William Basquill

From: Daily Inter Ocean, Chicago IL, 22 Nov 1880, page 8, column 7

“BASQUILL — William Basquill, aged 64 years. Funeral from his son-n-law’s, Thomas Raycraft, residence 20 Courtland street, to-day, at 10 o’clock, to the Church of the Annunciation, thence by cars to Calvary Cemetery.
San Francisco papers please copy.”

Here’s another puzzle. I had a vague recollection that, while every person with an Ancestry tree for the family I’ve been working on thinks the daughter, Bridget, married a man named Thomas Raycraft and moved to Chicago, I had doubts. But I couldn’t remember why.

This is why. I suspect, but cannot and may not ever be able to prove, that the William mentioned below is the brother of Patrick (who married Ellen Cannon and settled in Hamilton, Ontario), Nicholas (who married Eliza Hawkshaw and settled in Jackson, Ohio), and John (who married Margaret Daughan and settled in Jackson, Ohio). William and his wife, Ann, showed up in the US at about the same time that Patrick and Ellen appeared in Ontario. They appear and disappear and reappear then drop off the radar until William dies in 1880.

According to this death notice, Thomas Raycraft was William’s son-in-law. That means that the Bridget who married him cannot be the daughter of Patrick Basquill and Ellen Cannon, right? I have no idea what happened to Patrick’s Bridget. I haven’t even started digging into this mess.

Also notice that there is a request for San Francisco papers to please copy. I think this means that the John Basquill registered to vote in San Francisco in 1877 is the son of William and Anne, NOT Patrick and Ellen. It would make sense, if William’s son were in San Francisco in 1880, that the family would want to get word to him of his father’s death, and this might be the quickest method of doing so.

I thought I’d spend the next few days working on Bridget, but maybe not, if she’s not the droid I’m looking for.