Back to Ann; searching in the Scottish Death Index

A couple of posts back, I went into detail about Ann Hutchison, born around 1833 probably in Tealing, Forfarshire, Scotland. My 3rd great-grandmother. I could not find her death record in the Statutory Death Index on Scotlandspeople, but I knew she should be there. My next step was to not restrict my search parameters with a date. As I mentioned before, I suspected she died between 1895 and 1901, but after searching without dates, I found that she actually died in 1905! I am not sure why I was limiting the death years as I had enough specifics on Ann to limit my search in other ways so as not to get too many hits. I really thought however, that she died before 1901 as her husband is not living with her in 1901. This to me is very interesting, now that I know she was still living. Then I thought, maybe she was sick, and living in a hospital, not able to take care of herself. I searched for Ann in the 1901 census and found she was living "on her own means" with son James and daughter Susan. She seems to be living in the house she and her husband raised their family in. It was John Cox, her husband, that moved away. She was living at 40 Perth Street, district of St. Peter, Dundee, Forfarshire, Scotland. John was living in Blythswood area of Glasgow, Scotland. According to google maps, these two places are about 82 miles apart. Not sure why they lived separately, but very interesting.

OK, back to the reason I was looking for Ann's death record in the first place, to find my 4th great grandparents. Yay, they are listed on her death record, and it does show they are Peter Hutchison and Christian Hill. Finding Ann's death record inspired me to do some more searches in the death index, which for some reason I had ignored before. Now I have gone back even further, which means I have even more to write about in future blog entries. My next step; however, will be to find some more interesting information on the locations and history of where my Scottish ancestors lived.

My First SS-5 application arrives

For a long time, I have been wanting to order Social Security Applications for my ancestors, but never actually did it; until a couple of months ago. I think I just did not want to wait impatiently for the mail every day until it came, so I never bothered to start the process. In early April, I ordered three applications from the SSA, from my husband's side of the family. Today I received one of them, Aldina Pereira Francisco. I have her maiden name of Pereira from the Rhode Island Marriages database on Ancestry.com. I also have her father's name of Antonio Pereira from her passenger record into Boston, MA with her brother Anibal.

I was hoping to find further evidence of her father and mother's name from the SS-5 application, as there is some confusion with last names on my husband's Portuguese side of the family. I have found numerous occasions of families switching between two different surnames. I need to look into surname traditions on the Azores for further clarification, but I believe sometimes the maternal surname was used.

I also have some research that was done from one of my husband's distant cousins who went to the Family History Library and looked up records from their parish of Our Lady of Estrela - Nossa Senhura do estrela - in Ribeira Grande on the island of St. Michael (San Miguel) Azores. According to her research, Aldina's father's name is Antonio Amaral Pereira and Aldina's mother's name is listed as Maria da Paixao Moreira Pereira. She also lists the children, including Aldina, with the last name of Amaral, not Pereira. Perhaps Antonio's mother's maiden name is Amaral?

According to the SS-5 application, Aldina's parents are Antonio Amaral Perry and Mary Moreira. Obviously these names are Americanized, but they do clarify that this family probably went by Pereira or Perry once they came to the United States, and not Amaral. Eventually when I begin looking in the parish records from the Azores I will have to look under both Amaral and Pereira.

Another interesting piece of information found on the SS-5 application is that Aldina was working at Westminster Jewelry store at 158 Pine Street in Providence, RI, which was filed November 24, 1936. She was about 52 years old.

To Do:
1. Find naming customs for Azores, Portugal
2. Search parish registers at FHL

Scotland Research - finding Ann's parents

Familysearch.org recently listed a new research guide on Scotland, so I thought I would read it to see if I could find some new research tips for my Scottish ancestors. They did not add much new information for me, but I did find their map with county information useful. Also, they stated naming traditions in Scotland of naming first son after the father's father, and second son after the mother's father. This goes for the girls too, with the first daughter named after the mother's mother, etc. Basically, after reading this guide, it spurred my interest in my Scottish ancestry again.

With renewed energy, I took a look at my ancestors to see if there were some gaps in my tree. Most of my Scottish heritage arises from my father's grandmother, Ann Hutchison Ferguson, who came to the US in 1920 after World War I, where; according to my father, she served as a nurse and met her future husband, Alfred Labrecque, also fighting in the War (see earlier blog entry). Ann was born 1895 in Glasgow, Scotland to James Fitchie Ferguson and Grace Stewart Cox. I have basic information on both James and Grace's parents, and even further back to the early 1800s to my 4th great grandparents for James family. Grace's line was not as easy to find, but I did get back to my 4th great grandparents on her paternal side. When I researched her maternal line, I could only find Grace Cox's mother, which is my 3rd Great Grandmother, Ann Hutchison.

The place to look for Scottish records is Scotlandspeople, which has parish registers from 1553 and census records for 1841-1901. When I searched here in the past, I could not locate Ann Hutchison's (Grace's mother) birth record; which would have given me her parents' names. I have an estimated birth date of 1833 for Ann, from her 1871 census record with her husband, John Cox and children. I decided to look in the "Old Parish Registers", from Scotlandspeople one more time for her birth record. Unfortunately; I could not find an Ann Hutchison that matched these parameters in the Old Parish Registers. The Scottish were not required to register births or other vital information until 1855, so I am not that surprised I did not find her. Next, I tried searching for any Hutchisons who had children around that time living in Tealing, Forfarshire in the 1851 census; which is where her marriage in 1852 took place (the county of Forfarshire later changed to the county of Angus). Since Ann was married in 1852, I was hoping she would be listed with her parents in the 1851 census, still in this location. I was also looking closely for any William Hutchison's, as according to naming traditions; may be her father's name as that is what John and she named their second son. I could not find a William with a daughter Ann in Tealing. My next step was to search the 1841 census in Tealing with the last name of Hutchison. Finally, I found an Ann who is 8 years old. The age seems to match my ancestor, making her born around 1833. The father's name; however, is not William as I suspected, but Peter. There is a William listed on the same census page though, which could be Peter's brother. Maybe Peter's father's name is William. Peter Hutchison is married to Christian with a son David, and two other daughters besides Ann, a Jean and an Elizabeth.

I went back to the Old Parish Registers to look for birth records of the children of Peter and Christian. I found Christian's last name is Hill. The registers account for David, Elizabeth and a Jane Hutchison as children to Peter and Christian, but still no Ann. I am fairly confident that this is her family; as I know she is from Tealing, born around 1833, and there are no other Ann Hutchisons in the 1841 census. However, I still need some more evidence to prove this family line.

My next step was to look for Ann's death record, which would also list her parents. I know Ann is still living when her daughter Grace (my 2nd Great Grandmother) marries in 1895. I also know that she has died by the 1901 census, as her husband is listed without her and living with his two sisters. I was very hopeful I would find this information, as at this point in Scottish history, her death would have to be recorded by law and should be listed in the "Statutory Death Index" at Scotlandspeople. I searched in the Death Records database between these time periods for Ann Cox, but did not find her. I will not give up searching for her death record, as I know she is in there somewhere. Soon I will have proof her parents are Peter and Christian.

To Do:
1. Find Peter Hutchison's family in the 1851 Scotland Census
2. Find Ann (Hutchison) Cox's death record. UPDATE: found death record - read entry here
3. Look for information on Tealing and other areas of Scotland where my ancestors live to get a feel for their lives. A good place to start is the FHL Research Guidance; spefically, Scotland, How to Find Information About the Place Where Your Ancestor Lived

Lucy

I recently read somewhere (I wish I remember where) that there is an additional schedule to the 1880 US Federal Census which would be of great interest to me. It is the Supplemental Schedules 1-7 - DDD Schedule Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent, which may list information such as type of illness, length of illness, residence, homelessness, etc. to those individuals listed as insane, idiotic, etc.

I have been looking for more information on one of my ancestors who was listed as insane beginning with the 1870 census, Lucy Ann Holbrook Torrey, my 3rd Great Grandmother. In the 1900 and 1910 census she is living at the Worcester Insane Asylum. I am not sure how to obtain her medical records, if they even still exist, but it may involve a court order. I have not obtained her death record either, as she died in 1912, past the date the NEHGS covers in their online database. She is buried in Weymouth with her husband at the Elmwood Cemetery.

Now I have some more options for obtaining information on Lucy's medical condition. I now just have to locate a copy of the 1880 DDD schedule for Massachusetts. It does not seem to be at the FHL, so I cannot order the microfilm from their library.

I also noted that their are two gaurdianship records from the Norfolk County Probate Court; one for 1869, the year before she was marked as insane on the census; and another gaurdianship record for 1898 - the year her husband died. These records for a Lucy A. Torrey most likely are hers. It will be interesting to obtain these to unravel more of Lucy's medical conditions.

To Do:
1. find a library that houses the 1880 DDD schedule for Massachusetts. UPDATE: this schedule is now on ancestry - but I realized Lucy is not living at asylum at this date and therefore not listed in the DDD. They do not have the DDD schedule for the 1900 census.
2. order norfolk probate guardianship records from court for Lucy. UPDATE: obtained these records, did not provide information on Lucy's diagnosis, just information on who had rights to her land, etc.
3. find out more about the Worcester Insane Asylum and if records are obtainable.

Torrey Family

The line I first started working on way back when are the Torreys from Weymouth, MA. This family, among many others, is documented in History of Weymouth, Massachusetts... by George Walter Chamberlain. This book is very helpful with much information and documentation; however, I like to start researching on my own before I look to this book for guidance.

I have documented back to Deacon Samuel Torrey (my 5th Great Grandfather), born around 1760 according to his gravestone in Highland Cemetery, South Weymouth, MA. He died December 22, 1819, in his 59th year. I also know that Samuel was born in Weymouth, according to his son Joseph's death record. Knowing that Samuel Torrey was born around 1760 in Weymouth, I searched in the Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 database on the NEHGS website. There was a Samuel Torrey born to a David and Elizabeth Torrey on February 13, 1761 in Weymouth. This date and place matches well to the approximate birth date on Samuel's gravestone. Also, out of Samuel's eight children with his wife Dolly Blanchard, they named a son David and a daughter Elizabeth (perhaps after Samuel's parents). Although this evidence is not conclusive, it is a start in the right direction.

Next I head to Chamberlain's book to see who he has written as Samuel's parents. According to him, David and Elizabeth are Samuel's parents. Chamberlain states that the probate record of David Torrey mentions a son Samuel (norfolk probate 18581). We do already know from the vital records that David and Elizabeth have a son Samuel, so it is not surprising there is a Samuel mentioned in David's will. The question is though, is this Samuel the one we are looking for. If David's will mentions a Deacon Samuel we would have more proof of his parentage.

Next, I looked at the 1790 census (David's will written in 1792) and found that there was only one Samuel Torrey living in Weymouth at that time. Therefore, if David's will mentions Samuel, living in Weymouth, it would be strong evidence that indeed David is Samuel's father, as Chamberlain states in his book. The number of children from the 1790 census also match our Samuel, as having 2 boys under the age of 16 (which would be Samuel and Noah) and two females living with Samuel. The two females would be his wife, and his daughter, Elizabeth. Also on the census, there is a parenthetical mark linking David and Samuel - perhaps which means they were living on the same land.

UPDATE: Familysearch.org now has the Norfolk County Probates online.  David Torrey's will does mention his late wife Elizabeth and four sons, Samuel, David, Jacob and Reuben.  It also mentions a 4th son, Noah, who is lost at sea and presumed dead.  The will also mentions his daughter Margaret Joy.  I am confident that this is the father of Samuel Torrey in my direct line.

To Do:
1. Obtain David's probate record - Norfolk 18581- UPDATE - now online.
2. Search for land records for David and Samuel. Once I find record numbers, files are online at Norfolk County Registry of Deeds.

Edmund Quincy

In the letter referenced in my last blog written by Anne Warren Weston, a Mr. Quincy is discussed. I wanted to find out who Mr. Quincy was, so I looked closer at the article for some more clues. It does state that Mr. Quincy wrote parts of the Annual Reports for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, specifically for the years 1842 and 1843. Looking at the annual reports for those years, the only Quincy mentioned is Edmund Quincy.

I found a little bit of information on Edmund. It seems he would take charge of the newspaper, The Liberator, when William Lloyd Garrison was absent. Here is a link to the Liberator Files website, with articles written by, or referencing, Edmund Quincy. I also looked into his genealogy, and found a page on his immigrant ancestor - Edmund Quincy. I did a quick family tree from this information. It looks like the immigrant Edmund Quincy is the 5th great grandfather of our anti-slavery writer Edmund Quincy.

Weymouth Female Anti-Slavery Society

I went back to reading the article in Family Tree magazine on the top 101 websites, and decided to try out genealogybank.com this time. I did not have much hope in finding much, as I have searched newspaper archives in the past and have not found any interesting information.

Since I have been working on my tree for some years now, I knew which family would probably make the news back then. The Cowings. According to the 1870 census, my 5th great grandfather, Balch Cowing, had a personal estate valuing much more than his neighbors. He also married Cynthia Bates, the sister of Joshua Bates, first benefactor of the Boston Public Library. (Side note: I also found an interesting association to the above mentioned Joshua Bates from Wikipedia - his great granddaughter is supposedly Sylvia Brett, the last Rani of Sarawak - apparently a very dramatic woman.)

Getting back to genealogybank, I did a general search on the Cowing last name in any newspapers in Massachusetts with the keyword of Weymouth. It turns out that many articles came up, mostly on Balch's children. One was about the 90th birthday party of his son Francis H. Cowing. Most of the articles were on the following children who belonged to anti-slavery societies in Weymouth: Henry, Lucretia, Sarah and Susan; acting as either treasurers or secretaries to the societies in the 1830s through the 1850s. One of the more interesting articles in the newspaper (April 23d, 1844 (Letters) Date: 1844-05-10; Paper: The Liberator) was a letter written by Anne Weston and Cowing (probably Sarah) of the Anti Slavery Society to Mr. Perkins, their minister, asking why they would not permit a Mr. Quincy to lecture at the meeting house on anti-slavery. In response to their letter, it seems Mr. Perkins and the assessors of the meeting house give the following reason, "we refuse the use of the house, not because we wish to close the ears of a whole parish to the cries of outraged humanity, but because we object to the sentiments of the individual whom you wish to give the lecture." The response goes on to say the Mr. Quincy attacks Christianity, the Sabbath, the government, etc.

I can only imagine the courage it took for these women to stand up to their minister and question a decision that he made. I can picture them sitting at a table for hours laboring over every word before they published the letter. The meetings and discussions they had over these issues must have been most interesting. It is also interesting to note that Lucretia, Susan and Sarah never married, unusual for that time period. Perhaps they were so dedicated to the anti-slavery cause that there was no time for marriage.

I am not sure who Mr. Quincy is in this letter, but he certainly has peaked my interest.

Here is a small excerpt that mentions Maria (Cowing) Willey, from The New England Magazine. Boston: [New England Magazine Co, 1887. Vol. 34.





To Do:
1. Find out more about Mr. Quincy - I think they are referring to Edmund Quincy after preliminary research. He seems to be in association with William Lloyd Garrison - publisher of The Liberator. Also, Maria Weston Chapman and her sisters referred to in blog entry are friends with William Lloyd Garrison. This group was somewhat controversial, not all abolitionists agreed with them. The Weston sisters were known to attend different churches to get a sense of the church's views on slavery. Maria stopped attending the Federal Street Church in Boston as she did not agree with the minister's sermons and views.
2. Find the members of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society - formed in 1834 by the Weston sisters, were any of the Cowings members?
3. Search on genealogybank.com for Bates family.

Links On Topic
1. Annual Reports of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society from Internet Archive.