Category: Genealogy

Record of Births, Probate Court, Jackson County, Ohio, [1885-] 1886

I think I chased my own tail so much last weekend that I was unable to see the obvious path right in front of me. I tried again and had no trouble locating the birth register entry for Jennie Smith, daughter of Cinda Smith (number 67). And look! As I suspected, she was illegitimate. (There was no such notation in the register for Lucinda’s first child, Harry Rockwell, so I wonder if that means that they were married and the marriage was annulled? Or were they unmarried but since the father’s name was supplied, the registrar didn’t mark the child illegitimate?)

1900 United States Census, Jackson City, Lick Township, Jackson County, Ohio

This is a giant mess. I’ve been trying to work on the family of Alva Martin and Laura  Basquill. Alva was the son of Hugh Martin and Lucinda Smith. But as I was entering census information, I came across this.

What the hell is going on here?

Hugh Martin burned to death on 15 Jan 1897, so in the 1900 census Lucinda is a widow. She’s living with their son, Alva, but then the next two entries are confusing.  Are Charles and David her sons or stepsons?  It looks like the enumerator started to add “-step,” but then didn’t.  Or maybe they intended to just leave it at “son-s” as shorthand for stepson?  Thomas is listed as “son-step,” which is clear.

And then what on earth is going on with Harry Smith and Jenny Smith?  They’re listed as Lucinda’s children, but why then do they have the last name Smith?  If the birth dates are in the right ballpark (and they are dead-on for the children I’ve found birth records for), then the Smith children were born before Lucinda’s marriage to David Bradley.  As far as I can tell, that was her first marriage, though.  Was there a previous marriage?  And was it to someone who was also named Smith?  Unlikely, but it’s possible for both spouses to have the same last name, and Smith is incredibly common

Marriage License, David Bradley and Lucinda Smith, 21 Feb 1888

Marriage License, Hugh Martin and Cinda Bradley, 14 Jan 1891

Lucinda’s surname is Smith when she marries David Bradley, then Bradley when she marries Hugh Martin. I think her marriage to David Bradley was, indeed, her first marriage.

Based on the marriage dates, the children’s birth dates, and the census and birth records I’ve found, I think Alva and Charles are the children of Hugh and Lucinda. David and Thomas were the sons of Hugh and his first wife, Sarah Catherine Cook. Easy peasy.

But what about those Smith kids?

1880 United States Census, Union Township, Pike County, Ohio

I did a little more digging, and I found Lucinda living with her parents in 1880. And look at that. There’s a Harry Rockwell. Not only is Harry a small child (so less likely to have a wildly fudged age listed), but he’s so young that his birth month is given: February. And he’s described as William’s grandson. So this is Harry Smith, with what’s likely to be his father’s surname.

From there, I searched the Ohio birth registers at Family Search and found a Harry Rockwell born on 29 Feb 1880 in Union Township, Pike County, Ohio. His parents are listed as J. H. Rockwell and Cindeniese Smith.

Birth Register, Harry Rockwell, 29 Feb 1880

I think Harry’s father is John Henry Rockwell. He married a woman named Elizabeth Susan Shonkwiler in 1881. There are dozens of trees with his information on Ancestry and World Connect, but not one of them, as far as I can tell, lists Harry as his first son, with Lucinda Smith.

I still have no idea who Jenny Smith is. Another of Lucinda’s children, born before she was married? Or is she the daughter of one of Lucinda’s siblings, raised by her?

Civil War Pension Card, Hugh Martin

And then there’s husband Hugh Martin’s Civil War pension card. It lists a claim by Lucinda on 19 Sep 1916, but also a claim by a minor named Joseph A. Smith on 5 Feb 1897 (just a few days after Hugh’s death). Does the “Gdn” after his name stand for guardian? If so, Lucinda had a brother named Joseph A. Smith (born 1862, so not exactly a minor in 1897). I haven’t been able to trace where he ended up or where he was in 1897, to try to fit him into the puzzle, so I don’t know why Hugh Martin would be acting as his guardian.

Another puzzle is who is Lucinda’s fifth child? Is this another child born before her marriage to David Bradley? I’ve found no trace of a fifth child.  Is the John W. Wallice in the 1880 census hers?  It’s possible, but at this point I don’t have any further information on him.

World War I Draft Card C (5 June 1917)

In order to properly source the information on this draft card, I need to determine Alva’s serial number and order number. I spent more than an hour trying to figure out what each of the numbers at the top are, and I think I have it partially sorted. If I’m correct, his serial number is 237 and his order number is 606. I have no idea what “No. 58” maps to, which is funny, since it’s the only number that looks official.

So this is mostly a note to myself, because I’m sure I’ll forget before I work on the next draft card. And, if I recall correctly, subsequent cards were not this confusing.

If your ancestors immigrated to the United States from Europe, you’ve probably got a family story about how your family name was changed at Ellis Island by overzealous officials.  I can understand why this myth endures, but it needs to die in a fire.

Births Registered in the District of Castlebar, in the Union of Castlebar, in the County of Mayo 1895, volume 4, page 97, number 492

My great grandma Nell was born in County Mayo, Ireland. Her parents were Walter Basquill and Bridget Burke (also spelled Bourke). According to the civil register, she was born 22 Apr 1895 and the birth was registered on 3 Jun 1895. She was born at home, in Hollyhill, in the parish of Ballyhean.

1901 Ireland Census forms A and B.1., Household of Walter Basquill and Bridget Bourke, Derrygarve West, Ballyhean Parish, County Mayo

1911 Ireland Census Form A (recto and verso), Household of Walter Basquil and Bridget Bourke, Derrygarve West, Ballyhean Parish, County Mayo

In both the 1901 and 1911 Ireland censuses, she is identified as Ellen, with the latter census dropping the last “l” from her surname.

Manifest of the Philadelphia, departed Liverpool 23 Sep 1916 and arrived Ellis Island 1 Oct 1916

In 1916 she came to the United States on the Philadelphia. On line 7 of the ship’s manifest, she was identified as Ellie Basquil. I know this is her, because the last column lists her father, Walter Basquil of Ballyhean (a small parish near Castlebar, in County Mayo).

Declaration of Intention 11 Jan 1922, Helen Gertrude Basquille

Petition for Naturalization 26 Mar 1924 and Certificate of Arrival 23 Feb 1924, Helen Gertrude Basquille

When she made her petition for United States citizenship in 1922, she was going by the very proper name of Helen, middle name of Gertrude, and had added a fancy “e” to the end of her last name[1]. And, in fact, I can find no evidence that she ever used the names Ellen or Ellie after she arrived in the US.

But though her name did in effect “change” after she immigrated to the US, it was not changed at Ellis Island. The officials at Ellis Island (and other ports of entry) did not provide any sort of official identity papers to the immigrant.  They simply checked the immigrant’s name against the ship manifest. The information on the manifest was provided by the immigrant when they purchased their ticket. Meaning, any mistakes in an individual’s name were a result of bad self-reporting by the immigrant, or they were the fault of a shipping clerk at the port of departure, or they weren’t mistakes at all, but were deliberate changes made by the immigrant.

Obviously, mistakes happened, but even then, it wasn’t a big deal. The immigrant was not forever tied to that spelling. They were free to ignore, change, or correct it at any point.

What did happen is that immigrants themselves changed the spelling of their names. This is the rule the world over, when people migrate and reinvent themselves.  Some were looking deliberately for a new start, and a new name went along with that.  They likely, historically, did not come from a place that was precious about the spelling of names.  They may have been illiterate and at the mercy of priests and clerks to spell their names for them, but even literate folks (and you can see from the Irish censuses that great grandma Nell could read and write [2]) were not necessarily attached to a particular name spelling. Note that on Nell’s Petition for Naturalization, her name is spelled Helen Gertrude Basquille[3]. But there is a tipped in Certificate of Arrival recording the spelling used on the ship’s manifest. She just had to provide evidence that she arrived in the US legitimately. Not even the United States government cared what name she came here under.

(And do read the article linked at the top, if for no other reason than that it includes the story of a transman’s experience with immigrating to the US.)

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1. Basquille is a perfectly legitimate spelling of the surname, from the very beginning, and is still in use today.

2. Family legend had it that Nell could speak only Gaelic when she came to the US, but that’s clearly nonsense. Her parents spoke Irish and English, but by the time Nell was born, Irish would not have been something young folks were routinely taught, even in Mayo. Whether she spoke Irish, or to what degree if she did, we’ll never know. She certainly spoke English, though.

3. There are numerous ways to spell this surname. I’m thankful that great grandma Nell only availed herself of three of them: Basquill, Basquil, and Basquille. I believe the switch from Ellen or Ellie to Helen was simply an indicator that Nell had grown up, was independent, and was starting a new life. She chose to alter her own name.

screen shot from Ancestry

Marriages in Aughagower Parish, County Mayo
“25 [Febry 1827] Patt McDonnel to Bridget Basquil prst. James McGuire & Wilm Basquil”

I am deeply grateful to the folks who transcribe old records for us. They provide an invaluable service, sometimes paid but often not. I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining about the transcription. I’m not. I’m just issuing yet another warning that we need to be careful not to take them at face value.

First, this particular transcript on Ancestry is of an entry in a volume of marriages from multiple parishes in the diocese of Tuam. Each parish is dutifully recorded in the original, but that information seems to have been lost in the transcript, which misidentifies this marriage as happening in the parish Abbeyknockmoy, in County Galway. Not impossible, because there were some Basquills who migrated that way, but this was not one of those cases. The marriage–and another on the same page for an Anna Basquil who, I am sure, will turn out to be Bridget’s sister–occurred in Aughagour [Aughagower] parish in County Mayo.

I mention this mostly because I see people get really precious about transcripts on sites like Ancestry. They copy and paste them into their genealogy program, as if they have intrinsic value. They do not. The transcript is simply a finding aid. By all means, transcribe the original document yourself, but you are opening yourself up to perpetuating someone else’s mistakes if you copy and use the transcribed info from a genealogy website.

Second, the name. If you’re hunting Basquills, you will find that the Q is often mis-transcribed as a G. Judicious use of wildcards can help tease out some of the more common transcription errors, but it pays to be creative and flexible with your search strategies. And never, ever, ever get attached to the idea that there is one true way to spell a name.

This is my great-great grandfather’s death certificate. Family Search has added a bunch of new records, including death and delayed birth records for Iowa, so I thought I’d make a quick lunchtime trawl through them. My great-great grandmother’s death certificate is not in the collection. She died in 1905 and the dates of the death certificates span 1921-1940. Hers would have been helpful, because it may have included her mother’s maiden name. No complaints, though!

They also added a bunch of burial records for the Archdiocese of Chicago,  so I can do some Basquill hunting there this weekend.

This is the will of my great-great grandfather Walter Basquill’s sister, Margaret. She was the second wife of Thomas J. Burke, and she became stepmother to his two boys they married. One should be cautious reading too much into something like this, but I can’t help but wonder what the family dynamic was, given her bequests.

For context, Margaret and Thomas had four children of their own. Two died of tuberculosis: Thomas in 1910 at the age of 33 and Beatrice in 1911 at the age of 25. In 1912 her husband, Thomas, died of a stroke, caused by complications of a leg he broke in an accidental fall. He was 75. Margaret died in 1914 of a strangulated hernia, at the age of 59.

When she died, she had two surviving children and at least one surviving step-son, Michael. The step-daughter, Margaret, I had no knowledge of before finding this will. She must have been grown or perhaps farmed out to relatives, by the time Thomas married again.

I can’t find her Thomas will, if he had one. It’s possible that his children from his first marriage inherited enough from him that Margaret felt she didn’t need to give them more than a token. But what an odd thing to do. I have to think there was a story there, and that Margaret’s bequests to her step-children were deliberately unkind.

“Margaret T. Burke (alias)
Will
Filed Feb. 27, 1914
Allowed Mar. 19, 1914

Be it remembered that I, Margaret T. Burke, of the Hyde Park District of Boston in the County of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, but knowing the uncertainties of this life, Declare this to be my last will and testament, hereby revoking all wills and codicils heretofore made by me. After the payment of my just debts and funeral charges, I give, devise and bequeath as follows:

First: To Michael J. Burke, a son of my deceased husband, of said Hyde Park District of said Boston, the sum of one dollar in money. Second To Margaret Gannett, a daughter of my deceased husband, of Dedham in the County of Norfolk and said Commonwealth, the sum of one dollar in money. Third: To Mary A. Jordan, my niece, of said Hyde Park District of said Boston, the sum of one hundred dollars in money. Fourth: To my daughter, Julia G. Burke, of said Hyde Park District of said Boston, all of the money deposited in the Hyde Park Savings Bank in book numbered 13970 said deposits according to said book being made in the name of Margaret T. Bourke. Fifth, To my daughter, Mary R. Burke, of said Hyde Park District of said Boston, all of the money deposited in the Dedham Institution for Savings in book numbered 18658, being deposited according to said book, by Margaret B. Burke. Sixth: To my said daughters Mary R. Burke and Julia G. Burke, all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, both real and personal and wherever situated, in equal shares, to them and their heirs and assigns forever. Thereby nominate and appoint my said daughter, Mary R. Burke, to be the executrix of this will and hereby request that she may be exempt from giving a surety or sureties on her bond as such. In testimony whereof I have this third day of February A. D. 1914, hereunto set my hand.

Margaret T Burke (her mark)
Boston, Massachusetts. On this third day of February A. D. 1914, Margaret T. Burke signed the foregoing instrument in our presence declaring it to be her last will, and at her request in her presence and in the presence of each other, we three do now hereunto subscribe our names as witnesses hereto.
Katherine J. Donahue, Charles H. Galligan, Percy A. Hatzmen”

Remember that Basquill branch I’ve been working on in Ontario? And I couldn’t figure out what had happened to Bridget, the daughter of Patrick Basquill and Ellen Cannon/Gannon? But I knew she could not be the Bridget Basquill who emigrated to the US, settled in Chicago, and married Thomas Raycraft? Onna counta that Bridget Basquill was mentioned in her father’s will, and her father’s name was William, not Patrick? And it wasn’t just a name variation, but an impossibility that William and Patrick were the same person, because Patrick died and was buried in Canada, long before William died and was buried in Chicago?

So.

I looked at the Ancestry user trees for Bridget who married Thomas Raycraft/Raycroft, all of which either have no parents listed or the incorrect Patrick Basquill and Ellen [with no last name]. And then I realized something else these user trees got wrong. Several of them have Bridget’s middle name listed as Catherine. There was a Bridget Catherine Basquill in the Chicago area, but she was much younger than the two Bridgets I’m chasing. I think someone assumed the Bridget who married Thomas Raycraft must be the same Bridget who was also named Catherine. Nope, nope, nope.

But, that led me to re-examine the documents I *did* have for Bridget, daughter of Patrick and Ellen. In the 1861 Canada census, she’s listed as Tresa. O rly, I said? So I started looking for Theresas who were born in Canada but emigrated to the US, and I found a Theresa Basquille in the 1883 Madison, Wisconsin city directory. Huzzah! But is it the Bridget Theresa I’m looking for?

I think it is, y’all! I found a marriage index entry for her, on Ancestry, for 26 May 1887 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. No idea who she married, so I then searched the same index for marriages on that exact date, and I got a list of 17 individuals. Not bad, and definitely something I can work backwards from.

So then I started searching the 1900 census in Wisconsin for a T*eresa born in Canada between 1845 and 1855 (there effectively is no 1890 US census, so 1900 is the first census she’d appear in with her married name). And then I compared that list to the list of folks married on the date Theresa was married, and I found a match. Frank Shipman, married to Theresa, who was born in Canada in 1856, married in 1887.

SQUEEE!

So then I went to Family Search, because they have collections Ancestry does not have, and those records have also been indexed independently with new and even more exciting transcriber misspellings and mistakes. I found a marriage record there for a Frank H. Shipman to a Teresa Rasquille born in Canada whose parents were Patrick Rasquille and Ellen Gannon. The original image is not available, just the index, but gee, that looks like Patrick Basquille and Ellen Cannon, doesn’t it?

I am ridiculously excited and happy to have figured this out.