Is Fayetta’s Death Date Wrong on Her Headstone?

by

If you want an example of a unique combination of given and family names, I would offer Fayetta Salome Flaugh as a good example.Nearly 20 years ago, I attended a meeting of the Computer Assisted Genealogy Group Greater Cleveland (CAGG for short) to learn about genealogy database programs. Several members were demonstrating features of the programs they were using for building their family trees.

One member, Dianna Jo, showed a slide involving two of her ancestors, Fayetta Salome Flaugh and her husband Andrew Betts, from Mercer County, Pennsylvania. The names really jumped out at me, because only days earlier I had seen Fayetta and Andrew on a family tree drawn by my mother.

After the meeting, I introduced myself to Dianna Jo. It turns out that we are fourth cousins, once removed. She had collected considerably more information than I had on our common ancestors and she was very generous about sharing information.

Now, back to Fayetta’s death date. In trees on Ancestry.com, several researchers, including Dianna Jo, have used 1913 as Fayetta’s death date. This makes sense because Find A Grave has a page for Fayetta with her headstone added by another cousin, Lois. The headstone says very clearly that she died in 1913.

Other researchers have stated that she died “after 1910” because Fayetta was last enumerated in the Federal Census for 1910.

I set out to find the proper year, and if possible, the month and day as well.

A couple years ago, Ancestry.com introduced a database of Pennsylvania death certificates between 1906 and 1964. I have searched this database in the past, and found dozens of death certificates for relatives from Mercer and Crawford counties in Pennsylvania. No such luck with Fayetta Betts.

A Google search revealed the website of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which includes indices of deaths in Pennsylvania from 1906 through 1966. I thought I would try there, thinking that Fayetta might have been overlooked somehow when the Ancestry death certificate database was compiled.

I found nothing listed in the index for 1913, so I looked through 1914, and even 1912. Again nothing.

My next move was to check historical newspapers. I have had considerable success learning about the life and times of my ancestors in Mercer County in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I tried searching on NewspaerArchive.com (a subscription site) with the name Fayetta Salome Betts, and various combinations of her initials and given names. Nothing.

Sometimes, you have better luck if you search with fewer search terms so I tried searching for Betts in Greenville between 1912 and 1915. I struck pay dirt with this search. There she was under “Mrs. Andrew Dingman.” Here is a screen capture of the relevant search result:
When I saw “Mary of Simons” (she was my great grandmother) and “Frank on the old ts homestead” (he was a great uncle) I knew that I had found what I was looking for. Clicking on the image brought up the newspaper page with Betts highlighted in an item under the heading Death Rolls. The death notice appeared on page 3 of  The Record-Argus (Greenville, Pennsylvania) for Monday, July 13, 1914. While Fayetta’s given name is not included in the article, all of her children line up perfectly, confirming that this item is about her.


This is a contemporaneous record of Fayetta’s death, hence I consider it to be reliable. I checked another paysite, Newspapers.com, and it had exactly the same item.

The headstone might have been created years after Fayetta was buried, and maybe relatives didn’t remember accurately the year she died.

Someday, I would like to visit the cemetery office and see if there is a burial record on file that has Fayetta’s death date. If so, I’m betting it will match the newspaper account, and the relative arranging for her headstone didn’t check with the office for a death date.

I am planning to circulate this post to cousins and see what they might report back about this little mystery.

Incidentally, I used a perpetual calendar website to check the days and dates in the newspaper (see above) and they squared up perfectly.

Attending Rootstech 2017–Virtually

by

Tomorrow (Feb 8, 2017) I plan to tune into Rootstech 2017 from the comfort of my office via live streaming. Several presenters at this year’s event are scheduled for streaming. I have downloaded the schedule from the event’s website https://www.rootstech.org/. You too can check out the schedule here and below:

Streaming Schedule

Not able to attend in person? Several sessions at RootsTech 2017, including the general keynote sessions, will be streamed live on the home page of RootsTech.org. After the conference, recordings of these sessions will be posted on the website for a limited time.

See the streaming schedule below for times, session titles, and presenter names.

Wednesday

9:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m. | Innovator Summit General Session
Speakers: Steve Rockwood, Liz Wiseman

10:15 a.m.–11:15 a.m. | Industry Trends and Outlook
Speakers: Craig Bott and Guest Panel

11:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m. | Innovation—Best Practices and Applications
Speaker: Cydni Tetro

Thursday

8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. | RootsTech General Session
Speakers: Steve Rockwood, Jonathan and Drew Scott

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. | Getting Started in Genealogy
Speaker: Kelli Bergheimer

12:15 p.m.–1:15 p.m. | DNA: The Glue That Holds Families Together
Speaker: Diahan Southard

1:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m. | DNA Matching on MyHeritage
Speaker: Dana Drutman

3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. | Jewish Genealogy: Where to Look and What’s Available
Speaker: Lara Diamond

4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m. | Family History Is Anything but Boring
Speakers: Crystal Farish and Rhonna Farrer

Friday

8:30 a.m.–10:00 a.m. | RootsTech General Session
Speakers: Levar Burton, Special Guest Panel

10:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m. | RootsTech Innovator Showdown Finals

12:15 p.m.–1:15 p.m. | Mothers, Daughters, Wives: tracing Female Lines
Speaker: Judy Russell

1:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m. | Censational Census Strategies
Speaker: Mary Kircher Roddy

3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. | Big 4: Comparing Ancestry, findmypast, FamilySearch, and MyHeritage
Speaker: Sunny Morton

4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m. | Cross the Atlantic with Religious Records
Speaker: Jen Baldwin

Saturday

8:30 a.m.–10:00 a.m. | RootsTech General Session
Speakers: Cece Moore, Buddy Valastro

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. | Journaling Principles That Work
Speaker: Steve Reed

1:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m. | Don’t Just Be a Searcher, Be a Researcher
Speaker: Crista Cowan

3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. | Creating Google Alerts for Your Genealogy
Speaker: Katherine R. Wilson

Streaming Help

The stream will automatically refresh at the beginning of each session. If it does not, you will need to refresh the page manually by clicking the Refresh button on your browser.

In particular, I intend to view the presentations on DNA (several) and the comparison of genealogy database providers (Sunny Morton, Friday, 3 pm).

Researching Frank Morley Green’s WWI Service

by

 

Frank Morley Green was my first cousin, once removed. He was born on 11 Jan 1896 in Pierpont, Ashtabula County, Ohio, when his father, Edwin Green, was 23 and his mother, Nellie White Green, was 20. As a child, I and my family often visited his home in Andover, and he and his wife were frequent visitors in our home. I knew he was a member of the local American Legion Post but I knew nothing of his military service.

Searching through military records on Ancestry.com, I first found his WWI draft registration. He registered on 5 Jun, 1917, while living in Andover. He was 21 years old at the time. Earlier, I had learned that he used the middle name Morley, and that was valuable in finding him among all the Frank Greens who had registered for the draft.

His draft registration card on Ancestry.com contains this information: He stated he was a farmer, cultivating gardens and raising poultry. When he registered, he had no dependents.

His status changed on 28 Nov 1917, when he married Persis (aka Peggy) Brooks in Andover. Even though he now had a wife, on 25 May 1918, he enlisted for service in the U.S. Army.

Finding a record of his service was relatively easy. It was documented by the Ohio Adjutant General in 1926-29 in the series of 23 volumes entitled The official roster of Ohio soldiers, sailors and marines in the world war, 1917-18. This record is also available on Ancestry.com which digitized the Ohio books, and also created a text version entitled Ohio Soldiers in WWI, 1917-1918.


Here is how that source describes his service:

Enlistment date: 25 May 1918, Jefferson, Ohio, for service in the National Army. Infantry Replacement Regiment Cp Gordon Ga to 14 July 1918; Co D 163 Infantry to 17 Aug 1918; Co C 28 Infantry to –; Co C 11 Infantry to Discharge. Private. Defensive Sector. American Expeditionary Forces 22 July 1918 to 23 Apr 1919. Honorable discharge 16 May 1919.

This brief description indicates that he did serve in Europe, but does not specify if he participated in any battles.

After the war, he returned to America and was honorably discharged on May 16, 1919, when he was 23 years old. He returned to Andover where he operated a chicken hatchery, served on the Andover Bank board, and as mayor of the village.

I plan to revisit the life and times of Frank and Peggy Green in a future post.

My Military Service in the Cold War

by

On January 10, 1962, I boarded a Lockheed Constellation airliner at Cleveland Hopkins airport and flew to Philadelphia with a packet of papers firmly in my grasp. The packet included the one-way ticket for the flight and instructions for reporting to the U.S. Coast Guard training facility in Cape May, New Jersey.

I was met at the Philadelphia airport by a Coast Guardsman who directed me and several other recruits toward a bus for the approximately 2-hour ride to the CG base. I don’t remember many details, except that we arrived after dark. We were shuffled into the reception building and handed our uniforms. The next step was to get the “skin-head” haircut, which took less than 5 minutes. Then we marched to our barracks where we made up our beds and stowed our gear. By then, it was time for lights out.

For the next three months, I learned how to march, make my bed, stow my gear, handle a rifle, and row a longboat. We also had swimming lessons and physical training. The chow was pretty good, and every night we slept more or less comfortably in our bunk beds.

Two months and 27 days later, I was considered a seaman apprentice, the next lowest rank in the Coast Guard. And that was the end of my active service. More about that in a minute.

For many years, I believed that I chose to serve in the Coast Guard because my draft number was coming up for service in Viet Nam. Just recently, I did some date checking on the Internet and discovered that I would have been drafted not for Viet Nam, but for service during the Cold War.  America didn’t really become entangled in Viet Nam until August of 1964. For the record, I also learned that the period between 1953 and 1964 was the only time in U.S. history that there was a draft in place during a prolonged peacetime period. For background, go here.

So much for the accuracy of my recollections from 50+ years ago.

Today, we are facing growing global tension as our new President talks about getting more involved in destroying the radical Islamic terrorist movement known as ISIS. Sooner or later, he will probably call for more  “boots on the ground.”  What does that mean? Many more young Americans will be wounded or worse as they are pressed into serving his agenda.

Returning to my situation in 1962, I now realize that it was more likely that I would have been sent overseas to Europe rather than Viet Nam. But I do recall that I was not enthusiastic about military service. I also recall that I didn’t know one other person my age–from classmates in high school or college–who like me was facing the draft.

At the time, there was a program called the Critical Skills Program for potential draftees. If you were employed in a critical industry or had a critical skill, you were allowed to enlist in the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, or Coast Guard for a program of basic training followed by six years of reserve duty on an inactive basis. That is what I chose to do: enlist in the Coast Guard under the Critical Skills Program.

At Cape May, half my training company, Kilo Company,  was made up of 21- to 23-year-olds with college degrees working in jobs considered important to the national defense. I had been hired upon graduation from Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University) to be the Engineering Editor for Foundry Magazine, the trade journal serving the American metalcasting industry. In that job, I reported on new technology foundries could use to make large and small castings for building airplanes, ships, tanks, and other war-fighting equipment. After my basic training at Cape May, I returned to Cleveland to work for Foundry Magazine.

We don’t have a draft in effect today, but all men turning 18 in America today are required to register so that our government will know who is available when and if a draft is reinstituted. For details, go here.

Hopefully, there won’t be a draft and large numbers of our young people won’t be permanently damaged or die in the service of America. But in these early days of the Trump administration, I worry that that worst case scenario may be ahead of us.

 

 

World War I Research: Training Millions of Soldiers

by

With the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into The Great War (aka World War I) fast approaching, I have begun doing some research on events leading up to the war, training of troops, and the service of blood and shirt-tail relatives.

On April 6, 1917, “two days after the U.S. Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany, the U.S. House of Representatives endorsed the declaration by a vote of 373 to 50, and America formally entered World War I.” This is from the “This Day in History: April 06, 1917,” an article on the History.com website.

At least one of my close relatives trained at Camp Gordon in Georgia. This was a training facility built from the ground up near Atlanta. With some Google searching, I found a very informative article entitled “World War I Military Camps” on the website of the New George Encyclopedia. Its focus is on WWI training facilities in Georgia, but I think that much of what is contained in the article applied to other facilities around the country. It was prepared by Paul Stephen Hudson and Lora Pond Mirza, both of Georgia State University Perimeter College, and uploaded on 05 Aug 2016.

… Camp Gordon [was a]site in Chamblee, northeast of Atlanta in DeKalb County. Georgians named their premier World War I cantonment, a regular army camp, after John B. Gordon, a Confederate general during the Civil War (1861-65) who later served as governor of Georgia and as a U.S. senator.

It was … a “war city” with more than 1,600 new wooden buildings and more than 46,000 troops at its height.

Photos and postcards of camps and training activities are readily available on many websites, all searchable by Google. Here is one showing a training march at Camp Gordon.

The above referenced article — and the postcard — are examples of what is available on the Internet today. If you are researching a WWI relative, you will be rewarded if you use Google to find information pertaining to his service. In some cases, you might even find a record outlining that service.

We plan to post other articles about WWI in the days and months ahead.

 

Free Genealogy Class Series at the Brecksville Branch Library

by

If you are interested in learning how to do genealogy and you live in Brecksville or nearby, you might want to take advantage of this class series:

Last summer, the Brecksville branch library asked Cuyahoga Valley Genealogical Society to present a series of genealogy classes. This March, Vice President/Program Chair Jane Gramlich will teach this 3-part series at the library. Classes are open to the public, but registration is necessary. Please contact the Brecksville branch at 440-526-1102, or register through the Cuyahoga County Public Library’s events calendar at http://www.cuyahogalibrary.org/Events.aspx.

Wednesday, March 15 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Genealogy Skills 101
What’s really involved in doing good genealogy? Online database searching is just one approach. Learning about the research process and understanding records and resources helps develop the critical thinking skills needed for successful research.

Wednesday, March 22 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
A Closer Look at Basic Genealogical Records
Censuses, vital records, and obituaries are commonly used records. This session will cover what these records may tell us, how they differ over time and place, and where to look for them.

Wednesday, March 29 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Using Ancestry Library Edition and FamilySearch
These two free resources form an online genealogy powerhouse. In this session, you’ll learn what these databases have to offer and how to effectively search them.

I have heard Jane lecture several times and know that she is very knowledgeable on these subjects. In addition, she has a very comfortable presentation style. I plan to attend even as an advanced researcher because I know I will pick up some tips and hints.

Do You Know About FamilyTreeNow.com?

by

Yesterday (12 Jan 2017), Judy Russell blogged about FamilyTreeNow.com in her blog, The Legal Genealogist. She strongly suggested that you “opt out” of allowing this public information aggregator website to present your personal information. I follow her blog, but I only caught up with “Suggestion: opt out now” today.

On its home page, this website states:

Welcome to FamilyTreeNow.com! We have one of the largest collections of genealogy records anywhere, and they’re all 100% free to search! Start researching your family tree by entering a name above and see what we find, or start your family tree now.

Elsewhere on this website, under “About Us” the website explains:

Our mission is to create the best free genealogy site in the world. We want it to be super easy to use for new users yet powerful for experienced genealogists. We’re working really hard to improve the site and add great new features. If you have any suggestions please let us know your thoughts so we can improve!

FamilyTreeNow.com was launched in 2014 by some technology veterans who like taking services that typically cost money and making them free so everyone can use them. We have great offices in Roseville, CA where we draw up new features on our giant whiteboard wall and generally try to have a good time while also working really hard.

The website appears to generate income from advertising, including one for Checkmate, a pay site for looking up criminal and other public records.

Judy Russell’s post stirred up a lot of reaction from readers and more is being added even today. Many agreed with her that so much personal information about living people shouldn’t be presented for free on the Internet. But there were some who justified their use of this website for various reasons relative to genealogy.

Actually, I was not aware of this website until this morning. I checked it out by searching for my own name and for names of a few relatives, living and deceased.

My conclusion: I probably will use FamilyTreeNow for people searches from time to time in the future. The information presented is already publicly available online, on social media, with Google searches, and on peoplefinder websites–just not in such an easy-to-use format, and certainly not for FREE.

One thing I DON’T intend to do is create yet another cloud-based family tree on FamilyTreeNow. The trees I browsed seem pretty limited and basic. Besides, I subscribe to Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com, and have large trees on these services. I also have dabbled a bit with contributing to FamilySearch.org‘s Family Tree.

In addition to these cloud-based trees, I am using PC-based programs RootsMagic and Family Tree Maker, with syncing to Ancestry.com. I am even using Family Tree Builder which syncs with my MyHeritage account. The hints and matches I am getting from these services provide me with plenty of leads to new information about people already entered in my trees.

Let me be clear: Sometimes I would like to look up information that is available online from a peoplefinder website. I have paid for this information in the past. Now that I know about FamilyTreeNow, it will be my go-to website for such information. And I’m not going to bother trying to opt out.

If you want to study Judy Russell’s blog posting about FamilyTreeNow, go here. Then you can make up your own mind about whether or not to “opt out.”

Who Was that Little Girl Buried Next to MJ’s Grandmother

by

In discussing our family history, my wife, Mary Jane (MJ for short), has mentioned many times that her paternal grandmother was named Mary Margaret Caroline Heinselman Butcher Van Court. She was somewhat unusual for having two middle names and three family names. Heinselman was her maiden name, and Butcher was the name she assumed when she married Albert Theodore Butcher on 23 Aug 1885 in Beech Run, Richie County, West Virginia. He passed away at age 40 in 1893, supposedly in Ritchie County, West Virginia. To date, I have found no West Virginia death certificate for him.

Mary next married James Smith Van Court, MJ’s grandfather, on 10 Oct 1894 in Ritchie County, West Virginia. They moved from West Virginia to Richmond Center in Ashtabula County, Ohio, sometime before 1910. They purchased and operated a farm close to the intersection of US Rt 6 and the Richmond-Footville Rd. which is the center of Richmond Township. James and Mary appear on the 1910 Ashtabula County, Ohio, Federal Census in Richmond Center. Their farm happens to be close to the Richmond Center Cemetery,

James died in 1928, so MJ never knew him. Her grandmother died in 1945 when MJ was only 6 1/2 years old, so she didn’t hear much talk about Van Court family history from Mary.  Mary was buried in the Richmond Center Cemetery, and you can see the family plot from the kitchen window of the Van Court farm. Only a bit of pasture separates the farmhouse from the cemetery. MJ does remember playing in the cemetery and picking wild flowers to place on the graves of children buried there.

One of those graves was that of Louise Ida Butcher, who died after living only one year, from 1914 to 1915. Who was Louise? Find A Grave provides a photograph of Louise’s head stone. The volunteer who added this photo and some memorial information noted that she was the “daughter of Bert Butcher and Illene Carter, buried with [next to] her grandmother Mary Heinselman Butcher Van Court.”

It turns out that Illene Ida Carter married Albert C Butcher, son of Mary, on 10 May 1913, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, according to their marriage license found on FamilySearch.org.

Louise Ida Butcher was born to the couple on 4 Apr 1914 according to an Ohio birth index entry found on Ancestry.com in the Birth Index, 1908-1964 database online. The original data for this database came from Ohio Birth Records, Columbus, Ohio Vital Records Office. No location is given for the birth.

The only death date I know at the moment for Illene is 1914, so she may have succumbed following the birth of her daughter. Where did she die? For that matter, where did Louise die? These are mysteries yet to be solved. All that we do know at the moment is that Illene and Louise both were buried in Richmond Center Cemetery.

As a result of this additional research, we now know who young Louse Ida Butcher was, and that she might loosely be called a shirt-tail cousin of MJ’s.

BTW, I have images and links for this little bit of research, but I have run out of time right now to add them. Maybe later.

 

 

 

 

Get Your Flu Shot–PD Article Reminds Me of WWI and Flu Pandemic

by

An article in today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer states that “Flu cases in Northeast Ohio and across the state are starting to rise, public health officials warn, but there’s still ample time to get a flu shot.”

My wife and I got our flu shots back in October, but this news report reminded me of far we have come in organizing preventative and treatment measures regarding influenza. The reason that I know a little about this subject is that I was doing some research about ancestors and collateral relatives who served in America’s military during World War I. As you may know, there was a terrible epidemic of influenza in 1918. It was terrible enough that it was called a pandemic, the worst level of epidemic. Some reports say the death toll world wide was 22 million.

The case in point for me is Albert C Butcher, the stepson of my 5th cousin 1x removed, according to the calculations of Ancestry.com on my Huskonen-Dingman-Vancourt-Scheppelmann family tree. Albert was related both to me and to my wife, as he was the son of Mary Jane’s grandmother, Mary (Heinselman) Butcher VanCourt by her first husband, Albert Theodore Butcher. After Albert Theodore’s death, Mary married James S Van Court, MJ’s grandfather.

Anyway, Albert was training for Army service at Camp Pike in Arkansas when he fell ill with the flu and died. His death was reported by his mother, Mary, in a journal she was keeping at the time. It is the only record of any type that we have that he died during his very brief military career. I will report later on his life and details of his draft in a later post, including why there is little official evidence available for his death.

I plan a series of reports about WWI ancestors and collateral relatives in the coming months, in commemoration of America’s entry into WWI 100 years ago, on April 6, 1917.

 

A More Complete Timeline for Grandma Grace

by

On 15 Dec 2016, I posted a timeline for my Grandma Grace that I found on my computer. I had forgotten that I had created it and discovered it during a search for other timeline documents. Today, I found another document in timeline format about Grace Green Dingman in which I had compiled some additional information.

In this post, I am blending the two timelines, with the material from the second timeline in boldface. Note the assistance I received from other researchers before the arrival of Ancestry.com and other online databases.

1879-1881. Grace used various birth dates throughout her life. The birth of Bertha Green was recorded as occurring on 7 Mar 1879 in Ashtabula County to parents J. R. and Mary Green. This is likely Grace’s birth and her name was changed before the 1880 Census. Other dates she used are 7 Mar 1880, 12 Mar 1880, and 7 Mar 1881. Her mother’s maiden name was Sumner. Her father Jared R. Green died in Nov 1879. No record of their marriage has been found. The couple also had a son, Edwin D Green, b 16 Aug 1867 and d 7 Jul 1949.

1880 Census — Conneaut, Ashtabula Co, OH. Green, Gracie D/w/f/age1/daughter/b OH/father b OH/mother b OH, Living with her mother, Mary E. Green/age28/widow. Extracted by Sally Childs, Renton, WA, for Wallace Dingman Huskonen, Jul 1996

1880 Census — Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Grace is living in the household of her widowed mother, Mary Green. This contemporaneous record reported Grace as being 1 year old, which is significant because enumerators for the 1880 census were instructed to report the month of birth if a person was born “within the year,” that is between June 1, 1879 and May 31, 1880. Mary evidently reported that Grace was born before June 1, 1879, so this census record lends support to Grace being born on 7 Mar 1879 with the birth name of Bertha.

1884 — Grace’s mother, now Mary E. Furman, died in Ferry Township, Oceana County, Michigan, in the home of an uncle, George Sumner. At this point, Grace was considered to be an orphan, as Mary’s second husband, Stephen Furman, was living separately. No record has been found in Ohio or Michigan for the marriage of Mary and Stephan. Grace came to Andover to live with James and Jennie Morley shortly after her mother died.

Grace was orphaned at age 4. See copy of letter from Mattie (?) to Jennie (probably Morley) dated 11 Feb 1884 about her mother’s death in Ferry, Ocean Co., MI. Original letter in possession of Wallace Dingman Huskonen.

Beginning shortly after the death of her mother in Ferry, Oceana Co, MI, Grace came to live with James S. and Jennie Morley in Andover, OH. Later she added the Morley name to her name (whether she was legally adopted is not known).

1888 (about) — In the 1880s, Johnson’s Lake Shore Magazine had a section for children. Many children aged 5-12 (generally) wrote short letters to the magazine, which were published. Grace Green of Amboy wrote one such letter in Vol III no. 1, according to Ancestor Hunt Index, Vol XXI, 1994. See p. 99 of Ancestor Hunt for 1994.–Extracted at Ashtabula Co. District Library, Ashtabula, OH, on 22 Jun 1997 by WDH.

1897 — Grace Green Morley was one of eight graduates from Andover High School in the Class of 1897. Her classmates were Burd Eastlake, Arthur Ferris, Jennie Fitch, Lyle McClelland, Arthur Rose, Sedd N. Wight, and Lurie Zimmerm
an. Microfilm AN3–386-419, ext @ Ashtabula Co. Gen Soc, Geneva (OH) Pub Lib, 28 Jun 1996 by Wallace Dingman Huskonen.

1898-99 — Ashtabula Co. Directory: Grace is listed as living in Andover and working as a clerk, living in home of James S. Morley. Extracted by Bessie M. Green, Conneaut, OH, for Wallace Dingman Huskonen, 10 Jul 1996.

1900 Census — Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio Age: 20 Grace is living in the household of James S Morley (age 72) along with Jennie Morley (age 58). She is listed as daughter of James, who is postmaster. She is working as a clerk in the post office.Grace Morley (Granda Grace)

1900 — 6 Jun James Morley dies at age 72.

1905 — 28 Sep Age: 25. Grace marries Wallace Betts Dingman (my maternal grandfather) in Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio. They move to Conneaut where Wallace worked for one of the railroads

1908 — Mary Dingman Huskonen filed an application for registration of her birth on 10 Jul 1956 at the Probate Court of Ashtabula Co., because the registration of her birth on 14 Dec 1908 was not recorded. She stated in the application that she was born at home in Conneaut, Ashtabula Co., OH (address not specified), to Wallace Betts Dingman and Grace Darling Morley; he being 27 years old and a railroad employee; she being 28 years old and a housewife. Dr. Tower was listed as attending physician.–Copy of application ext from microfilm of Ashtabula Co., OH, births and applications, Western Reserve Historical Society, by WDH.

1910 Census — Conneaut Ward 2, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Age: 30. Grace is living in household of Wallace Dingman, her husband, who is working as a brakeman for a steam railroad.

1920 Census — Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Age: 40. Grace is living in household of Wallace Dingman, her husband, who is working as a switchman for a steam railroad.

1920 Census — Conneaut, 8 Jan 1920. Dingman, Grace/wife of Wallace C. (sic)(who owns house at Woodland Ave)/f/w/41yr/married/reads/writes/b OH/father b OH/mother b OH/speaks English/no occupation. Extracted by Sally Childs, Renton, WA, for Wallace D. Huskonen.

1920 — April 1 Wallace Dingman dies at age 39. The death certificate does not identify a cause of death.

1922 (about) — Age: 42. Grace marries John J Tripp (of Andover). I haven’t found any record for this marriage.

1924 — City Directory, Conneaut, OH: Grace D. Dingman, teacher, wid of Wallace B, h 319 Woodland Ave., East Conneaut (now Lakeville). Extracted by Bessie M. Green, Conneaut, OH, for Wallace Dingman Huskonen, 10 Jul 1996.

1930 — Census Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Age: 50. Occupation: school teacher in Andover Public School. She was living in the “Morley house” on West Main Street, but separated from John Tripp. Her son Wallace Dingman, Jr., is living with her.

1935 — (about) Age: 55. Divorce from John J Tripp

1935 — Grace is living in the “same house” as enumerated in the 1940 Census (see next item).

1940 — Census Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Age: 60. Occupation: school teacher in Andover Public School. She was living in the “Morley house.” Also living there were Walfrid and Mary Huskonen (her daughter) and Wallace (me—her grandson).

1943 — 12 March Age: 63. She married Don A Stafford in Ashtabula County and moved to Cleveland. It was the third marriage for both. In August, she listed the “Morley House” in Andover for sale in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

1945 — Grace and Don hosted me for a week at their home in Cleveland. I was seven years old at the time. Check this post for details:

1946 (about) — Grace and Don purchase a home in Tampa, Florida, and began wintering there.

1947 — Last permanent residence: 1911 E. 89th, Cleveland, OH
Cleveland City Directory, 1948, Cleveland Public Library, extracted 9 Jul 1996 by Wallace Dingman Huskonen. This directory would have been compiled in 1947.

1948 — 14 Jan. Florida death certificate reports Grace’s age as 67 [I’ve given up trying to reconcile this age with the birth registration of Bertha in 1879]. She died in Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida. Don Stafford, her third husband, was the informant, but he wasn’t able to provide much information about Grace and her parents or birthplace (in fact, this was one of the least informative death certificates I have seen).

1948 — Obit, 16 Jan 1948 Cleveland Plain Dealer
STAFFORD, Grace (nee Green), residence 1911 E. 89th St., at Tampa, FL, beloved wife of Don A., mother of Mary Huskonen, and Wallace Dingman. Funeral services will be Sunday 2 p.m. at the Baumgardner Funeral Home in Andover, OH. — Extracted from the Cleveland Public Library Necrology Microfilm F490.C55 1991x on 24 Jan 1996 by Wallace Dingman Huskonen.

The following obituary appeared in the Ashtabula Star Beacon:
OH–Ashtabula Star Beacon….16 Jan 1948
GRACE STAFFORD–67: Andover; died at 11:45PM Wednesday at Tampa FL following a 2 week illness. She was born 7 Mar 1881 [sic] at Conneaut, a dau of Mr&Mrs Jared Green. She lived most of her life in Andover where she taught in the public schools. She also taught 5 years in East Conneaut schools. Mrs Stafford was a member of Floral Chapter 534-OES & Past Matrons Club. In 1905, Mrs Stafford married Wallace Dingman who preceded her in death in 1920. In 1943 she married Don A Stafford. The couple resided in Cleveland & were vacationing in Florida when her death occurred.
Beside her husband, she is survived by a dau: Mrs Mary Huskonen-Andover; a son: Wallace Dingman Jr-Buffalo & 7 grandchildren.
Services are to be held Sunday afternoon at Baumgardner Funeral Home here. Rev William Harrison–pastor of Andover Congregational Church will officiate. Interment will be in Maple Grove Cem here.

Obituary transcribed to Find-A-Grave by Diana Jo Csikos, added 14 Jun 2010, Find A Grave Memorial 53688001