Children of Garth and Edna - Mary

Ann Mary Beckington, was the seventh child of Garth and Edna and was born on November 11, 1919 in Willis, on Whittaker Road at the family home. The name Ann, is from Edna's mother's sister, Frances Ann (Frankie) Hazelton Burke. Mary is from Edna's mother, Mary Ella (Ella) Hazelton Childs. She was always known as Mary to the family. Mary went through 11th grade at Lincoln High School before her parents moved to the Saline farm on Bemis Road, the summer before her senior year. She quit school her senior year as she didn't liked Saline High School. She met John Frederick Seitz from Saline and they married on September 15, 1940 in Saline. John quit school in the 8th grade, his mother died when he was six and eventually had to help support his two younger siblings. John served in the U.S. Naval Service for two years during WWII. When he returned, he started United Roofing in Saline. He ran the business until he died. Mary and Johnny had five children. Christine Ella, born in 1951, died at the age of two from pneumonia and a burst appendix. Two girls and two boys survived to adulthood. Mary died on June 12, 1999 in Saline. Johnny remarried December 5, 1999. He died on May 22, 2007. Their youngest son, Roy Frederick, born on November 13, 1954, died on March 1, 2008, leaving a wife and two sons. John and Mary are buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Saline, Michigan.

Children of Garth and Edna - Thomas

Thomas Woodburn Beckington was the sixth child and fifth son of Garth and Edna. He was born November 23, 1915 on Whittaker Road at the family home. I had always assumed he was named after his great-grandfather and our immigrant, Thomas Beckington of England, who settled with his wife and family in Boone County, Illinois, having come to America in 1847. Tom's middle name, Woodburn, is from the Dr. (Thomas Woodburn Patton)who delivered Tom. I suppose it is possible the Thomas came from this Dr. also. I guess Edna was running out of family names. Tom graduated from Lincoln High School and married Dorothy Virginia Ranson on January 16, 1938 in Angola, Indiana (there is a definite pattern at play here with Angola marriages in the family). Tom spent most of his life as a farmer in the Saline and Manchester areas before retiring to Saline, Michigan. Tom and Dorothy had three daughters and a son. Tom died on July 27, 1981 in Ann Arbor, Michigan from heart failure. Dorothy passed away on May 14, 1998, in Ann Arbor. They are buried in the Washtenong Cemetery in Ann Arbor.

Children of Garth and Edna - Margaret

Finally, a girl!  My mother, Margaret Edna Beckington, was born on May 1, 1913, at the family home on Whittaker Road in Willis, Michigan. All of Edna's children were born at home, as most children were in those days. Edna had taken a 2 1/2 year break from having children. Margaret was named after a dear friend and cousin-in-law of Edna's, Margaret Mavity Childs, who lived near Edna's family in Ypsilanti which was on Congress Street. Being the first girl, Margaret was cooking and cleaning at an early age - usually breakfast and lunch was served for all the farm hands AND the family. Sometimes as many as 15-20, depending on whether they were harvesting or not. I think this is why, when mother got older, she didn't do much cooking. My dad grew up knowing how to cook, as his dad did, and he did a lot of it. Of course the three of us girls helped as we got older too. But, my mother was a natural cook and when she did make something special like chicken and dumplings on a Sunday - it was wonderful.

She graduated from Lincoln High School in 1931, she did attend Eastern Michigan University (Normal College) for about a year. She was sometimes called Peggy or Marge by people she went to school with or worked with, but mostly she was Margaret. She and my dad, Grover Kenneth "Ken" McDougall, Jr., dated for about a year, and knew each other in high school. He graduated a year ahead of her from Lincoln. They married in Angola, Indiana (remember the gretna green?) on September 15, 1933. Despite their eloping, her brother Card, went with them. My mother almost immediately contracted TB after their marriage (as brothers Mark and Thomas also did during their younger years). This was probably the result of unpasteurized milk and living on a dairy farm!  She spent a year in the Sanitorium in Battle Creek. Because of this, they waited for children as they didn't know if it would even be possible for my mother to have children, or if it would prove a problem for her. She did fine and had three daughters from 1940 to 1947.

Margaret died of lung cancer on March 11, 1978, having been a smoker from the time of her marriage. My dad, Ken, survived another 18 years, dying on October 29, 1996. Ken died of complications from colon cancer. He quit smoking after watching Margaret die. They are both buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Saline, Michigan.

Children of Garth and Edna - Garth

Child and son #4 - Garth Randolph Beckington, was born December 5, 1910 at the family farm on Whittaker Road in Willis, Michigan. For those of you keeping track, this means Edna had four boys within 41 months - or six months less than four years! Thank goodness she then took a break!  Garth is named after his father and I assume the Randolph is from FitzRandolph. In fact, there are many Randolphs in the US that WERE FitzRandolphs and when you are researching FitzRandolphs you need to look at both names. Garth, from a very early age was known as "Toot."  When I asked an aunt why, she only assumes it was because he make a horn noise as a young child.

Uncle Toot was the only son who served in WWII. I believe he was mostly stationed in England. Toot married Dorothy Marie Bruner on June 6, 1942 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dorothy had a child, Michael "Mickey" from a previous relationship. Mickey was born about 1937 and died in 1949 from polio. Toot and Dorothy lived most of their married life in Whitmore Lake, Michigan. Toot died October 22, 1994 at a nursing home in Grass Lake, Michigan of (possibly) pancreatic cancer. Dorothy died on 29 July 1996 in Benton, Michigan. I believe they were separated in the later years of their marriage. They did not have children.

I have added a picture of the four boys. Don't you wonder how they got them to stand quietly long enough to take the picture?

Children of Garth and Edna - Brooks

Brooks Hazelton Beckington, son #3 of Garth and Edna's children was born on December 16, 1909 in Willis, Michigan in Washtenaw County. This means that Garth and Edna made the move to Michigan sometime after August, 1908, when Carlos was born and before Brooks' birth. Brooks is named after his great-grandfather, Brooks Bowman Hazelton.

Brooks graduated from Lincoln High School and married Irene Marjorie Merritt (born October 26, 1912 in Belleville, Michigan) in April, 1930 in Angola, Indiana. Angola is what is called a "gretna green" - which basically means a "marriages transacted in a jurisdiction that was not the residence of the parties being married, to avoid restrictions or procedures imposed by the parties' home jurisdiction." The name comes from a famous town in Scotland named Gretna Green, which became popular in the 1700s. In the United States, other gretna green towns which have become famous are: Elkton, Maryland, Las Vegas and Reno. I don't know if Angola is still used for that purpose. Brooks's sister, Margaret, also married there a couple of years later. It was mostly a place with no waiting period and an inexpensive way to marry back then.

Brooks and Irene had two children. A girl and then a boy. They spent their married life in a house in Belleville, Michigan. Brooks was an electrician and had a radio and tv repair shop out of his garage. Irene died on September 28, 1979 of heart failure. Brooks died on March 7, 1990 of brain cancer. They are both buried in the Flat Rock Memorial Park Cemetery, Flat Rock, Michigan in the Merritt family plot.

Children of Garth and Edna - Carlos

Carlos Lane "Card" Beckington was also born in Garden Prairie, Illinois. His date of birth was August 17, 1908. He was named after Edna's father, Carlos Webster Childs, and her grandmother, Sarah Ann Lane, married to Brooks Bowman Hazelton. These are Edna's mother, Mary Ella Hazelton Childs' parents. I do not know exactly how or why he became known as Card. Carlos married Ferina Catherine "Catherine" Maxwell on February 22, 1936 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Catherine was born on July 14, 1911 in Tittabawassee Township, Saginaw, Michigan. There was some confusion to Catherine's first name as her parents couldn't agree on Ferina (which is on her birth certificate) or Serena (which is on her baptism certificate). She went by Catherine to the Beckington family, but was called Ferina by her family in Saginaw. She does have a great-granddaughter named after her with Serena as the first name. Card and Catherine had six children. Card was killed in a farming accident on February 27, 1963 on their farm in Chelsea, Michigan. Catherine was a hair stylist for many years and died of cancer on December 10, 1973. They are both buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Saline, Michigan.

Children of Garth and Edna - Mark

I will continue with my story of Garth and Edna. After they married in Ypsilanti, Michigan, they moved to Garden Prairie, Illinois where Garth was born and raised and lived for a few years. I think the only thing Garth ever did was farm. They rented a farm next door or near, his father, Mark's farm. Their first son, Mark FitzRandolph, was born there on July 22, 1907. Mark was named after Garth's father, Mark and his mother Anna's maiden name of FitzRandolph. Mark would eventually marry three times but never had children. He told me (or in my presence anyway) that it "must have been him" because he was married three times and no children were conceived. He died in Toledo, Ohio on July 24, 1964, of pancreatic cancer. Mark was a member of the Ypsilanti Phoenix Lodge #713, F&AM, of Ypsilanti and the Excelsior Chapter, R&AM, also of Ypsilanti. While in Ypsilanti, he worked for an insurance co. He had lived in Toledo for 12 years and his obituary states that "he worked for the past seven years as specifications engineer for the Kaiser-Jeep Corp." He quit high school in his last year. His third wife, was Estelle Manley. I know she had been married previously also, so do not know if Manley is her maiden name or married name. I have not been able to find much information on her. Mark is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Saline, Michigan. I do not know what happened to Estelle.

Whittaker House

The house you see in my profile picture is the house my mother was born in. It is (or was, I am not sure) located on Whittaker Road, outside of Ypsilanti, Michigan in Washtenaw County. I love old houses and cemeteries. I tend to go a little heavy on the cemetery pictures, so thought I would do something different this time. But, of course, you can see the Beckington headstone below the picture of the house. More on that tomorrow. Sorry, I have yet to figure out how to get a bigger picture of the house, maybe I can't.

Garth M. and Edna Ella Childs Beckington were married on 28 February 1906, in Ypsilanti. Garth was born and grew up in Garden Prairie, Illinois. Edna was visiting cousins in Garden Prairie in the winter/spring of 1904/05 when she and Garth met. She left in June 1905 and they corresponded until they married. They had eight children. My mother, Margaret Edna Beckington, was the fifth child and first girl.

You can visit my website for more details about Garth and Edna's children and grandchildren. There is a link near the bottom of this blog.

Sunday - October 9

I am not going to be posting everyday on this blog, but I do want to try a few to get comfortable with it all. I have had a couple of comments from family and friends that they are having trouble leaving comments. I am not sure why. More research into the working of blogs is needed. I also want to connect the blog to my website and visa versa.

Genealogy: I started a study group - we will call ourselves the Genealogy Girls Group, or "GenieGirls." There are nine of us and we are hoping this once-a-month get together will help us to set goals and actually accomplish them as we will have to answer to the others if we don't. Also, a lesson or two, field trips to the local genealogy libraries and just helping each other in general will happen along the way.

First day - October 8, 2011

This is my first day, my first blog. This is a process and I am still establishing what I want for this blog and from this blog. I would like to share information. I do not expect this to be a blog, necessarily, about the process of my work. But I do hope over the next days/weeks to develop a style and gain some understanding of what I want to attain from it.

I do have a website and I would like it to be an extension of that website. I know this will take time to figure out just the mechanics of having a blog. So have patience (this is for me, mostly).