2021 in Review

 Well, another year has passed and I still haven't managed to reach the two goals that I continue to set for myself each year.  Thankfully, I don't let that stop the rest of my research and I had many helpful finds this past year.  As more records are available, more is learned.  Peoria County has been releasing old records, along with the Genealogical Society in Peoria and those have been quite helpful. The records I have been focused on lately are Undertaker Records, which have been indexed and available online. And I continue to keep up with my Ancestry Hints, which are often very helpful!

I think that my goal for 2022 will be to journal/blog here more often as I work through genealogy puzzles!

Finding Two 3rd Great-Grandmother's Families

 I have been meaning to post about finding one of my 3rd great-grandmother's family for a while now, and in the time of my procrastination, I found another 3rd great-grandmother's family! I have always wondered about female family members who moved away with their husbands after they married.  Did any of their origin family move with them or near them, or perhaps, moved near them later?

The first family member I want to discuss is Mary "Polly" Wilson. She married William Adamson in 1806 in Lebanon, Wilson County, Tennessee. A "Michael Wilson" was named in their marriage bond, so I wondered if he was her brother.  I also suspected that Catherine "Cath" Wilson McCoy Stites was her sister.  I had no proof of either being related.  And honestly, I still do not have actual proof, but enough evidence to say with confidence that I have found Polly's family.

Polly and William's second son was named Allen, so that is where I began...finding an Allen Wilson, who was born in 1765 in Virginia, with his children born in Tennessee. I learned that his eldest son was  Michael Wilson. I started seriously considering that perhaps this Allen Wilson and his wife Polly Browder were Polly Wilson's parents.

This past summer I had seen a post about a Martha Wilson who married Alfred Quertermous in 1855 in Crittenden County, Kentucky (where William and Polly Wilson had settled). As I corresponded with the poster we agreed that we had a lot of family in common.  Then the poster mentioned that Martha Wilson had been married at the home of William Adamson.  She was the daughter of Allen Wilson, Jr.  Martha's father died about 1846, and her mother died in 1855.  In the 1840 Census, the Allen Wilson family was listed as living in Union County, right next door to Crittenden County.

So then I began researching more of Allen Wilson, Sr's children:

-Catherine Wilson was listed in 1830 in Livingston County (before Crittenden County was formed); she was in Lawrence County, IL in 1840, and Richland County IL in 1850, all places that relatives of my Adamson's were.

-James Wilson was married in 1822 in Livingston County, KY; he was living in Crittenden County in 1850, 1860, and 1865 censuses.

-Priscilla Wilson married in 1827 in Livingston County, KY, was listed there in 1830 and 1840 censuses, and in Crittenden County, KY in 1850.

I am quite sure (again, without actual proof) that I found Polly Wilson's family and that they had all lived very close by to her!!!

The next family that I recently found was that of my 3rd great-grandmother Elspet "Elizabeth" Wood.  She was born in 1801 in Scotland (her parents were Alexander and Catherine Douglas). Elspet married David Erskine Gray in 1819 in Scotland. She and David and their children came to the United States in 1837 and settled in Vigo County, Indiana.  Again, did Elspet ever see any of her family again? 

As I researched the family, I found that she had one brother and three sisters:

-James appeared to have remained in Scotland.

-Catherine "Cath" married Thomas Torrance and their four sons were born in Scotland. In 1841 the family was still living in Scotland. However, by 1860, Catherine was listed in Terre Haute, Vigo County, IN with three of her sons.

-Ellison married Peter Murry (Murray). In 1841 she was listed as living in Scotland with two daughters and one son.  The next record I have found for Ellison was that she died and was buried in Terre Haute, IN in 1860.

So, it seems that Elspet's sisters did come from Scotland to the United States and settled where she was at some point after 1841.

I need to do some more research on these sisters in the Indiana records. But for now, I have found it so comforting to know that these two women (my 3rd great-grandmothers) were surrounded by their brothers and/or sisters. Family is everything!

Prison Warden Killed During Inmates Escape

 James Delahunty was the warden for the Nebraska State Prison when he was shot and killed during an escape by three inmates.  It was James' 55th birthday.

James is not a direct ancestor to me.  My 1st cousin 4x removed was Mary Reade.  She married Thomas Delahunty.  James was the nephew of Thomas Delahunty. I found the story of James compelling enough to do some research on him.

James Delahunty was born March 14th, 1858 in Peoria, Illinois to Patrick and Ellen (Kennedy) Delahunty, both natives of Ireland.  James was the oldest of eight known children.  Around 1884, the family moved from Peoria to Clay Center, Nebraska, where James' father continued farming. His father died in 1889.

By 1906, a city directory for Lincoln, Nebraska, indicated that James Delahunty was a deputy warden at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.

The 1910 census for Clay County, Nebraska shows James, age 43, living on the farm with his mother and some siblings.  It shows that James was divorced, and working as a farmer (however, he was the warden of the prison).

On March 4th of 1912, there appeared to be concerns about "dope" being brought into the prison and some were calling for James to be replaced as warden, but the governor believed that James was doing a good job, so he remained.  Ten days later, 3 inmates used explosives to get free and shot 2 guards as they made their escape.  James came out of his office shooting at the escaped convicts.  He was shot in the right hip but continued to shoot at them.  He was then shot in the chest and died.

I learned from a newspaper article that his brother John also worked at the prison and that their mother was the prison matron. Neither of them had been injured or involved in the shooting.

There were services held for James Delahunty at the Cathedral in Lincoln, Nebraska, and then his body was shipped to Peoria, Illinois for burial.

Goals for 2021

 A new year begins and I wanted to avoid making any kind of resolutions, but then it occurred to me that I do need to decide on some goals for my genealogy.  2020 was a year full of changes for me (selling our house, moving across the country, surgery, etc.) and, while I continued to stay caught up on my Ancestry Hints, I don't feel like I got any real genealogy research done. Now that I am settled into our new home, I know no one (other than my husband!), there are no activities to attend (due to COVID), and it is winter, so this is the perfect time to get back into my research.

Of course, the two goals that I have had for years, still remain:

-to locate a photo of my great-great-grandfather, William H. Murphy, from his years in Peoria, Illinois after spending his first twelve years in Ireland.  He lived in Peoria from 1850 until he died in 1891.  He held several city jobs (such as deputy sheriff, etc.) so I find it hard to believe that there is not a photo of him out there somewhere!

-to learn the father of my great-great-great-grandfather William Adamson (born @1789 and died @1865)

Other goals are:

-to learn more about Katherine Fox Feger and her children

-to continue to study the lives of James and Mary Alice Reed Murphy and their children (one of whom is the above-mentioned William Murphy)

I hope that I will continue to identify other goals as the year continues.

Katherine "Katie" M. Fox-FOUND

I have written two prior posts about Katie Fox, one in 2012 and the other in 2015.   I had never been able to learn what had happened to her after her father died in 1898.  Katherine Fox was a fairly common name and so I was never sure of finding the correct records.  She was one of my major brick walls.

A couple of days ago an Ancestry.com hint came up for Katie.  It was an obituary in Newspapers.com for Herman Seger, who had married Catherine Fox in 1900 in Peoria.  I searched for Herman Seger with all my genealogical powers!  I searched for his parents and his children who were all named in the obituary.  I found NOTHING.  Finally, I pulled up the 1910 Peoria County Census and entered the first name (Herman), the year he was born (1875), and that he lived in Peoria.  Right away names came up and guess what was there: Herman Feger with his wife Catherine.

As it turned out, the obituary had his last name spelled wrong, along with his father's last name and his children's last names.  I just have never seen that big of an error in an obituary.

Now that left me with the question, was this Catherine Fox the Katherine Fox that I have been searching for (for over twenty-five years)?  I found all the censuses for the Feger family, but I needed proof of who Katherine's parents were. They were not listed on her Find-A-Grave site.  All I could think of was that I needed to try to find a record of Herman and Catherine's marriage.

I started by going to the Peoria County Clerk's website.  As I looked around there for a while, I came across a link that led me to old records that had been scanned.  There are Births (1878-1915), Marriages (1825-1904), and Deaths (Dec. 1877-1915).  It was an amazing find!!!

But the most amazing part was that I found the marriage records for Herman Feger and Katherine Fox and her parents were listed: William Fox and Mary Smith!!!!  It was her!

I was so happy to know that she had married and had three children. By the time Katie was twenty-four, she had lost both parents and all six siblings had died.  She was alone in the world for the most part. Her first two children were even named William and Mary after her parents. Katie lived until 1957.  I am hoping to find an obituary for her once the library re-opens (COVID-19).

Never, ever give up!

My Favorite Photo

I am selectively choosing prompts from 52 Ancestors and especially like this week's prompt which is My Favorite Photo!  It is this great picture of my grandparents, taken around 1970.  It is always on my refrigerator so I can see them and sometimes "talk" to them!

Review of 2019

Well, I had one post in 2019.  That is hard to believe.  I had some great finds in 2019, mostly from Ancestry.com.  And I began researching my brother-in-law's family at my sister's request.

In September of last year, my long-lost cousin and I spent a weekend together, at my home with our husbands, that was absolutely wonderful.  We had not seen each other since around 1960 maybe?  I had been searching for her since about 1994.  She found me (!) on Ancestry in 2018.  When she arrived at my house, I was able to give her her father's childhood missal with his name written in it that I had found among my mother's belongings.  Her father died in 1963, so it was quite a touching moment to finally lay it in her hands! We really had a good time with them and hope to see more of them.

So, my goal for 2020?  Well, that's an obvious one!  I need to blog more!  I'll start with a post today!