A few years ago, a friend of mine asked me to look into her family, so sure, I started, and I go and play with her tree when I need a break from my own. Well, I also do my extended families trees, in other words, my mom has 4 sisters, and I do all of their husbands trees. Well, I found out this week that my moms oldest sister, Jeanne, her husband is related to my friend! Not only that, but they are both also related to a good friend of the family! The family names where the connection is are: Poling and Van Dyne. My uncle Don and my friend, they have the same 4th great grandparents, Samuel Poling and Margaret Black. For a little while there, I thought they had the same 3rd great grandparents, but finally worked out that they did not. This is has been a few weeks ago, but now I have found out that there is a third friend added in there! A coworker has me looking into hers, and she is not only related to the above, but to my ex husband too! I am going to work all this out eventually!
Samuel and Margaret had 13 children, a few with similar names.
Margaret
Daniel Black
Elizabeth
Rachel
Sarah
Nancy
William Black (friends 3rd gg)
William Benjamin (uncle Don's 3gg)
Mary
John Black
Martin A
David Black
To top it off, both William's married Janes! So now you can see why I was so confused for awhile.
William Black Poling was born 1806 to Samuel M Poling and Margaret Black. He married Jane Philips in 1830 in Randolph County, Va. They had 6 children I know of per 1850 census.
William Benjamin Poling was born 1808 in Maryland to Samuel M Poling and Margaret Black. He married Jane Moats in 1823 in Va, they had 4 known children. Wm Blacks daughter Ruhama (What a name!) married Charles Dayton, and they are my friends 2nd great grandparents. Wm Benjamins son Reason, (yep, another crazy name!) married Margaret Bolinger, and they are my uncle's 2nd great grandparents. I am finding more and more connections to friends and family the longer I do genealogy, and I love it!
I will keep you updated on other things I find, thanks for paying attention to my ramblings!
So, my aunt, Karen has been working on gathering some documents about her mother and grandmother. As I said in the last post, Henryetta was given up for adoption in 1925, adopted in 1926. Her mother, Blanche, goes by a few different names. But today, I am going to concentrate on Blanche's mother Ella Dell. Apparently, my aunt has a theory that Ella was 3 months pregnant with Blanche at her wedding with Albert Haines, (yes, the dates back that up). Albert and she were married on Nov 27, 1900, and Blanche was born on May 27, 1901. There is a family that is connecting with us, that my aunt thinks that Albert is not Blanche's true father, but that a guy named Francis Shannon Stewart is. That doesn't mean it isn't true, but I have a different theory. Ella's mother was Helen R Stewart, unknown parents at this time. Helen was born in 1841 in NY. Francis' father was born 1830, in either NY or NH, AND Francis had a daughter named Helen, what if he named Helen after his aunt? If my Helen and Francis father, Charles are brother and sister, that would make complete sense for us to be related to the family. As I said, this is just a working theory at the moment, and I will continue to work on it. I have to work tonight, so that means sleep, but I will be working on this!
I can not believe I am old enough to say "forty years ago, fifty years ago, I did such and such." Although I am not quite 50, I will be in 3 years, I am old enough to reference that time period, that is so crazy to me! When I first started doing genealogy nearly 40 years ago, I wasn't really doing much. I was ten years old, and my dad's cousin had sent us a notebook that had names and dates in it. It wasn't even specifically our family. It was the family of my great great grandfather's brother, John Heyen. Until I was about 17 or 18, I repeatedly wrote those names until I had them memorized, transcribing them to other notebooks. Starting in my early teens my mom would take me to cemeteries, so I could see the people I was reading about. And I was able to add names to the notebook that were not listed. I also added names as I learned of them. I was not taught how to properly do it, in other words, I knew about birth, death, and marriage certificates, I did not know we needed to have copies of them to back up our info. When I was in my late teens I met up with another cousin of my dad's and she showed me her office that had a "properly" documented organization, and my mind was blown. That is when I began going to libraries, cemeteries, funeral homes, courthouses, etc, and actually making copies, and organizing those copies. Then when, in the late 90's the internet and ancestry.com and other websites started popping up, my genealogy habits changed once again. We change as we grow and learn, whether you use only the internet, or you go to actual libraries and courthouses, those are the habits you develop. I have learned, the only wrong way of doing the research, is if you get stuck in your own stubbornness, and refuse to accept change, and accept that perhaps your info is wrong. Double and triple check it, make sure you have at least three pieces of documentation to back it up. If all you have is a theory, go ahead and write that theory down, but don't devote yourself so much to that theory, that you don't allow for new information.
I know I have talked a lot about my grandmother being adopted, but there have been many times where I started following one trail, to have to back track. Finally in the past ten years, Im on the correct line, and DNA is now backing up my research.
DNA has changed how a lot of us do genealogy now, I use it as a tool to confirm where my family came from, and to confirm that my theories are either correct or incorrect. I know many people use it in other ways, but at this time, that is all I need it for.
I do not know if I have been chosen to be the family genealogist, but I know that I will do my best to have the most correct and accurate tree, so that in 50 years, if one of my cousins kid's is working on the tree, I would like for them to use my information as a starting point, and be able to continue where I stopped off at.
As I was saying, when I first started when I was ten years old, I had my dad's cousins notebook. It had the names of my great great grandfather's brother, his wife and children, and then his descendants. I know that family inside out and backwards. A few years later, my mom's uncle gave us a similar notebook for the Ziemmer and Stierhoff family. Although there was information in there that was incorrect, I was later able to correct it. A couple of years after that, another of my dad's cousins shared with me another notebook for the another side of the family, and then a cousin of my moms shared a notebook with me of her dad's side of the family. By getting those notebooks, copying the information out of them and confirming and correcting information, I have furthered my tree. I am not saying I am a better researcher than all of them, I am saying that by taking the lessons they have taught me, and tricks that they have shown me, it has helped me become the better genealogist I am today.
Since 1940, my grandmother and I (well, she began in 1940, I took over in 1994) have been searching for her birth parents family. The story we have been given is that her father was a drunk, her mother was at younger than him, and she was unable to care for the kids on her own, so she gave grandma and her brother up. At one time I had the actual birth certificate and record that she had from the orphanage. Fortunately I had typed them up and saved them in a safe spot before the actual documents were accidently thrown away.
About ten years ago, I was playing on Ancestry.com and found a tree that mentioned my grandmother, and her two brothers, and her parents names. I was in shock, I literally could not even see straight. I was able to contact one of her father's nephews and he informed me that her father had been disowned from the family, because of the things he did.
For these past ten years, I have been doing more digging, and have found out way more than I ever thought I could imagine. (though I still haven't found out what happened to her parents after she and her brother was given up). I have found out that her father had been previously married, and had several kids with this woman. He apparently abandoned her, moved to Minnesota, and then married grandma's mom. I have found out when his mother died, I have found his mother's side of the family back a few generations. I was able to find her mother's family back quite a few generations.
Her fathers family is Canadian French, her mothers side is Scottish and German.
But I think the most interesting fact I have learned, is that her father's first wife was black. First time I read the census sheets and saw that, I thought I was reading it wrong. Nope, I read the census sheets, I read any documents on her family that I could. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have any problems with this fact what so ever. I just understand that studying black history, and digging into black genealogy is going to be TOUGH.
I did find out, that sometimes in the papers it says black, sometimes mulatto, and then further on (such as in 1910 it would say black or mulatto) in 1940, their paperwork was saying white. Now at the time that I spoke to my grandmother's cousin, I did not know about this fact, so I did not ask the question of "was your family so light, that they could pass for white?"
Okay, I know a lot of people would think I would be rude for asking it that way, but you have to understand, I state a question or comment straight on. I don't hide me or who I am.
So now that I have given the back ground, lets dig into this family!
Henryetta Blanche Jackson
daughter of William Henry Jackson and Blanche Shirley
born 21 June 1923 Glen Lake, Mn
died 11 June 2008 Shelbina, Mo
married Charles George Heyen on Nov 1947 in Oakford, Ill
Son of Thomas Gerd Heyen and Betty Florence Boehm
born 26 Nov 1914 Humboldt, Ne
died 25 Dec 2001 Carthage, Mo
They had 4 children
Robert Humphey Jackson
son of William Henry Jackson and Blanche Shirley
born 26 July 1922 Glen Lake, Mn
died 13 Sep 1989 Alexandria, Mn
married Alice Lauretta Buse
daughter of
born 8 May 1918 Millerville, Mn
died 17 Aug 1999 Alexandria, Mn
I know they had about 3 or 4 boys, one of them dying in 1985.
Soon after my grandmother handed me the paperwork she had, and I started working on the family and searching for them, I found out that her brother Robert had died in 1989. But I was able to get her in touch with Alice. They spoke often until Alice's death in 1999.
Leonard Jackson
son of William Henry Jackson and Blanche Shirley
born 1923 Glen Lake, Mn
died 2 Nov 1924 Hopkins, Mn
Natalie Jackson
daughter of William Henry Jackson and Blanche Shirley
born 1925 St Paul, Mn
This is all we know about her. It was found out that Blanche had dropped Henryetta and Robert off at an orphanage, and then went to a home for unwed mother's, then giving birth to Natalie and giving her up for adoption too.
William Henry Jackson
son of Paul Jackson and Katie LaGrave
born 1877 or 1878 in Chateaugay, NY
died unknown
married Laura Wheeler
daughter of Russel Wheeler and Philomena
born 1876 NY
died uknown
married Blanche Genevieve Haines (Blanche Shirley) 1920 Hopkins, MN
daughter of Albert Haines and Ella Dell
born 1901 Wisconsin
died uknown
Okay, when I spoke to grandma's cousin, he said that William always went by Henry, and that he had left his first wife, married Blanche in 1920, and then they lost track of him after that.
I have Henry and Laura in 1910 census and 1915 census. After that, Henry is on only four other documents, marriage record with Blanche in 1920, Henryetta's birth cert, Leonards death record and Henryetta's orphanage record.
Blanche was born 1910 in Wisconsin, her parents were Albert Haines and Ella Dell. Blanche is in the 1905 census with her parents, under the name Jennie Haines, then she is in the 1910 census with her mother and stepfather, Oscar Shirley, she is using the name Genevieve Shirley. Then in 1920 census she is using the name Blanche Shirley. Then in her marriage record, she uses the name Jennie Haines. In her children's birth certificates she uses Blanche Shirley, and in the orphanage records she uses Blanche Shirley. I have known her as Blanche Shirley the majority of my life, so that is what I am use to calling her. When Blanche was filling out the orphanage record for Henryetta, she put down that Henry was from Chaugne, NY. It took me years to find out that it was actually Chateaugay, NY. On grandma's birth cert it says that Henry was 28, but on the orphanage record it says he was born 1878. It confused the crap out of me what his true age was, until I finally found his family. I have been unable to find either a marriage cert or divorce record for Henry and Laura.
In about 1913 Blanche was taken to the Sparta State School. From the census between 1905 and 1910, we see that her father most likely died. And then by 1913 her mother had died. I have been unable to find proof of these "facts".
Name:
Blanche Shirley
Age:
20
Birth Year:
abt 1900
Birthplace:
Wisconsin
Home in 1920:
Sparta Ward 1, Monroe, Wisconsin
Street:
E. Montgomery St
Residence Date:
1920
Race:
White
Gender:
Female
Relation to Head of House:
Servant
Marital status:
Single
Father's Birthplace:
USA
Mother's Birthplace:
USA
Able to Speak English:
no
Industry:
State School
Employment Field:
Wage or Salary
Able to Read:
Yes
Able to Write:
Yes
I use to have a copy of William and Blanche's marriage record, but unable to find it now.
Name
Leonard Jackson
Death Date
2 Nov 1924
Death Place
Hennepin
Death Registration Year
1924
Grandmas Birth Record
Henryetta Blanch
Jackson (Baby Girl is scratched out and Henryetta Blanch is written in) born:
June 23, 1921 Reg
district number 2517 no
in Reg book: 38 father:
Wm Henry Jackson Mother:
Blanche G Shirley Residence:
Hopkins RFD Race:
White Father
born: 1893 (written, typed is age 28) Mother
born: May 1901 (written, typed is age 20) Wi Occupation:
Common Laborer, Housewife Dr:
Hugh C Avery Dated
June 23, 1921 Address
Excelsior Registrar:
WS Frear Dated:
June 24, 1921 Address:
Hopkins
Her orphanage records
are like this: Owatonna
State Public School number
7418 Name:
Henrietta Jackson Date
Admitted: Jan 24, 1925 Residence
Minneapolis, Mn County:
Hennepin Date
of birth: June 23, 1921 By
Order of Court: Juvenile-Hennepin Co BirthPlace:
Glen Lake Mn Judge:
PW Guilford Sex
Female Colour:
White Petitioners:
AL Bean Address:
Minneapolis, Mn Cause
of dependency: father deserted Contributory
Causes: Mother unable to support child Church:
Protestant Physical
condition on admittance: Good Family
character habits, physical and mental conditions: Father-brutal to
mother-drinking man Conjugal
relations: Married Sept 18, 1920, at Hopkins Mn, by Lutheran minister,
separated Father:
William Henry Jackson Born
47 years old, Chaugne Ny Address:
Unknown Mother:
Blanche Shirley Jackson Born:
May 1901 Island Lake Russ Co Wi Mother
works occupation unknown Brothers:
one Brother; Robert number 7419 Descriptive
Notes: This child together with younger brother Robert number 7419 was brought
to the school by Mrs. Esther K Lee, C.P.S, Minneapolis. The father was very
brutal to the mother- pounded her and drove her out of the house and then
deserted-indictment out for him for desertion. He is Irish Catholic. The mother
was a State School girl from Wi, having been sent there when she was 13 years
old by her maternal grandmother. She has been working at different places, has
improved a great deal in her health since leaving the father, but does not feel
able to support the two children. She is Methodist. Lived at Glen Lake for a
number of years. Children both have been vaccinated recently. Placed- Feb 3,
1925. Mar2 1925-Mother inquires about children informed. Adress 1531 22nd Ave
No Mpls. April 13, 1925, Mother inquires, informed. Adress 1471 W Como Ave., St
Paul.
Como Ave was the home for unwed mothers, this is where she gave Natalie up. We do not know anything after this.
