -- no record.
7. Mattie Belle Myers married Edward Collins Schwartzwaller.  She was 42 when they got married and I find no record of there being any children. 

For all the Myers siblings, there are a total of 11 cousins.

So, what did all this rigmarole do for me?  I noticed that John C Drake has the middle initial "C."  I've seen the grave with my own eye.  The boy and Lucia share the same side of ol' John Stout Drake's tombstone.  I don't know why, but for many years, I just assumed the C stood for Converse, another side of the family.  So that is a lead to pursue.  It also shows me how much I don't know.

Catherine Whaley Drake -- Who Your Daddy?

So if Catherine Whaley and Amos Stout Drake did not live in the same community, how did they hook up?

It's important that we remind ourselves how different things were back in 1820.  There were no cars and no trains.  If you wanted to go anywhere, you walked.  The average man walked 3 mph.  During a 10 hour day, maximum mileage would have been 30 miles.  I think it would be safer to figure 20 miles.  These people weren't walking on track, sidewalk or road.

If you were a farmer, you might have access to a horse.  The average horse walks around 4 mph, but the trot around 8 mph and canter at 10-17 mph.  There's a good chance that a rider would trot and canter the horse periodically, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that someone could travel 30-40 miles in a 10 hour day.  But would a person travel all that way on horseback just to court?  Maybe someone was taking a wagon full of wheat to be milled or hides to trade.  A horse pulling a wagon is good for 15-25 miles a day.

So what was in Cato or Spafford or Marcellus that wasn't available in Lyons?  I haven't tangled with that part of the research yet.  I'm hoping there will be a clue.

So I've already gone of the whys and wherefores concerning John P Whaley and why I'm ruling him out as a potential father for Catherine Whaley?  Just a reminder, in 1820 he's living in an 8 person household with 3 boys under 10 and 3 girls under 10.  I am betting that the mom -- the female in the right age bracket is the mom and Katherine wouldn't have been old enough to have all those kids.  She was about 21 in 1820.

I'm getting frustrated.  Maybe Catherine isn't even real.  But wait, my information from a county history of Hillsdale, Michigan, tell of Amos Stout Drake and his wife, Catherine... she was real.  But who was she?  Back to the drawing board.

There is a Charles Whaley who is living in Spafford, Onondaga, New York at the right time.  I've tracked him down in other family trees and he has a Thankful Whaley as a daughter -- who is in my Mallison Line, but no Catherine.

In the 1820 United States Federal Census, I've found a gentleman named Joseph Whaley.  Actually he's listed as Joseph Wherry of Marcellus, Onondaga, New York.  Going all the way in to review the actual document, I find that "Wherry" is actually "Whaley."  There was a serious problem with transcribing it, I guess.  Let that be a lesson and a reminder -- don't always take the "printer friendly" or the transcription determine where your research goes.  Further research shows that Joseph (Wherry) Whaley and a female living in the house who would be of the right age, with 2 people being old enough to be her parents.  Marcellus, New York is 42.86 miles from Lyons.

Something else to consider, the 1830 US Census has Amos Stout Drake living with a wife and family in Rose, New York.  Rose is 12.5 miles from Lyons.  I need to see how Amos's neighbors were.  Could they have settled nearer her family?  There was one son and one daughter in the household as well, both under 10 in 1820.  Even ten years later, a young teenage boy and teenage girl probably wouldn't have bee much help on a farm.

More later.  Right now I'm managing to confuse myself.

Catherine Whaley Drake -- Where the Hell are You?

I think I'm losing my damn mind.

Today I woke up determined to prove one way or the other, which Catherine Whaley is mine, which you probably know is hard to do since she was born in 1799 and they didn't name children and other family members in the US Federal Census until 1840.  But I was loaded with theories and two other questions.  First question:  There is a David Whaley, born in 1903 and died in Hillsdale County, Michigan.  He was married to Hannah Bean.  Could he be a brother of Catherine Whaley?  Question Two:  Way way way over on the Mallison side of the family is a Thankful Whaley, also from New York, born around the same time.  Could she possible be a sister or relative of Catherine Whaley.

First things first:  In the 1850, 1860 and 1870 United States Federal Census, it is recorded that Amos Stout Drake was born in New Jersey and Catherine was born in New York.  Catherine and Amos are older and no longer have a houseful of children.  I bet it was probably Catherine who answered the door when the Census Enumerator came knocking.  I am inclined to believe that Catherine knew where she was born.  So far, so good.

There is a US Federal Census Mortality Schedule for Catherine Drake who has died at age 80 from diphtheria.  Her husband Amos preceded her.  I believe that I have seen a death certificate that names Mary P Drake as the reporter of her death, but that information is not listed in the Schedule.  The schedule does say the she was born in Rhode Island and that her dad was born in New Jersey and her mother in New York.  I need to see if there were any Whaleys living around the Piscataway, New Jersey area, which is where all the Drakes are from.  My point is that Mary P Drake was John Stout Drake's third wife and I don't think the family liked her very much.  There are more than a few things that she messed up on the census.  I believe that Catherine Whaley knew best about where she was born. So I am picking NY state.

The 1820 United State Federal Census shows 388 Whaleys in the entire census.  Out of those 388, there are 50 in the State of New York that I felt had potential.  Why 1820?  Because Catherine was born in NY State in 1799 and was married to Amos Stout Drake in New York, and Amos Stout Drake was supposedly born in NY although there is a little evidence that he may have been born in NJ.  Be that as it may, I searched through all 50 of the Whaleys looking for a free female living in the place of the head of household. I had to make sure that the 21 year old female was NOT the wife of the head of the house.  That left me with 16 options.

Back in 1820, how much does distance come into play?  Where did young people go to meet and marry?  Did they do a lot of traveling and socializing?  Maybe if you lived in a town, but the Drake boys were usually farmers.  How far is too far?  Why would they be traveling away from there town.  If Amos and Catherine weren't from the same town -- which i don't think they were -- why would Amos travel to Catherine's town or why did Catherine travel to his?  Trading post?  Weddings?  Church?  But before I get into all that, I need to double check and make sure that Amos Stout Drake was living where he should be.

Amos Stout Drake's pa is William Drake.  There is a William Drake living in Ontario, Ontario, New York but he seems to be a young married with a wife, 3 sons under 10 and 3 daughters under 10.  But there is also a William Drake in Lyons, Ontario, New York that have one so the right age and themselves.  I'm pretty sure this is My Family.  Amos was the last son and it makes sense that he would still be living with his folks.

There is a Whaley family in Cato, New York that has a daughter the right age for Catherine.  Cato is approximately 30 miles from Lyons.  Other towns with free females the right age;  Spafford (51 miles away), Marcellus (43 miles away), Fabius (78 miles away), Camden (92 miles away) and Verona (85 miles away).  Right now I'm not looking as far as Queens, New York.

Amos Stout Drake in the Book The Bean Creek Valley ...

First:  I wish I could buy every book I ever wanted regarding my Family Tree as well as all the states and places the lived, as well as books about events that happened in their lifetimes.  Now, the library is  mighty good at providing many of the history books, and the Fort Myers main library, has a pretty awesome genealogical section.  However,  it doesn't have the book The Bean Creek Valley: Incidents of Its Early Settlement: Collected from the Memories of Its Earliest Settlers, Now Living and Verified by Reference to Official Documents by James J Hogaboam.

And since I'm not a multimillion area, I wish it was possible to print that one page from a book that mentions my ancestor  from Google books.  I still haven't figured that out and if there is, indeed, a way, then someone please email me.  Instead, determined to have the information, I will right it down long hand.

Here is an excerpt from the above mentioned book by James J Hogaboam.

Page 129:

"Only the eastern part of the township comes within the scope of our undertaking.  Amos S. Drake settled in town nine South, two west, in December, 1838, but the town settled quite rapidly.

"In February, 1839, Sarah N. Drake died; her funeral sermon was preached by Elder Stout, who, at the time, lived in the vicinity of Bird Lake.  It was the first sermon preached in that town.

"In December, the same year, Samuel Carl and Jane Drake were married by Mr. Fowler, of Camden."

"When Rowland was organized, town nine south was attached, and shared in all the mutations that township endured.

"In 1850, all that part of towns nine south, ranges two and three west, lying within the state of Michigan, and one tier of sections off the south side of town eight south, ranges two and three west, were organized into a new township and called Amboy.  Nearly all the improvements have been made since that time.

"The grist mill owned by Waldron & Hall, was built about thirty years ago, but there was a saw-mill there several years earlier.  Besides this, there is the Higby & Osborn Mill, the Manly or Lewis Mill, and the Bryan Mill.  There has been a Chilson Mill, but it has ceased to work.

"There are two churches, the Baptist and the Methodist, and both have neat and commodious houses.

"The first township meeting was held on 23rd day of April 1850, at the house of Amos Drake.  John King was moderator, and Gideon G King, clerk.  Amos S Drake and John P Corey were inspectors of the election.  Officers elected:  Nathan Dewey, Supervisor: Gideon G King, Clerk; Charles Clark, treasurer.  Nathan Edlinger, John King and Charles S Baker, justices of the peace; Henry Prestage, John Goforth and Gideon F. King, commissioners of highways; Charles Farley and William Drake, school inspectors; Amos S Drake and John King, directors of the poor, and Joseph Philbrick, Charles H Barton and Paden Marshall, constables.

 This book is also for sale at Amazon.com in various forms.  It's on my wish list!

Dennis E Austin Writes Home Toledo June 21st 93

Dennis E Austin wrote home every once in a while, which says something about a grown ass man living far from his family.  It also says a lot about his family who has saved these letters for over a hundred years.  It's not like he was famous or anything like that, just a well loved son.

Toledo, Jun 21st 93

My Dear Parents Bro& Sister

I rec'd the postal asking where I was at.  Well I am ashamed of it but it is work and sleep.  I am afraid I sleep too much, but it is so hot the sleep I get don't do me much good. Still I am just as fat as ever.  I wish you could see my new fishing rig it is a beauty.  I shall be over in August to Try it.  It hardly seems as if I could wait until then, but I suppose I will be obliged to.

What nice growing weather this is.  How are all the crops looking?  I just feel as if I could lay under an apple tree for about three days with out sleep or eating.  Well suppose you are all just as jaded only you have good sleep and 8 or 9 hours at one time.  How did Claud enjoy himself when he was down.  Griff is down the week.  we have some new curtains.  I got Min a nice guitar.  And next week she will have an organ for her birthday present.  Well I am getting along quite well for a greenhorn.  I had a little bad luck last saturday night.  I was nearly into Marshall it was very Foggy I felt a little jar.  we ran into and Extra that had Broken tow and that not sending a man back far enough puts all the blame on them  I was sorry too for it smashed my engine and their caboose very badly.  no one was hurt I was very glad of that.  My head man and the eng & fireboy all jumped 

I shall not wait so long before writing again, I think I shall go to a lake sunday well I will close for this time Hoping you hear good letters full of everything coming our way I am as ever

Your Son & Bro

D Austin

American Popular Culture Through History

I tell you, for someone that loves history, I sure didn't like history.  At least not the way that it was taught at South Junior High and Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  It was just dates.  The only thing I really remember was how painfully bored I was. I hold Miss Anna Bodine who taught -- droned -- through a year of US History at Norrix responsible.  I know that there are some excellent history teachers out there, my brother Dob Drake being one of them.  But maybe, if the substandard teachers were held accountable, they might have tried a little harder. 

When I am working on my family tree, I really like to submerse myself and try to figure out where they all fit in time.  I want to be able to see it.  For example, my Drakes moved from Piscataway, New Jersey to upstate New York in 1800.  Not the 1800s, but the year 1800.  I have no idea what it must have felt like to push inland, leaving family and friends.  Sad yes, but we were capitalizing on the opportunity brought on by the distribution of the war lands.  What were they wearing back in those days, eating, dating customs?  I know that the Drakes lived with the Stouts, that they traveled from NJ to NY and then on to Michigan.  There are many many Drakes in the Stout family trees and vice versa.

One way I get a taste, something that pulls me closer to my ancestors -- those long ago and also my mom and dad who have been dead for many many years is to read random history books.  I recently stumbled on a series called:   American Popular Culture Through History. The series contains books entitled:

• The 1900s
• The 1910s
• The 1920s
• The 1930s
• The 1940s
• The 1950s
• The 1960s
• The 1970s
• The 1980s
• The 1990s
• The 2000s
• The Revolutionary War Era
• The New Nation 1783 - 1810
• The Antebellum Period
• The Civil War and Reconstruction
• The Gilded Age

At the moment I am reading The 1920s:

Ive also gone ahead and ordered the 1900s.  They aren't cheap, but you should try to get them from your library.  Inside American Popular Culture Through History: 1920s you'll find chapters like Life and Youth during the 1920s, advertising, architecture and Design, Fashion, food and drink, leisure activities, literature, music, performing arts, travel and recreation, visual arts, the costs of products in the 1920s.  Twelve bars of Ivory Soap could be had for 49 cents.  And you'll note that I had to write out "cents" because the computer keyboard doesn't have a cent sign.  I wonder if the kids today, even knows what a cent sign looks like.  A Steinway grand piano cost $1425, a Rolls Royce $10,900.  Pork chops were 36 cents a pound, bread was 12 cents a loaf. 

Of course this may mean nothing to you, but myself and my friends were all children of children who lived through the depression.  Practically every one's dad had gone to war.  Our moms worked outside the home until they were married.  They still worked, but only until the first baby came along.  Then they stayed at home until the youngest started kindergarten and they went back to work, but only during school hours.  I remember 19 cent gas and 25 cent cigarettes.  Hell, I actually remember BUYING Marlboros for my dad when I was 7 years old.  Of course, he'd written a note to the gas station attendant that it was okay for me to buy them. 

Studying these different eras help me understand my roots a little better.

A side note:  on the cover of 1920s are some flapper girls flirting with the camera.  On the cover of the 1980s is Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs.  Some of you will remember Miami Vice like it was yesterday.  Some of you will wonder who they were.  It's all relative.