What a sad story. Jane McCandlish Murdoch.

I was working on going through some Ancestry Hints this morning and came across some records that, of course, led me down the rabbit hole. I was researching Jane McCandlish Murdock a second cousin once removed. 

Jane was born in 1854 in Scotland to William and Margaret Smeaton Murdock. She was listed as living with her parents and siblings in the 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891 censuses in Scotland. I also found a record that she had been admitted to the Woolie Asylum in Dunbartonshire, Scotland on the 21st of February in 1876 when she was 22 years old. I have yet to find records of how long she was there. 

 On the 10th of June in 1892, Jane married Alexander Edwards. Jane was thirty-eight years old and Alexander was 25 years old when they married. Alexander was a chemist's storeman. On the 27th of August of 1894, Alexander and Jane had a son, John Wilson Edwards. Sadly, Jane died on the 27th of October 1897 when she was forty-three years old, leaving a two-year-old baby behind. Her death certificate listed her parents and stated that she was thirty-nine years old. It said that she died of Acute Mania and Meningitis. 

Her father was deceased by then. The story gets sadder. I decided to see if I could find out what became of the baby that Jane had left. I found that in 1901, John Wilson Edwards and his father Alexander were living with Alexander's parents. The next record I found was a death record for John. He died on the 16th of June in 1915 at the Royal Lunatic Asylum of Aberdeen. He was twenty-one years old, single, and a schoolteacher. He died from Pyaemia (blood poisoning) from slight abrasions of the face that he had had for about one and a half months. His father's sister was the Informant for the death certificate.

 As of now, I have not located any other information on Alexander Edwards. I did see a listing for that name who was buried close to where John had been buried. That Alexander Edwards died in 1913.

Old Fashioned Genealogy

There are often mentions in different posts, blogs, etc. of the importance of writing and requesting records for genealogy.  Not all records can be found online, but you can find where to request the records that you are looking for online

This past week I sent off 3 different requests for records:

-One to the Arkansas History Commission for Confederate Pension Records for Thomas P Saunders

-One to the North Dakota Bismark-Mandan Historical and Genealogical Society for Naturalization Records for Olaus Hansson

-One to NARA for Land Warrants for two grants given to William Adamson, one in 1836 and the other in 1856

I was quite pleased with myself that I took the time to find where these records would be and that I actually sat down and requested them! I am very hopeful that I might learn some valuable and/or interesting information from my requests. I will post what I find!

#52Ancestors-Oops

 Oops is a great topic and there are so many things to write about, but I am sharing the first thing that came to my mind!

My father was born in 1927. His parents had married in 1910. They then had three children: in 1911, 1913, and 1915. And twelve years later...oops...my father was born!

My father's sister, who was born in 1913, would often recall how she would drop my father off at kindergarten on her way to college!

#52Ancestors-Education

I am reposting a blog that I wrote on June 3, 2015, to address the topic "Education"! Above is a picture of Arthur and Nye Gray Adamson. It still amazes me that both of my grandparents graduated from college!

This week’s challenge was the topic “Commencement”.  I chose to write about my paternal grandparents. Both of my grandparents graduated from college.  I find this amazing since they were both born in the late 1800s when going to college was not often considered an option! 

My grandfather, Arthur Logan Adamson, was born on the 29^th of April in 1885 in Olney, Richland County, Illinois.  He was the eleventh of thirteen children and, as far as I know, the only one to attend college.  He graduated from Olney High School in 1903.  The family story is that his parents sold their farm in order for Art to attend Westfield College in Westfield, Illinois.

My grandmother, Lotta Nye Gray, was born on the 5^th of July in 1888 in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana.  She was the second of five children. One of her brothers also graduated from college. 

Art graduated from Westfield College in 1906 after “three years of hard work and summer school”.  While at Westfield he played quarterback for the football team.  Nye graduated from Westfield in 1907 and was president of her class (which consisted of five students!).    Art and Nye had begun dating each other before they left Westfield.   

The above picture was taken from The Lanz 1907, the yearbook from Westfield College.  It refers to her interest in my grandfather in the line:

"Being a descendant of Adam she has taken a special interest in one of his sons..." 

Art and Nye married in 1910 and went on to have four children.  All of their four children graduated from college during the years of 1935 to 1948.

Obviously, education remained very important to Art and Nye. 

 

#52Ancestors: Favorite Photo

This was fairly easy to choose!  It is my grandmother and my mother in about 1928!

 

#52Ancestors-I'd Like to Meet

 I may only hit some 52 weeks this year, but this is a start! The topic is who I would like to meet.  That was a pretty easy choice for me.  I want to meet and talk to my great-great-great-grandmother Mary Alice "Allie" Reade.  Allie was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland in 1801. It was there that she married James H Murphy in 1831. 

I choose her because I would like to learn more about her Reade family history and her husband's history. And, at least in our family, it has always tended to be the women who know the secrets, and just knowledge of the families, so I am guessing that Allie could tell me a great deal that I have not been able to uncover!