Category: Genealogy

This was a bit of a side quest. Cornelius Joseph Wholey was the brother of James Francis Wholey, who married Theresa Cecelia Basquil, a daughter of Denis Basquil and Ellen Carney. I wouldn’t normally have done much research on him, but I ran across an article in a Fall River newspaper that caught my interest.

Cornelius and Elizabeth M. Duggan (daughter of James Duggan and Mary Ready) married 11 Mar 1905 in Fall River, Massachusetts. Elizabeth died 9 Feb 1931 in Fall River. 

Cases Heard in District Court
Cornelius Wholley pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault and battery on his wife. Judge Benjamin Cook appeared for the government, Attorney T. F. Higgins for the defendant. After Mrs. Wholley had told her story, Mr. Higgins announced that he would offer no defense. The defendant was sentenced to 30 days in the House of Correction and this was ordered suspended for six months.
Source: The Evening Herald, 10 Sep 1921, p. 12, col. 4

That happened in 1921. I couldn’t find Cornelius in the 1920 census, and after that article he seemed to disappear from the face of the earth. But sometimes if you do a search at Ancestry for parents, you hit the jackpot. And I did, with a Los Angeles County death certificate. But to make absolute sure I had the right person, I tried tracing his path from 1921 to his death in 1952. I found him in the 1930 census, in Los Angeles, living with a wife named Mary and using the name Cornelius Anderson. As far as I can tell, he did not divorce his first wife, Elizabeth Duggan. I have no idea who Mary was, or if they actually married. If they did, Cornelius committed bigamy. More likely they just lived together and told everyone they were married.

1930 U.S. census, population schedule, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, enumeration district (ED) 19-639, sheet 13B, p. 240 (stamped), dwelling 248, family 249, Cornelius Anderson; database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Mar 2023); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T626. Rec. Date: 25 Jan 2020. 1940 U.S. census, population schedule, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, enumeration district (ED) 60-1195, sheet 17A, p. 8675 (stamped), household 377, Cornelius Wholey; database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Mar 2023); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll 00397. 1950 U.S. census, population schedule, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, enumeration district (ED) 66-450, sheet 72, household 191, Cornelius J. Wholey; digital images, 1950 Census (1950census.archives.gov : accessed 20 Mar 2023); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T628, roll 3672.

In 1940 his two surviving children, Etta and James, were living with him, which makes sense since their mother had died in 1932. Whether they knew all along where he was, I don’t know. And did they know he’d been using the name Anderson? He was back to using Wholey in 1930. Mary disappeared, though, and she’s pretty much untraceable. 

In 1950 he is living alone, at the same address that’s on his death certificate. His son, James, is the informant.

I still have a million questions. Did he leave Fall River to avoid jail? Did he serve his sentence then leave? But if he served his sentence, then why the name change? A funny side note is that I traced Cornelius through several years of Los Angeles city directories, and he was listed for several years under both Anderson and Wholey, at the same address, with the same occupation.

This is not a happy story. Thomas was the son of Denis Basquil and Ellen Carney, and like all but their oldest son, he was born in England. Thomas worked as a house and sign painter, as did his oldest brother, John. He struggled with alcoholism and never married. When he died, everyone, including his family, thought he was drunk. And I’d guess alcohol played a part, but his death certificate only lists heart disease as the cause of death.

At Flint
Thomas Basquil, aged 36, and [unmarried], was found dead at his father’s door, at 305 Davis street, early Sunday morning. Dr. Buck, the medical examiner, pronounced death due to alcoholism. Basquil had been drinking heavily, Saturday evening, and was last seen alive at 3:15 Sunday morning, by Patrick Toolan, who saw him sitting on his father’s doorsteps apparently intoxicated. Toolan did not speak to [him], as he was apparently asleep. At 4:45, Basquil’s father, Dennis Basquil, heard a fall at his door, and on investigating, found Thomas apparently drunk, lying in the hallway. Thomas had not lived at home for some time, because of his drinking habits, and his father on perceiving his condition, locked the door and went to bed. At 6:30 a.m., Dennis passed Thomas in the hall as he left the house on his way to church, but thinking that he was sleeping off his intoxication, did not endeavor to awaken him. Later, Alice Basquil, as sister of the deceased, saw the body at the door and endeavored to arouse him, and was horrified to find that he was apparently dead. Thomas was taken into the house and a physician summoned, but life was extinct. The medical examiner found no marks of violence except some superficial bruises caused by the fall, and he pronounced death due to alcoholism. Basquil had not lived at home for some time, as his drinking habits had caused a [quarrel] between himself and his parents. He had been boarding with his sister, Mrs. John Horan, at 39 Linden street.
Source: Fall River Evening News, 15 Jun 1903, p. 2, col. 2

East End Echoes
Thomas Basquil, 36 years of age, was found dead in the entry leading to his father’s home at 205 Davis street, yesterday morning. Alcoholism was the cause of death certified by Medical Examiner Buck, and some sad feature attended the case. The deceased was unmarried and lived with his married sister, Mrs. John Horan of 36 Linden street. He was a son of Dennis and Ellen Basquil. The police report of the affair says that Officer Skelly was summoned to the house shortly after 6:30 o’clock. His report is to the effect that during the early hours of the morning a person was heard to fall in the entry. Mr. Basquil stated that he had an idea that it was his son but surmising the circumstances did not go out to him. When the father went out to attend church service he saw his son lying at his door and fully believing that he was not in his normal condition allowed him to remain. A few minutes later a sister of Basquil’s came down stairs from her room in the attic. She saw her brother lying in a heap and she judged from his looks that he was dead. Officer Skelly was immediately summoned and he found that the girl had judged correctly. Medical Examiner Buck was summoned and stated the cause of death as given above.
Source: Fall River Daily Globe, 15 Jun 1903, p. 7, col. 3

Died in Doorway
Thomas Basquil Sought His Father’s Home and Died There.
Thomas Basquil, 36 years of age and unmarried, was found dead early yesterday morning at the door of his father’s residence at 305 Davis street.  Basquil has not lived at home for some time for various reasons and has been boarding at the home of Mrs. John Horan, 39 Linden street.  He came to his father’s house yesterday morning and his father heard him fall at the door.  He looked out and, thinking the man was asleep in a drunken stupor, let him stay there.  Later when he went out to church Basquil was still there.  He passed along and left his son in the entry.  When Alice Basquil, who sleeps on an upper floor, came down stairs she found her brother on the floor and an examination by the family convinced them that he was dead.  Officer Michael R. Skelley was called in and he in turn called Dr. Buck.  Alcoholism was given as the cause. 
Source: Fall River Daily Herald, 15 Jun 1903, p. 6, col. 3

Our Folks and Other Folks
Mr. Dennis Basquil is to sail Wednesday, Nov. 9, in the Canada from Boston for Liverpool, where he will visit friends.
Source: Fall River Evening News, 3 Nov 1899, p. 3, col. 2

Denis actually traveled back to England several times. That surprised me, as he was quite poor. I wonder if he visited his family in Ireland at the same time? I found the 1899 manifest for his trip to England, but have not found his return manifest, so I don’t know how long he stayed.

This is another article on the fire he nearly died in. I’ve come across other people who died or almost died in a similar way. This would have been long before we began treating upholstery fabrics with fire retardant chemicals.

OVERCOME BY SMOKE AND NEAR TO DEATH
AGED DENNIS BASQUIL BRAVELY RESCUED BY OFFICER SMYTH AND J. F. CLIFFORD.
Fell Asleep with Lighted Pipe in His Mouth and Couch Took Fire — Alert Patrolman and Groceryman Come to His Aid.
Patrolman James Smyth, of the central station day squad, with the assistance of John F. Clifford, keeper of a grocery store at 630 Bedford street, made a most thrilling rescue, Saturday morning, of an elderly man who had been rendered unconscious by smoke in his tenement on Orange street. Dennis Basquil, aged 60 years, who lives alone in an attic tenement at 20 Orange street, had fallen asleep on a couch while smoking, and the couch catching fire had well nigh suffocated him when discovered and pulled to the open air after a first attempt to enter the room had proved unsuccessful. The patrolman’s knowledge of the old man’s habits and an acquaintance with his habit of sleeping on the couch had considerable to do with the rescue.
Patrolman Smyth and Mr. Clifford were standing on the corner of Bedford and Orange streets when smoke was noticed issuing from the windows of the attic occupied by Basquil. Knowing something was amiss in the attic, the two men hastened to investigate and found the door fastened. After trying the door the two men knocked loudly and then called. They got no response; still were confident that Basquil was within and they put their shoulders to the door.
It took the combined strength of the two men to burst the door. The volume of smoke which rolled out with the opening of the door drove the men back, but only for an instant, they being practically certain that Basquil was within. Twice they crawled into the room, but were forced to retreat.
Other occupants of the building attracted by the commotion wanted to give a fire alarm, but the officer said there were no flames in sight, and that he was certain he could get into the rooms in a short time, and on the third effort the two men made they managed to crawl across the room to the couch usually occupied by Basquil. He was found on the floor alongside the couch, and when he did not respond to a shaking he was dragged into the hallway and carried into the yard. While a messenger hastened to the nearby drug store of J. F. Sullivan for medical aid, Officer Smyth and Mr. Clifford hastened back into the attic to make further investigation into the fire. The latter proved only a smouldering of the couch on which the elderly man had been found, and all danger was quickly overcome with the use of a couple of pails of water. Basquil had in the meantime responded to medical treatment administered by John A. Gunning, a drug clerk, and but for a slight nausea he was apparently none the worse for his narrow escape.
Patrolman Smyth and Mr. Clifford received no end of praise for the daring rescue, but both appeared very modest, only saying they were glad that they arrived in time to save the old man’s life. They were both pretty well used up after the affair was all over, having inhaled considerable smoke.
When Basquil was able to talk later he told that he recalled having lain down on the couch with his pipe in his mouth and that he probably fell asleep and dropped his pipe.
Source: The Fall River Evening News, 24 Feb 1908, p. 8, col. 3

I had a fun mystery today. I’m researching a man named John Henry Morton (or Moreton) Hall. He married Clara Basquill, daughter of James Basquill and Annie Dale.

John was born in 1899 in Stockport. His father was John Henry Hall, but I didn’t know his mother’s name. Looking him up in the GRO index, I found his mother’s maiden name was Benfold.

Then I looked up the family in the 1901 census and found him with his parents, John and Emma Hall, and a younger sister, Ethel.

Totally straightforward, right? But wait. Here’s the marriage register for John and Emma, dated 30 Jan 1902. Over two years after son John Henry Morton was born, and a year after the 1901 census.

Both of them had been previously married. I found Emma’s first husband, James Spedding. His death was registered in December quarter 1901. The 1901 census was taken on 31 March. James was still alive then, and in fact living with his and Emma’s surviving male children, while Emma was living with John Hall, their son, and her daughter with James Spedding, Ethel.

It looks like James Spedding and Emma Benfold separated sometime after the birth of their last child, Ruby, in 1896. In 1899 Emma had a son with John Henry Hall, and by 1901 was living with him as his wife despite them not being married. Yet. Emma seems to have remarried as soon possible after James Spedding’s death.

None of this is shocking in 2023, and I would guess it wasn’t actually too shocking to the Victorians of 1900 England. I think there was likely a lot more of this going on than we may realize. We just aren’t good at putting these sorts of things together, if the numerous incomplete and just plain incorrect Ancestry trees for this family are anything to go by.

Source: The Atlanta Constitution 22 Apr 1886 page 5 column 5

Lula Cox, daughter of William Boulding Cox and Katherine Attaway. As far as I can tell she was their only child to survive to adulthood. Lula married Matthew Hale McWhorter in 1872, and they had one child, daughter Katherine Cox McWhorter. Lula is mentioned by her married name in her father’s obituary. She died in 1886 and is buried with her parents. Don’t ask me why, because I am not actually researching her.

All of that should be pretty straightforward. Except it isn’t. There is another Lula Cox who married a man named Henry Lewis Hoover in 1868. They had two children, Adolph and Estelle. This Lula Cox died in 1909. I haven’t identified her parents yet. It would have been very nice and tidy if she were the daughter of William Boulding Cox and Katherine Attaway, but she isn’t. Obviously, right?

Source: The Atlanta Constitution 6 Jun 1909 page 2 column 7

But this is what’s going on in Ancestry member trees. How was she supposed to have married Matthew McWhorter in 1872 when she was living with Henry Lewis Hoover at the time of the 1870, 1880, and 1900 censuses? This person gets extra points for having her in the 1880 census with Henry Hoover and with her parents and for including links to both Findagrave memorials. They’ve also added the obituary for William Boulding Cox, so they have all the pieces of both puzzles available to them. But for some reason they can’t see that it’s two puzzles, not one.

I’ve contacted a few of the tree owners, and most of them aren’t budging. They’re too attached to the idea that they’re descended from William Boulding Cox to consider that they may be wrong. And I think they largely misunderstand DNA matching. Of course you’re going to be a DNA match with the parents of your ancestors. But that doesn’t mean you have them identified correctly.

First, a rant.

I’ve been spending too much time in the genealogy subreddits and the Ancestry user group on Facebook. It’s doing my brain in.

There’s this belief that I’m finding is depressingly popular, that because people pay for a service, they should be entitled to use it on easy mode. So people get angry when other Ancestry users don’t message them back, or when other users don’t have public trees. Or they are dismayed that it isn’t possible to wholesale copy entire chunks of other people’s trees. How very dare. I was called an ugly, selfish person for trying to explain why people might not have a tree on Ancestry, even though they’re a member (shockingly, many people build their trees offline). Apparently those people don’t belong on Ancestry if they aren’t feeding the hint machine.

And all of that is largely Ancestry’s fault. Their marketing shows how you just add a little information, and suddenly you’re inundated with all these shaky leaves, and that’s how you build your tree. It’s certainly something, but is it genealogy? It seems to me like it turns into a giant member tree circle jerk.

And when the Ancestry hinting interface changes, somehow the world is ending. Oh no, the tree hints are only being doled out one at a time. And oh no, you have to do more examining and more clicking through to accept hints. While extra clicking isn’t usually a good thing, I think anything that slows people down when adding garbage to their trees is a good thing. How dare, again.

I’m not looking to gatekeep genealogy, but people just copying the copies of the copies of the copies of the copies, with all the mistakes and just plain nonsense included, isn’t genealogy. And you end up with 50 identical, incorrect trees that drown out the few good trees that are based on actual research.

I’m really not even calling this person out, because there are a million more like them. People who build their trees entirely online from hints. Never mind that the world is vast and Ancestry is a closed ecosystem, even in terms of what’s available online. Research is hard work. It is time consuming. Believe me that I understand that. But these people think they’ve discovered a shortcut where no shortcuts exist.

And a cautionary tale.

I started working on this problem years ago, and finally was able to put all the pieces together last summer. It involves two families: Pat Basquil and Catherine Moor, who were both born and died in County Mayo, Ireland, and Patrick Basquill and Catharine Giles, who were both born in County Mayo, but immigrated to Stockport, England, in the 1850s.

Pat Basquil and Catherine Moor lived in Kilbride, Kilcodnuff Civil Parish, County Mayo, and had at least five children. Some I’ve found in baptismal registers, and the others I’ve been able to link to them using marriage and other documents that included their father’s name or their townland. Patrick born about 1835, John born about 1839, Bridget born about 1840, Thomas born 1841, and Catherine born 1848.

Daughter Catherine is the important one. She immigrated to the US and married Thomas McDermott in 1873 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She and Thomas had at least 6 children, all in Philadelphia, and Catherine died there in 1915. Her death certificate identifies her mother as Catharine Moore.

The other family, Patrick Basquill and Catharine Giles, lived in Creevagh, Ballintober Civil Parish, County Mayo. Creevagh and Kilbride are not anywhere near each other, so anyone paying attention should know not to conflate the two families. And anyone who has done any research into the Basquills should know that there were two main groups in County Mayo. One centered around Swinford (Pat Basquil and Catherine Moor) and one centered around Castlebar (Patrick Basquill and Catharine Giles).

Patrick Basquill and Catharine Giles had at least seven children: Catherine born about 1839, Judy/Julia born 1841, Margaret born about 1842, Rose born 1843, Patrick born 1845, Anne born 1848, and James born 1850.

Again, daughter Catherine is going to be the important one. The family with most of the children immigrated to Stockport in the 1850s. Daughter Catherine married Thomas Hannagh in 1857 in Stockport, so they were there by that time. Then in 1860, Patrick Basquill died.

If you look at the death record, the informant is Patrick’s son in law, Thomas Hannah, from the same residence. So if there were any doubt that the Catherine who married Thomas Hannagh was the daughter of the Patrick Basquill who died in 1860, this should help clarify things. And things do need clarifying.

The family is still in Stockport as of the 1861 census, with widow Catharine Giles as head of household. Children Julia, Rose, and Patrick, along with daughter Catherine and Thomas Hannagh and their four month old son, Thomas, are living with her. They next show up in the 1870 US census, living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Catherine and Thomas Hannagh had six children altogether, with three living to adulthood: Thomas J. Hannon, John Patrick Hannon, and Catharine Hannan. Thomas Hannagh died in Cincinnati on 13 June 1870, and the census is taken on 25 June, so he missed the census by 12 days. I was able to find his obituary, luckily (he was “killed by cars,” which I take to mean streetcars).

In 1880, Catherine remarried to Patrick Connama. They had one daughter, Alice, in 1881, but she died in 1882. Patrick had six children with his first wife, Bridget McGarry, who died in 1877.

So, you see, the two Catherines are clearly not the same person. One died in Philadelphia, and the other in Cincinnati. Both leave a pretty well documented paper trail. But somehow people have conflated the two families. If you look at Ancestry member trees, you’ll see that there are 58 trees that have the Patrick Basquill who died in Stockport in 1860 married to Catherine Moore. Bonus points for the random addition of James to his name.

I looked at every one of those trees. All but one have Patrick married to Catherine Moore. That lone one has him married to a woman named Bridget. Catharine Giles died in Princeton, Indiana in 1889. That seems random until you dig a little more and see that her daughter Julia (baptized Judy) married a man named James K. Page in Cincinnati in 1867. James Page’s family was from Princeton, Indiana, and that’s where James and Julia settled after he left the Army. Julia died in 1919 in Cincinnati, and her death certificate names her husband, James Page, and her parents: Patrick Basquill and Catherine Joyls.

I wondered where this mess started, and I think I figured it out. In 2009, someone very helpfully shared the following info on an Ancestry message board. They’ve got the Swinford family, along with the daughter Catherine who was baptized in 1848 married to Thomas Hannah in 1857. She would have been NINE years old. They try to massage the birth date to fit better, but it still doesn’t work (not to mention the 1848 baptism date is was correct). If they’d stopped right there and done a reality check, they would have seen they were about to make a mistake. They should have also noticed that the Patrick baptized in 1845 was born in Creevagh and could not belong to a family in Swinford. The same for Rose. So they’ve grafted two of Catharine Giles’ children onto Catherine Moor. And now there are 58 trees on Ancestry based on this frankenfamily.

So when I see people justifying just copying from other people’s trees, I think of this sort of problem. You aren’t going to be able to spot or fix these sorts of fundamental errors if you’re just copying info from other people’s trees.

I’ve uploaded a gedcom of my own tree (a work in constant progress!), in an effort to mitigate some of the nonsense. I’ve also been correcting the FamilySearch tree as I go. But even though my Ancestry tree is public and allegedly searchable, it doesn’t come up in searches. So if you search for Patrick Basquill who died in 1860 in Stockport, all you’ll see is the wrong trees. Kind of depressing, especially when you have people calling you names and saying you’re being selfish.

I spent way too much time looking at this image. And looking at it. And also, looking at it. And then it occurred to me that I should check the name of the person who uploaded it. Y’all, that is a watermark. A very unfortunate watermark.

I have so many questions, and I’m not sure I want any of them answered.

Remember my little friend, Shirley? I noticed today that she’d added a memorial for Owen Glynn, a son of Mary Agnes Basquill and Thomas Joseph Glynn. The burial information seems to have come from Owen’s death certificate, which says he was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania.

And that probably would have been fine. I add Findagrave memorials from death certificates all the time. But, also I try to double-check my work by searching for a death notice.

According to the death notice, Owen was buried in Saint Denis Cemetery in Havertown, Pennsylvania. That makes sense, as his father was later buried there, too. And how likely are the parents to have gotten the burial location wrong in the death notice? Versus how likely it is for a medical examiner to have gotten it wrong on the death certificate? I’m going with the parents. So I made a new memorial for Owen, in Saint Denis Cemetery and included the death notice to support it.

Mistakes are inevitable, but some of the sheer number of them made with this family, by one individual, is concerning.