Sunday, February 22, 2015

Update on Sarah A. Huston

     On February 4 of this year, I had a post about the Fowlers in Michigan. This family had three daughters: Twins Mary Ann married a Herrick and Sarah Ann married a Huston. The youngest, my great-grandmother, Delphine E., married John A. McDougall.
     In that post, I stated that I did not know when, how or where Sarah Huston had died.
     I received Sarah's death record that I requested from Washtenaw County a few days ago. A few questions were answered, but I am still not sure where she is buried, although my guess is Highland Cemetery or Cherry Hill Cemetery in Ypsilanti.
     The death certificate states Sarah A. Huston, 83 years, 6 months and 15 days, died on February 26, 1926,  in the City of Ypsilanti. This calculates her birth date as August 11, 1842. I am quite sure it was August 12. The sad part is how she died.
     Cause of Death: Fell out of window and was fatally injured. Dementia, Senile, Blind.
     Her father's name was George Fowler, born in Canada and her mother's name was Hester Halstead, born in New York. Sarah's place of birth was Michigan. All that agrees with my records.
    Remember the public family tree on Ancestry.com that gave her maiden name as Hartsook? It wouldn't have taken much to verify the correct maiden name. 
     The Washtenaw County Clerk's office website is wonderful and efficient. They charged me $17.00 for this certificate. The nice thing is that they allowed me to give them some information although I didn't need an EXACT death date AND, I know they wouldn't have charged my credit card if they had not been able to find it. It also was done within a week and on it's way to me via the mail.
     So another mystery solved. But - where is she buried? And, by the way, I never heard back from any of the people I tried to contact who had the family trees with these people listed - with wrong information.



Sunday, February 15, 2015

Frank Robert DuPage, Jr. - Jay



     Frank Robert DuPage, Jr. was born on February 8, 1925 and died seven days short of his 90th birthday on February 1, 2015. He was called Jay, short for Junior. He married Florence (Flo) Virginia Abrams on April 19, 1947. They lived in Detroit, at 19365 Klinger Street, near 7 Mile and Ryan during their early married lives. Their only child, Phillip Frances DuPage, was born while they lived in that house, in 1949.
     When I was thinking about writing this article, I told my sister, Jeneen, I could not find the DuPages  on any censuses. I couldn't understand it - that was when she informed me that DuPage was not the original name. Jay was born to Frank and Elizabeth (Adamczyk) Dudkiewicz, in Chicago, Illinois. The story is that when Frank started work at a factory, he told the supervisor his name in the noisy factory. The man thought he said DuPage and it stuck. He eventually changed it legally. A good Polish name if ever there was one, probably just as well.
     Jay retired from the Burroughs Manufacturing Co., in Detroit. Jay, Flo and Phil moved to Harsens Island in St. Clair County, Michigan, in June 1969. Jay started the DuPage Marine Construction business on the Island, putting seawalls in. Eventually, the business grew to include making docks and any other construction that was needed on an island and near the water. Jay even saved the islanders money when he designed the seawalls or docks for them, instead of them having to hire an architect. He charged them half of what they would have had to pay when a design was needed for the required permit. Phil joined him after serving in Vietnam and continued the business after Jay retired, and now Phil is retired from the company.
     Jay enjoyed whittling in his spare time. He always had a "girlie" calendar in his shop, with the nude pictures changing each month. As the calendar page changed, he would whittle the latest female figure. He had quite a talent and Flo still has many of these small statues. He loved dancing and music and whenever there was an occasion, he could be found on the dance floor. Family was very important to him and Phil remembers many vacations up north on Londo Lake in Hale, MI. Jeneen remembers him being a great reader with a book always being at hand and he would readily share the books with her or others.
     Jay had two brothers, Theodore and Robert, both predeceased him. His older sister, Gertrude Wolshon, is still living. He had a sister, Doris, who died as a 2-year-old in 1920. He and Flo were members of St. Mark's Church and Jay was a member of the Men's Club at the church, as well as the Lion's Club on Harsens Island.
     Jay served in WWII, with the 35th Division in England/German/France/Belgium and Holland. He was: Pvt - Ordnance Basic=521; Pvt - Infantry Basic-521; and Pfc - Rifleman-745. He assisted in direct fire on the enemy, operated a walkie-talkie radio, acted as a runner, did a lot of patrol work and was familiar with all infantry weapons. He enlisted on July 29, 1943 and served until November 21, 1945, when he separated at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. He had both a Bronze Star and a CIB (Contact in Battle) medal. Phil says his father never talked about his time in the service, which I think is typical of that generation. So many stories have been lost.
     Jay is survived by his widow, Flo; his son, Phil and Phil's wife, Jeneen; his sister, Gertrude, as well as two grandchildren and one step-granddaughter. He also leaves behind several great-grandchildren, step-great-grandchildren, and one step-great-great granddaughter.
     Jay was cremated and had a full military service with a 21-gun salute on Sunday, February 8 - which would have been his 90th birthday.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

THE FOWLERS OF SUPERIOR TOWNSHIP



     George W. Fowler and Hester Halstead of Superior Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan, had three daughters:  Sarah Ann, Mary Ann and Delphine E.
     George W. Fowler, was born on the 14th of July, 1817, in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, and Hester (sometimes written as Esther) Halstead, in Olcott Beach, Niagara County, New York, on February 4, 1824. George was in Michigan by 1837-39 and the Halstead family before 1834, when Hester's father died in Superior Township on March 11 of that year. George and Hester were married probably in 1839 or 1840.
     My great-grandmother, Delphine E. Fowler, was born on the 4th of May, 1851. She was the youngest of the three girls. Sarah Ann and Mary Ann were twins born on August 12, 1842. She married John A. McDougall on the 16th of March in 1870.
     Delphine was about 4'10" tall. John was a red-headed Scotsman who stood 6'4". They must have made an interesting looking couple. The union produced 11 children over the next 23 years. Alice, their third child and second daughter, died at 11 months of age in 1876. All of the other children grew to adulthood, although daughter Nellie Amrhime died two years after her daughter, Carrie, was born in 1900, at the age of 23. The Fowler and McDougall families were neighbors in Superior Township, where both John and Delphine were born. John was born on June 14, 1843 and died on October 26, 1920. He was the son of George S. McDougall and Mary Muir, both born in Scotland. I have written about George and the Muir family in the past (see my website www.relativesintheattic.com for a link to the article). John A. served in the Civil War in the 17th Michigan Infantry, Co. E as a Sgt. He injured his shoulder and had trouble with it for the rest of his life.
     Delphine died on 26th of September, 1941, at the age of 90 years, 4 months and 22 days. My late Aunt Phyllis (my father's sister) remembers that in her later years Delphine lived with her youngest son, Arthur Franklin (Frank) and his wife Beulah, in Ypsilanti. They owned a boarding house and she had her own room in the back. She wore very thick glasses which magnified her eyes. The most recent census (1940) shows Delphine with Arthur and Beulah, but nothing about it being a boarding house. Another aunt says she was bald and wore a wig.
     The Fowler family originally came from Canada, which makes it more difficult to research. I looked on Ancestry for family trees that might guide me, but with the misinformation I found - rather quickly - I am hesitant to spend too much time relying on them, even to begin a valid search. 
     Examples: One tree has Mary Ann (Delphine's sister) married to Albert D. Herrick - which she was. But they have her maiden name as Hale. When I take a closer look at the information included on the tree, they do have him marrying a Mary Ann HUSTON, but in New Hampshire. Now it is true that Albert was born in New York, but I can't imagine New Hampshire is correct. Albert was born on the 30th of August, 1833, but by 1860 he was already in the Michigan area. This couple eventually spent their later years in the Battle Creek area of Michigan. Albert died on January 1, 1925 and Mary Ann died on April 1, 1920.  Hester, Mary Ann's mother, was with them on the 1900 Census and then back with Delphine's family by 1910, in Superior Township.
     Albert and Mary Ann Herrick had five children, three surviving to adulthood, as best I can tell. Mable, George, Alice, Hubert and Wainard.  Wainard died young. I have been unable to find Mable or Alice. Hubert married Hattie B. Russell and George married Mabel Black and had two sons. I have not researched these people any further at this point.
     Sarah Ann, married Andrew John (Jack) Huston. One tree has her maiden name Hartsook. Jack was born in Michigan (probably Wayne County) in 1835. He died on April 16, 1902 and is buried in the Cherry Hill Cemetery, in Canton Township. A great many McDougalls, Hustons and Fowlers are buried in this cemetery. I have visited the cemetery and have pictures of some of the tombstones. I cannot find where Sarah Ann Huston is buried, nor even exactly when she died. She appeared on the 1920 census with her son, Oliver A. Huston, in Superior Township. She had another son, Ernest C. Huston. Oliver and his wife, Amelia Louise Reinhart, had eight children. Ernest C. may have been married twice, Alice Cole, and Cora Bell Rippy. He and Cora had three children.
     This was a frustrating search. And, of course, just a LITTLE research answered a few questions, but brought up more. I don't understand why people can't see obvious problems with their public trees. Two children, same name, born a year apart, both still living - tells me something is wrong. One child in the middle of several children in a family born in a different state, with no evidence of the parents having moved.
     But a good lesson - beware of information on a public family tree. AND, why, when you ask for further information or verification, don't they answer. Most irritating and it says to me they haven't a clue and were more interested in adding names than being accurate. It is one of the reasons I do not want my family tree there - I have a website!