The Antique Sewing Box Mystery - Part 2

John and Rusty Keilch had the winning bid and were the new owners of the Victorian-era sewing box made of ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl and the mysterious newspaper clipping tucked inside. Like any good genealogist, John got to work right away on trying to solve the mystery. John's report:

English records show some Creightons in London censuses and two Richard Creightons who died in London in the early 1900s. However, when I looked on Google Maps to see where their deaths had been registered, the locations were in central London. This was inconsistent with the address at Ferme Park Road in London North reported in the death notice, which was located quite some distance away, about 10 miles. To find other possibilities, I tried variant surname spellings in census and death records, and found three more Richards in London – a Crayden, a Cretten, and a Critton – but again they had lived quite distant from Ferme Park Road. The margins of the news clipping show a glimpse of the death notices that had been printed above and below, so I tried to search those fragments. The preceding notice ended with the words "...rick Cornish, of the Lewisham, High-road, S.E." and the next notice began "GERRANS – At..." I tried searching for Cornish and Gerrans deaths, but again, no luck.

I then tried using Google to find out something about Ferme Park Road, hoping to find some clue. The street is still there, located in Stroud Green, a residential district near Hornsey and Crouch End. The street-level view available on Google Maps shows Ferme Park Road to be a quiet street lined with townhouses.

Google did not produce any hits for a Creighton family on this street. However, in the process of looking, I found an interesting historical tidbit about another resident of Ferme Park Road. He was Nguyen Tat Thanh, a young schoolteacher from Indochina, who in 1912 left home, earning his way abroad by working as a galley cook on a French freighter. He worked for a time in New York City and Boston, but then decided to settle in London to continue his studies. He found a place to live – on Ferme Park Road – and while in London he worked as a hotel dishwasher and waiter, enrolled in Regent Street Polytechnic, and found a position as an electrical apprentice. After a few years, he moved to France, and eventually he returned to Indochina, where he adopted the name by which he would be known: Ho Chi Minh.

In browsing through Wikipedia to find out about Ferme Park Road, the Stroud Green neighborhood, and the Hornsey district, I learned an important fact. It turns out that Hornsey used to be part of Middlesex County, even though the area long ago had become part of the expanding London metropolis. Until 1965, London County encompassed only the central city. To anybody familiar with London, the "London, North" reference in Richard Creighton's death notice would have been a tip-off, but I had not recognized its significance.

Once I stopped looking for Richard Creightons in London County, the search became more successful.

The 1901 census index shows a Richard Creighton in Hornsey, Middlesex. When I looked up the census image I found a page labeled Stroud Green. The second family on the page consisted of Richard and Emma J. Creighton, three adult children, and Richard's sister – they were living at 28 Ferme Park Road. Richard was 58 years old and worked in a lace warehouse. He had been born about 1843 in Carlisle, Cumberland. Emma was the same age, but she had been born in London City. They must have been in the vicinity for quite some time, because their children, all three in their twenties, had been born in the Hornsey district.

According to the death notice, Richard died in his 67th year. Since he was 58 in 1901, his death would have occurred sometime around 1909. Indeed, in the 1911 census there is a record in Edmonton, Middlesex, for Emma Jemima Creighton, born 1843, but Richard was no longer in the household. A look in the English Death Index reveals a death recorded in the Apr-May-Jun 1909 book for Richard Creighton, Edmonton, age 66, born about 1843. This corresponds to the death notice.

Actually, Richard Creighton was born in 1842, as he was christened December 11, 1842, at Saint Mary, Carlisle, Cumberland, according to the FamilySearch International Genealogical Index. The FamilySearch site also shows an 1881 census transcript for Richard Creighton; he was already a lace warehouseman, living with Emma and four children in Hornsey at 63 Woodstock Road.

John Keilch suspects that the death notice about Richard Creighton was cut from the newspaper, perhaps with sewing scissors, and tucked into the sewing box for safe-keeping in 1909 by his wife Emma or another family member. It seems likely that the clipping stayed there forgotten and unnoticed for 101 years until Nancy Servin discovered it.

John sent along these ideas for further research:

1.  Family tree – A Donahue family tree at Ancestry.com includes this Richard Creighton b. 1843 with some additional information about his birth family. It lists Richard's parents as Thomas Creighton and Mary Hetherington, married in 1836 in Carlisle, Cumberland.

2.  Marriage record – It is likely that a record of Richard and Emma's marriage can be found that would provide Emma's surname and thereby a link to her family background. Update: Richard Creighton married Emma Jemima Adams in 1872 in the Kensington district of London.

3.  Earlier censuses – A look at the 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses would give snapshots of Richard Creighton's birth family. It would be interesting to look at subsequent censuses to trace the history of Richard and Emma's family and their occupations. Emma's birth family probably can be found in the censuses also. Update: Richard Creighton was a draper in 1871 at the age of 18. After his marriage, Richard Creighton was a lace warehouseman in 1881, 1891 and 1901.

4.  Descendants – Since Creighton is a relatively rare name, it may be possible to trace some of Richard and Emma Creighton's descendants, and perhaps even identify descendants who are living now, using birth, marriage and death records which are available online all the way up to 2005.

5.  Neighborhood history – There is some historical information about the Stroud Green district and vicinity online. See British History Online or the website of the Hornsey Historical Society.

6.  Work history – It might be possible to learn something about the warehouse where Richard Creighton worked. There may be clues in histories of lace manufactures that are available online.

7.  Origin of the sewing box – The sewing box is most likely older than the newspaper clipping that it concealed.

The Antique Sewing Box Mystery - Part 1


Photograph and scanned images courtesy of John Keilch, 11/25/2010.

Copyright © 2010 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

The Antique Sewing Box Mystery - Part 1

One of the decidedly non-genealogical routines associated with the California Genealogical Society is a fund-raising device that's become a standard part of our full day seminars – the silent auction. Members donate things that appeal to others who bid on them. The auctions serve as a place to browse between lectures and they are 100% profit for the society.

Our last silent auction was held on October 30, 2010, at Google All the Way with Lisa Louise Cooke. That auction was pretty much like all the others until it turned into The Sewing Box Mystery.

One of the donated items was an antique black-lacquer sewing box with mother-of-pearl inlay. Member Diana Wild bought it at a small antique shop in London in 1996 or 1997.  She never used it for its intended purpose but kept it as an ornament in her guest room.

It was Nancy Servin who set the whole thing in motion when she took a close look at the sewing box.

I was looking at it, and I opened the inside top of the box. It had a mirror in it with a mother-of-pearl clasp. It unfolded open to a shallow pocket, and in the bottom of the pocket was a slip of newspaper that was the size that you find in a fortune-cookie. It was so shallow in there and the pocket was fragile. I had no tweezers with me, but had a cat comb in my purse (don't ask) which was narrow enough to get into the bottom of the pocket and bring up the piece of newspaper.

It was an obituary (!) cut out of a London paper. (I think Diana said she got the box in London). No date, no paper named, but the name, age, and month and day of death were in the obit.

CREIGHTON. – 24th June, at 28, Ferme Park-rd,

London, N., Richard Creighton, in his 67th year.
No flowers.

New member Rusty Keilch had the winning bid and is now the proud owner of both the sewing box and the obituary.

What are the chances that a sewing box would travel from London to California with a hidden obituary in it, and ended up at a genealogical society silent auction?

As you can imagine the research got started within twenty-four hours. Stay tuned for The Antique Sewing Box Mystery Part 2.

 

Photograph and scan courtesy of John Keilch.

Copyright © 2011 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

How An Item in the Personals Led to a Photo I.D.

My favorite type of genealogical pastime is newspaper research. I've wiled away more hours than I care to admit scrolling through microfilmed papers borrowed through inter-library loan from the Pennsylvania State Library. Obituaries, legal notices, passenger arrivals and news articles provide important information and often point to documents needed for the search. But the really fun stuff resides in the personal columns – the collections of gossip often grouped by neighborhood or town – that offer glimpses into the lives of our ancestors.

Lookups volunteer Patricia Smith stumbled on to a personal item in an Indiana newspaper that led to an unexpected find when the California Genealogical Society acquired NewspaperARCHIVE.com last summer.

According to Pat, CGS President Jane Lindsey was helping her to navigate the site and found an item in the personals about the 50th anniversary of Pat's great-grandparents, Alanson and Laura Ross, in The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. It was published " Tuesday morning" January 2, 1917, under the headline "Pleasant Lake News."

Mr. and Mrs. Alson Ross celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary last Sunday and a public reception was given them at the home of their daughter, Mrs. Frank Chadwick, from 2 to 4 p.m. The Pleasant Lake concert orchestra furnished music during the afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Ross were seated in the large window beautifully decorated for the occasion. Those present from a distance were: Mrs. Lucey Widney, of Auburn; Otto Ross and wife, of Louisville, Ky.; Bessie Cross of Fort Wayne; Mrs. Bert McNett and children of Nevada Mills; Donn Ross and wife of Monpelier, O. Miss Laura McEthenie sang "Put on Your Old Grey Bonnett." L.L. Matson gave a short eulogy on the couple and closed by reading Riley's "That Old Sweetheart of Mine." Mrs. Frank Chadwick gave a short poem on "Mother." Miss Helen Huffman read "When This Old Ring Was New" with Miss Maurine Huffman presiding at the piano. A vocal solo, "Silver Threads Among the Gold," was sung by Maurine Huffman. Light refreshments were served, after which the Ross family sang "Bless Be the Tie That Bonds," with the guests joining in the chorus. It is not often that a couple celebrates their fiftieth anniversary who are as supple and robust as Mr. and Mrs. Ross. Fred Fay was present and took the family picture.

Image from newspaperarchive.com.

The unexpected find happened when Pat went home and tried to decipher the family relationship of those named in the article. Pat explains:

I recognized the name "Mrs. Bert McNett" as that of my mother's cousin – Parepa Walker McNett – and I remembered that I had a family photograph that included her. When I retrieved it, I noticed that almost everyone mentioned in the article was in the photograph. On the back was written "Taken at Pleasant Lake, Indiana."

The family of Alanson and Laura Ross (left to right): Nellie Ross Chadwick, Alanson Ross, Don Ross, Parepa Walker McNett, Laura Ross, George McNett, Walker McNett, Bessie Ross Cross, Esther Westergren Ross, Ella Ritter Ross, Otto Ross, Gertie Ross and Harry Ross.

On closer inspection, I could see that it was taken in the winter – you can see some snow on the ground. Parepa's little boys were born about 1913 and 1915 and would have been approximately four and two years old, if this photo was taken in 1917, which looks about right. I also know that Perapa had a daughter born late in 1917 and although her waistline isn't totally visible, she doesn't appear to be pregnant, or if she was, she was not far enough along to show.

The news item states that Fred Fay took the family picture and I think, given the above information, that this photo was taken on that January day in 1917.

Do you have a great story about a find made at the CGS Library? If so, leave a comment. Inquiring minds want to know!

Baby Samuel: Some Answers, More Questions

A team of researchers at the California Genealogical Society joined forces this week to give Elizabeth O'Neal some new information in her quest to solve The Mystery of Baby Samuel. In just a couple of days Dick Rees, Laura Spurrier and Lavinia Schwarz found several new leads for her to pursue.

As with any genealogical research, answers often reveal more questions, and this is certainly the case with the information found in the Danish work previously described.

The Danske I California og California Historie contained two biographies of interest. This is Laura's translation:

Brothers Jens and Peter Nielsen, born in Udby Sogn, Holbæk Amt, came to California in the 1860s. They worked in the gold mines, and Peter Nielsen for a while ran a rooming house in San Francisco. They last resided in Kansas where they homesteaded. Two grandnephews, brothers Ejlert and Lars Mortensen, live in Riverside, California.

Mrs. Samuel K. Swartz (Inger Anna Nielsen), sister of the previously mentioned Nielsen brothers, came to San Francisco in 1906. She was president of the "Zion" society, under the auspices of the Ansgar Church, and she also active in the Danish Ladies' Aid Society.

Dick Rees visited the San Francisco Public Library and pulled microfilm in the Herb Caen Magazines and Newspapers Center to look for obituaries. He was unable to find one for Samuel K. Sr. but he did find this:

The Rees-Spurrier-Schwarz team all expressed some concern about the apparent age difference between Inger and her elder brothers. Dick's comment was "I found it interesting that the brothers Nielsen arrived in the 1860s and sister Inger wasn't even born until 1883. I'm hoping Father Nielsen had at least two wives!"
Vinnie commented on a problem that Elizabeth already discussed, "Inger's age and Samuel's birthdate, as well as daughter Irene's birthdate don't add up well. Sam is a late baby, but possible. Irene's birthplace seems off." The married name for Irene in the obituary provides some new clues.

Laura offered this:

Danske i California, though very, very useful, is not infallible in my opinion. I would look for the dates of naturalization for Jens and Peter in the 1890 Great Register of California, then find their naturalization papers. I'd also try to find their ages at death. I would try to find Inger's own immigration records and her marriage record. The records of St. Ansgar Lutheran Church in San Francisco should be checked. Raking the Ashes states that St. Ansgar merged into St. Francis Lutheran Church but doesn't say if the records are extant. If Inger didn't reach San Francisco until after the '06 quake, relevant records might still be there -- certainly the record of her funeral if she remained a member. Inger may have been a daughter or niece of one of the Nielsen brothers, not a sister. Another possibility is that Inger was the grandmother of Baby Samuel and the records were fudged in order to cover up an illegitimate birth. Sources in Denmark, may shed some light too.

We all wish Elizabeth much luck if she chooses to continue her research of Baby Samuel's family. Happy birthday, Elizabeth!


Sources:

1. Sophus Hartwick, Danske I California og California Historie: Beretninger om de Danskes liv og Virke Fra de Tidligste Pioner Dage [Danes In California and California History, a Report on Danish Life and Work from the Earliest Pioneer Days], 2 volumes, San Francisco, 1939, p. 658. Chapters in the work are arranged by county. The Nielson Brothers biography appears in the Los Angeles County chapter, translated by Laura J. Spurrier, M.L.S.

2. Sophus Hartwick, Danske I California. p. 840. Inger Swartz's biography appears in the chapter on San Francisco.

3. Inger A. Swartz Obituary, San Francisco Chronicle, microfilm, Monday, 28 May 1973.

Part 1: Baby Samuel: A Few More Clues About Mom

Baby Samuel: A Few More Clues About Mom

Yesterday I had a full day of meetings at CGS but I thought I would sneak in a little research time for a friend. I planned to noodle around in some San Francisco city directories to see if I could find any new information about the SWARTZ family for Elizabeth O'Neal of Little Bytes of Life. On Tuesday she reported on The Mystery of Baby Samuel and how she had become strangely obsessed with his short life.

When I got to the library, I discovered that the crack team of researchers at the society were already on the case. Since Elizabeth had done the basic census work, CGS "Look-up Maven" Lavinia Schwarz, did what anyone who has San Francisco ancestors should do. She searched the California Names Index on the California Genealogical Society Web site.

Through the years, CGS volunteers have indexed a wide variety of state, county, and local references, creating an enormous and unique database of the library's holdings. The California Names Index currently contains over 265,000 entries. Search results yield a full name and an Index Code that tells the source type of the information.

These are the results that come up after a search for "Swartz."


The bottom listing is for Baby Samuel's parents: "Swartz, Samuel K. (I. Nielsen) BIO $10.00." The three letter code "BIO" indicates that some biographical information is available in our collection of more than 50 California state, county, and local histories. $10.00 is the charge for copying and sending the information. (Elizabeth, this one is on us!)

Lavinia recognized the source for the Swartz biography as one she had consulted for several previous look-up requests. It is a two volume set and it is in Danish.

Danske I California og California Historie: Beretninger om de Danskes liv og Virke Fra de Tidligste Pioner Dage is: Danes In California and California History, a Report on Danish Life and Work from the Earliest Pioneer Days, according to Google Translate.


Author Sophus Hartwick was once an owner and publisher of the San Francisco Danish Newspaper Bien (the Bee), the only Danish newspaper west of the Rockies when it began in 1882. The paper is still being published, a bi-weekly printed every other Thursday. Another interesting coincidence: the paper's local editor at its Solvang office is a Nielsen!

The biography is actually for "Mrs. Samuel K. Swartz" and it names her Inger Anna Nielsen. Luckily, CGS's Library Committee chair, Laura Spurrier will be able to translate the passage for us. Stay tuned.


Part 2:  Baby Samuel: Some Answers, More Questions