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

Bowen Cousins at the Intermediate Classes

I love sharing stories of cousins found at the CGS library! Mary Mettler informed me earlier this year that she had met some CGS cousins at the Intermediate Genealogy classes. You will recall that Mary shared information about some of her New England lines last summer in her Tuesday Tales series. Mary and Kristen Netterblad found they shared Richard Bowen (born about 1589 in Wales, died 4 Feb 1674/5 in Rehoboth or Swansea). Mary told me she was "sure we probably share some other lines, as the land-owning Baptists stuck together." They met for lunch and an examination of Mary charts when Kristen's mother was in town in March. I was able to snap this photo when they came by the library.

Kirsten Netterblad, Mom and Mary Mettler.

Here's Kirsten's summary of how the cousins met:

You never know who you're going to meet at a CGS class. As a 2008 Christmas present, I promised my mother I would break our Emily (Bowen) Smith (1806-1870) and/or Philip F. Cyphers (1826-1890) lines. Since I'm under some time pressure, I took the Spring Intermediate series of genealogy classes to help me along. I'm a bit of a talker and started chatting with the people around me about my project.

It turned out that Mary Mettler, the person who was sitting next to me, is a distant cousin off my Massachusetts Bowen line! She provided help connecting our trees and after comparing our additional lines in more depth, we're related in about a dozen different ways (Terry, Smith, Trumble, Loomis, Wright, Sheldon, Belden, etc).

Now that I've learned Emily's parents were Peter and Martha (Norton) Bowen, I'm just sourcing my information as I take all of my new lines back to the immigrant (my people are old New England, so I need a consistent stopping point).

I guess the moral of this story is that everybody is related to somebody else. If you don't take the time to chat with the people around you, you might miss out on an important family connection and new genealogy friend.

Emily Bowen Smith brought the cousins together.

Image of Emily Bowen Smith courtesy of Kirsten Netterblad.

Photograph of Emily's descendants by Kathryn M. Doyle, 3/14/2009, Oakland, California.

Reunited After Fifty Years!

By now regular readers of the CGSL blog might think you just have to show up at a CGS event to find a cousin. It turns out you can also be reunited with old friends.

One of the attendees sitting across from me during lunch at the recent Scots-Irish Seminar was CGS member Beverly Clark who told me that one of the event organizers was quizzing her about where she attended third grade.

The inquisitive staffer was volunteer Shirley Hoye who stepped up and handled much of the logistics for the seminar with Helmi Waits, including scheduling private consultations with our speakers from Belfast, Brian Trainor and Fintan Mullen.

Shirley was sure that Beverly must be her long-lost little friend from the Castro School in El Cerrito. Beverly Clark had dropped into her third grade class for one short year then disappeared as mysteriously as she had come.

Third graders Beverly Clark (left) and Shirley Howe (right).

Unfortunately, Beverly had moved around quite a bit during her early childhood and she wasn't sure where she had attended third grade. The women exchanged email addresses and Shirley went home and sorted through her childhood photos, scanned them and sent them off to Beverly.

Shirley was right! The two childhood friends have been reunited because of their shared interest in genealogy, their membership in the California Genealogical Society and their desire to hone their skills – the two were classmates again in the recent Intermediate Genealogy Series.

Beverly and Shirley – class photos from Miss Allen's class
at the Castro School in El Cerrito, California, 1954.

Shirley sent this message:

Well, unlike Beverly, my family only moved once and that was just up the hill. I ended up going to school in Berkeley and San Francisco and finally landed in Oakland, where I've lived ever since. I really got into genealogy last year when a third cousin in England "found" me. She's done an incredible amount of research, to which I add bits and pieces. The funny thing about running into Beverly at the conference is that my family is not Scots-Irish, but from County Roscommon, with the name of Haughey. I still can't get over finding Beverly after all these years.

Shirley and Beverly reunited after fifty years.

Photographs courtesy of Shirley Hoye and Tim Cox.

A Note From Beyond the Grave

If you are a regular reader of the CGSL blog you already know that serendipitous finds are a regular occurrence around the society library. My blog reporter self is always on the lookout for another good story so I tend to keep my antennae up when I visit CGS and my camera is always in my bag.

So last Saturday I immediately investigated when I heard one of those laughs of delight and discovery. Our newest member was crouched in the stacks with an opened book in one hand and a small slip of paper in the other. Barbara Schenck Wilcox was part of the visiting DAR group from the Berkeley Hills-Oakland Chapter. After the meeting Barbara stopped by the desk to fill out an application and join CGS and had settled in to do a bit a research in some SMITH family books. The whoop I heard was her reaction to finding this:




The note is the size of a post-it but it predates those ubiquitous stickies since its author, Anna Tangier Smith, died in 1933. Miss Smith's hand-written correction reads:

The date of the birth of Col. William Smith of St. George's Manor is incorrect. It should be 1655 instead of 1652, the date of his birth given in his own handwriting in his journal still in the possession of his descendants.
- A. Tangier Smith

The note was slipped into the Wills of the Smith Families of New York and Long Island, 1664-1794: Careful Abstracts of All the Wills of the Names of Smith recorded in New York, Jamaica, and Hempstead, Prior to 1794: with Genealogical and Historical Notes by William S. Pelletreau. New York : F.P. Harper, 1898. xiii, 151 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. How this book found its way into the CGS Library is unknown but it is possible that it was donated by the note-writer.
Anna Tangier Smith was Barbara's great-grand aunt, the sister of her great-grandmother. The note had been placed in the book more than seventy-five years ago, just waiting for another descendant of Col. William "Tangier" Smith to find it. Smith had once been mayor of Tangier, Morocco and many of his descendants carry the Tangier moniker. Because SMITH is such a common name, the family is often called "Tangier Smith" to distinguish it from the others.

Image of Anna Tangier Smith (1863-1933).

Barbara knew that her great-grandmother's sister had been a member of the California Genealogical Society and she was looking forward to spending some time at the society library. She is very familiar with the research done by Anna Tangier Smith and with her handwriting. This is a sample Barbara had from another Smith history.



Barbara was pleased at another find in the library – a copy of The Tangier Smith Family: Descendants of Colonel William Smith of the Manor of St. George, Long Island, New York by Ruth Tangier Smith and Henry Bainbridge Hoff [New York]: Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America, 1978 vi, 102 p., [1] leaf of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.



Barbara informed me that only 300 copies of the 1978 publication had been printed and it had taken her some time to track one down for purchase. She was very surprised to find one on the CGS library shelves.

A happy Barbara Schenck Wilcox posed with the note.

So I offer up this story as another reason why you really should visit the the California Genealogical Society Library. I can't guarantee that you will find a note from your great-grand aunt, but you will find something!

Photographs by Kathryn Doyle, 12/6/2008, Oakland, California.

It's Catching! More Cousins Discovered in the Library...

It seldom happens that you meet someone in person whom you connect to genealogically, although it seems to be happening quite frequently at the CGS Library. First Marianne Frey, Dick Rees and Lavinia Schwarz discovered that they shared New England ancestors, then board members John Moore and Shirley Thomson found that they were fifth cousins, once removed.

Now it has happened again to member Dorothy Koenig, nationally-recognized expert on early Dutch families in New Amsterdam. On Saturday, November 11, 2008. Dorothy volunteered her services as a consultant as part of the California Genealogical Society October Family History Month activities. Laura Spurrier, one of our volunteer librarians, signed up for a one-on-one, members only session with Dorothy. Laura was pretty sure she had a Dutch line but needed help documenting a link in the early nineteenth century. Laura came to the meeting with charts to help explain the problem. Dorothy looked, looked some more, and came to the realization that one of Laura's charts contained her own ancestors! The cousins connect via the Hegeman, Van Wyck, Polhemius and Rapalje families.

The story became even more astounding when another CGS volunteer librarian entered the discussion. Barbara Hill was also in the library that day and connects to both Dorothy and Laura through the early Rapalje line. Just like that – three instant cousins, instead of two.

Dorothy wrote to let me know that the cousins share another coincidence: "All three of us – Laura, Barbara, and I – have retired from our careers at the Library on the University of California Berkeley campus. It must be the genes we share!"

So is there a statistician out there who can calculate the odds of finding a cousin at the California Genealogical Society Library? They're starting to look pretty good to me!

Citing "Occult Powers" in a New Netherland Genealogy

It happened again - a cousin found in the library - only this time I was an eyewitness. While waiting for last week's board meeting to begin, director John Moore was relating a fascinating story about the Wilsey family. One mention of the name and suddenly he and Shirley Thomson were New Netherland cousins! John sent the full story:

Shirley Pugh Thomson and John Moore.

Last Wednesday, prior to the Board meeting, we had a discussion about the "unusual research" methods used in determining the origins of the family. The story goes something like this.

The Wilsey family is an early New Netherland family with many descendants, including at least two members of the present CGS Board. In 1908 Jerome Wiltsee published a genealogy for the Wiltsee (Wilsey) family. Jerome Wiltsee, Sr., A Genealogical and Psychological Memoir of Philippe Maton Wiltsie and his Descendants, With a Historical Introduction of the Wiltsie Nation and Its Colonies, (Atchinson, Kansas, 1908). The book was given a broad distribution (we have a copy in the CGS Library.) It identifies Philippe Maton Wiltsie as the original immigrant and ancestor of the Wiltsie family. Phillip is described as a Walloon refuge from Wiltz Luxembourg who came to Fort Orange in 1623 and was killed by the Indians in 1631 with two of his sons captured by the Indians before they escaped in 1639. One of these sons Hendrick Martenson is the ancestor of the Wilsey family in America.

Over the years there were several membership applications submitted and approved by the Holland Society based on Phillipe Maton as the immigrant ancestor. In 1975 the Genealogical Committee of the Holland Society asked George Zabriske to research Jerome's account. After a through study Zabriskie determined that many of Jerome's conclusions were pure fiction and had no basis in fact. Philippe Maton Wiltsee just did not exist! Jerome had however warned his readers that his conclusions were based not only on normal genealogical research but also on his "supernatural" or "occult" powers.

Does this mean that the way to resolve "brick walls" in genealogical research is through communication with the spirit world? It certainly would revolutionize our society! Something to think about!

On a more serious note, the Jerome Wiltsee book is now out of copyright and copies are available not only in many libraries but also on the Internet. From time to time we hear from genealogists who have traced their ancestry back to Phillipe Maton based on Jerome's book. Fortunately the Zabriskie analysis is set forth in a series of articles appearing in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (Volumes 106-108). Wilsey researchers who have relied on Jerome can be referred to these articles. Incidentally, the real Wilsey immigrant ancestor is Hendrick Martenson van Copenhagen and his male descendants do qualify for membership in the Holland Society!

I have agreed to bring some of my material to the next board meeting to compare notes with Shirley. We are both descendants of Hendrick Martenson van Copenhagen but we are not yet sure where our lines differ.

Best,

John

John Moore has been interested in genealogy since his law school days when he devoted some library time to research his mother's family. He has more time since retirement from Kaiser Aluminum where he was Vice President Deputy General Counsel and Secretary. John served six years as a Trustee of the NEHGS and is currently a member of the NEHGS Council and a Director of the California Genealogical Society. John has a number of New Netherland ancestors and holds membership in the Friends of the Holland Society.

Shirley Pugh Thomson has held a seat on the society’s Board of Directors 1998-2008 and is a former chair of the CGS Publication Committee. She has been interested in family history all of her life, although these days she admits to spending more time on CGS business than on her own research. Shirley made some progress during the past year using DNA. She recently presented Hints on Publishing Your Family History with Matthew Berry.

Serendipity in the New Books Section

The California Genealogical Society is fortunate to be the recipient of many wonderful donated books to the library. In addition, thanks to the financial generosity of our members, books and media are purchased to round out the collection. New books are housed on a special book shelf so members can peruse the latest additions.

Recently, CGS volunteer Sandy Fryer decided to take advantage of some quiet time while on "desk duty" and spend some time looking through the new books section. She had one of those serendipitous genealogical moments when she opened a book and found an ancestor.

Sandy Fryer found the portrait of her ancestor, Dr. John Clarke.

Sandy had heard of the portrait of her ancestor, Dr. John Clarke of Boston, Massachusetts, but she had never seen it.

Colket, Meredith B., Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe 1607-1657. Second Revised Edition. Cleveland, Ohio, The Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, 2002.

Photographs by Kathryn M. Doyle, July 15, 2008.

Finding Cousins in the Library

Genealogists are always on the hunt for cousins – it's what we do. But imagine finding them in the next chair at your local genealogical society library!

That's what happened to three active volunteers at the California Genealogical Society. Book repairers Marianne Frey and Dick Rees were chatting one second Tuesday and realized that they had both attended Yale and both had New Haven, Connecticut ancestors. When they started comparing surnames, they zeroed in on KITCHEL (an original settler) and his SHEAFE wife.

On another day at the CGS Library, Lavinia Schwarz referred to an upcoming visit to her daughter in New Jersey and some family research time in nearby Morristown. Marianne's ears perked up at the mention of the ancestral home of "hordes" of her ancestors and, as she tells it "we started tossing names around and found several in common, including KITCHEL."

Seventh cousins: Marianne Frey, Lavinia Schwarz and Richard Rees.
[Photograph by Kathryn Doyle, January 19, 2008]

Marianne provided this background:

"The KITCHEL clan was part of a large group of colonists who didn't like the way things were being run in their part of Connecticut. They got a charter to start a settlement (now Newark) in New Jersey, which was Dutch when negotiations began but became English before they were finalized. Expansion meant moving inland, westward over the low "mountains" into what is now Morris county.

Some of the Kitchel-Sheafe tribe moved to New Jersey while others stayed in Connecticut. There's been lots of research, including articles in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register and The American Genealogist in the early 1900's and two books on the Kitchel family -- a slim volume from the 1800's and a nice thick one from the late 1900's.

I discovered the latter volume when a Jane Kitchel appeared on the roster of my folk dance club. She owns the book, which enabled us to figure out that we are seventh cousins, not removed! (During the 1800's someone in my line started spelling our name "Kitchell" with two L's.)"

In July 1983, Dick had the opportunity to visit Cranbrook, Kent, England, the home of their common SHEAFE ancestor. Dick sent this photograph of the monumental brass rubbing he did of the Thomas Sheafe (ca. 1470 - 1520) tomb in St. Dunstan's Church. The oval on the right is made up of Sheafe's initials (T.S.) with his merchant mark in the center.

Dick provided this account:

"Cranbrook is not easy to reach. I had to take a train from Canterbury to Ashford, then one from Ashford to Staplehurst and a bus from there to Cranbrook. I bought the last stick of rubbing wax in the town, along with black paper and a huge roll of masking tape. I made three rubbings of the brass (my brother has one of them and I don't know what became of the third.) I had time one evening and the next morning to walk around Cranbrook. There are several buildings still standing that belonged to the Sheafe family, as well as some windmills and a school named for Mary (Harman) Sheafe, the wife of Thomas Sheafe II."

Besides sharing New England ancestry, the cousins have lived for a time in the New England states while pursuing their education (Lavinia received her M.A. at Tufts) and all three have worked as educators. Marianne taught junior high (two years) high school (seven) and community college (twenty-three). Dick started his teaching career in public schools in Connecticut, moved to private schools in Shaker Heights, Ohio; in Montecito, California; and finally in San Francisco. Lavinia, better known as Vinnie, worked for a time as a preschool teacher.

At CGS, Marianne Frey was membership chair for a few years and set up the Lookups project on the Web site. She and Dick Rees are members of the Book Repair Committee. Dick wears several other hats at the society. He regularly teaches the class for beginners on Free First Saturdays, does occasional desk duty, manages some special projects and handles the mail. Lavinia Gilbert Schwarz is a member of the CGS Board of Directors and handles Lookups (with Pat Smith) as part of the research department. Vinnie is currently also overseeing a research project for the Peralta Hacienda.