June 14, 2009 - Great-Grandmother Marie - Still Why? - Part 3

Afternoon,

As I ended Part 2 I stated that great-grandmother Marie "decided to go on a trip." And of course, I don't know if she did decide to go on a trip, nor have I been privy to any such detail, but she did end up in San Diego, California... quite a distance from Georgetown, British Guiana.

And so I began checking out United States Census records. But where to start my search? How could I narrow down the time frame? Four facts were certain:

1. Great-grandfather Frederick Abraham had passed away 13 July 1901 in Georgetown, British Guiana,
2. Grandparents Jeanne Abraham and Hubert Smith were married sometime after 23 March 1918 in Georgetown, British Guiana,
3. Granduncle Frederick Abraham was killed 2 October 1918 in Joncourt, France, and
4. My father, Frederick Smith, who was born 6 April 1920 in St. George's, Grenada and grew up in Georgetown, British Guiana, never met his grandmother Marie.

It would appear that a review of 1920 US Census records may provide some information.

The obvious first place to start would be California as correspondence between my grandmother Jeanne (written as Jeannette) and her mother, my great-grandmother Marie indicated. One of a few letters from my great-grandmother was addressed and dated "925 B. Street. San Diego, Cal." and "April 26 1920", respectively.

Please note that great-grandmother Marie writes her granddaughter's name, my aunt Cecile (née Smith) Olton, as Cécile. (Cousin Zoë just confirmed that her mother was named Cécile, and now I understand why I had to learn placement of accents when I learned French in school in Montreal.)

I wonder who were the "my twoo boys" she mentions in the letter? A guess: As my father was born on the 6th of April, great-grandmother Marie's only other grandchildren at about that time in 1920, were my 1st cousins once removed; Frederick A., born 17 November 1911, and his brother Harold Simpson, born circa 1913, Brebner.

And a review of a 1920 US Census in San Diego, dated the 3rd and 5th of January 1920 revealed on Lines 82 and 83 a Marie Abraham, as Head of House living with her daughter, Cecelia, (aka Cécile). The address of the house was at 925 B Street, San Diego Township, County of San Diego, California, a match with the April 25th letter.


The 1920 Census contains other key notations:

1. That great-grandmother Marie and her daughter, grandaunt Cécile immigrated to the United States in 1919;
2. That great-grandmother Marie was born in France; and
3. That grandaunt Cécile was born in British Guiana.

It also includes, what looks like, that great-grandmother Marie was 59 years old and a widow, and that grandaunt Cécile was 26 years old and single. This would mean that great-grandmother Marie was born about 1861 and grandaunt Cécile was born about 1894. This certainly works for grandaunt Cécile as she would have been about seven years old when her father passed away in 1901, as mentioned in The Argosy obituary referenced in Part 1. The obituary also implies that the seven-year old was the youngest in 1901 so I may infer that grandaunt Cécile was the youngest Abraham child.

But again, why did she up and go to San Diego?

I've included an update to great-grandmother Marie's Descendant Chart with changes and/or additions in red.


Keep in touch... Thanks David, Chris, Paula, Sandy, Lola and Zoë. I would certainly like to hear from anyone if you have any information, thoughts, changes, etc...

Enjoy. To be continued...

Jim

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June 13, 2009 - Great-Grandmother Marie - Why? - Part 2

Evening,

Panic in the menagerie this afternoon. A really large white duck flew into and slammed into the screen over the pool and patio. You can imagine the trotting and galloping of six quadrupeds... It was like the Kentucky Derby. All six, chasing an unknown thing, a white blur, round and round the pool. They really had to have been confused! Not one barked. So much for the excitement in my life.

Initially, the "why" great-grandmother Marie went to San Diego, California in the United States from Georgetown, British Guiana was an unknown. Today I can make a few assumptions but I'm not going to go into that at this point in time. I'll let you develop your own hypothesis for her reasonings. I'll just present the facts, and the myths as I find them.

Growing up, I had heard that my father's mother, grandmother Jeanne (née Abraham) Smith Mann's mother, my great-grandmother, Marie Abraham had been French and was from France. That was an accepted truth... I had no reason to question it. I never met my great-grandmother Marie, and as I discovered neither had my father. And all of the recent questions I asked provided answers that she, great-grandmother Marie, was from France.

My first discovery as indicated in Part 1, was that great-grandmother Marie and great-grandfather Fred Abraham had five children; a son and four daughters. Great-grandmother Marie became a widow as quoted from the Demerara, Saturday, July 13, 1901 edition of The Argosy on the 12th of July; "which occurred at his, (Mr. Fred Abraham's), residence, Croal Street, shortly before nine o'clock yesterday morning."

The clip of the inserted map provides a present day map of Georgetown and the location of Croal St, at the left end of the map.

Allen Morrison's website, titled The Tramways of Georgetown provides a good series of pictures and drawings of what Georgetown may have looked like about when great-grandfather Fred Abraham passed away in 1901.

The next critical date that I have, (thanks for the copy, Zoë), is the British Guiana Marriage Licence for my grandparents Hubert Lloyd Smith and Jeanne Lucie Ernestine Abraham. This date was 23 March 1918. See an enlarged image of the original Licence by clicking on the insert to the left. (You should note that there are no ages or dates of birth provided on the Marriage Licence, and so this point we can only guess.)

Family lore indicated that two of my grandmother's three sisters; grandaunts Edmée and Renée were possibly already married. (You'll note that I now type grandaunt Edmée's name and not Esme, as indicated on the first Descendant Chart. Again family lore and other sources have presumed it to have been either Esmé or Edmée.)

A major event in the life of great-grandmother Marie appears to next have been the death of granduncle Frederick Henry Abraham, her only son. He was killed in World War I near Joncourt, France on 2 October 1918. (See my blog posting of May 23, 2009.) This was more than likely a devastating blow. And with the small amount of information gathered, she was alone, a widow in a foreign country - British Guiana, with a foreign language - English and with only her youngest daughter - grandaunt Cecile.

And so she decided to go on a trip.

To be continued in Part 3...

Enjoy,

Jim

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June 12, 2009 - New Hard-Drive and Great-Grandmother Marie - Part 1

Evening,

The PC is back. A new hard drive and cleaned... and polished, and ready to go. And the change was seamless! All I had to do was plug all my components in to the correct sockets and up-up-and-away. Thank-you to Bella for trying to be so involved in what I was doing.I shooed her away.

Bella, in the back, decided to join Tinker, in the front, sunbathing on the porch. (Thanks Ray for the touch-up.)

I did find a relatively new Trojan on my old hard-drive last week, "Trojan-pws-daonol". This Trojan had nothing to do with my hard-drive giving up it's ghost, so-to-speak. But it did do exactly what the numerous postings I read about it said it would do. On the day it arrived, it shut down and screwed up my PC audio system. The next part of the Trojan issue is that the dastardly spammer can remotely access a PC and copy out IDs and passwords. It is so new that a number of people in-the-know didn't even know about it. Don't know how it got in... I don't open strange emails or attachments and I have various levels of up-to-date firewalls... but it got in and did a number on my audio system... I was able to quarantine and eliminate the Trojan using Spy Sweeper. I ran Spy Sweeper a second time and Norton as a backup check, and both showed a follow-up non-existence and non-presence of the pain. I got rid of the Trojan and was able to reset my audio, which is now working better than ever.

And on to my genealogy. Why did great-grandmother Marie Abraham leave British Guiana and move to California?

When did she leave? How did she travel the approximate 4200 miles, 6730 kilometers or 3630 nautical miles? From Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana) to San Diego, California, USA? Why did she take her youngest daughter, grandaunt Cecile with her? And again, why did she go? Was there someone there waiting for her?

Cousins Toni and Zoë had gathered a number of letters, photographs and a few documents that they had received from their Mother, my aunt Cecile. All-things-being-equal Aunt Cecile (née Smith) Olton may have been named for grandaunt Cecile (née Abraham) Ham. (Thanks David and Toni, to date I have not found another ancestor named Cecile, in my research.)


Taking the initial information that I was able to amass, I put together a descendant chart of my great-grandmother Marie (née July) Abraham. Bits and pieces of the puzzle began to take shape in the recreation of this family. Click on the descendant chart to see an enlarged depiction of the initial family information. Please note that this descendant chart will continue to evolve during the course of this research project.

An obituary from The Argosy, a Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana) newspaper, dated 13 July 1901 stated that great-grandfather Fred Abraham "is survived by a widow and five children, the eldest of whom is a boy aged fourteen and the youngest is aged seven."

This information determined that great-grandmother Marie's eldest child, granduncle Frederick Henry, (aka, at times, Frederic Henri), was born about 1887. Her youngest and fifth child, probably grandaunt Cecile, may have been born according to the obituary around 1894.

Beginning with this information I then began the trek to get to know my great-grandmother Marie, the great-grandmother who passed away about 11 years before I was born. One thing that is almost definite is that my great-grandparents, Fred and Marie Abraham had five children, living in 1901; a son and four daughters. I noticed that The Argosy article does not mention the name of my great-grandmother or the five children... Curious?

Part 2 to follow,

Enjoy,

Jim

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June 11, 2009 - Cheshire Cat Attacks Tinker and Hard Drive Crashes

Afternoon,

Well today began somewhat less eventful than yesterday evening. I'm not writing today or researching much about great-grandmother Catherine Marie Antoinette (née July) Abraham as one of my hard drives was in its last throes of existence. I had to take it, that is, my whole CPU to the PC shop to have it replaced. So I'm waiting... I can write using my Notebook, but all my data, which still is safe and backed up 24 hours a day via Carbonite, is on the CPU at the shop. It is now a waiting period. And I know that I will be reconstructing software when the fixed PC is back in house. (This is not an ad but if you check out Carbonite and decide to use their service I think you can mention my name and I'll get some extra time added to my account... Thanks.)

Later that afternoon while walking Tinker and Bella and Harbor... that's right three of the six dogs; the labs - Moxon, Tobi and Taylor were at the house, a gigantic orange flash of fur came screeching from underneath an SUV by the sidewalk parked down the street, and the next thing I knew is that Tink is screaming, Bella is wailing, some orange gargantuan feline has pounced and pined Tinker to the ground. Three leashes are caught up around my legs... and the next thing I realize is that Harbor is galloping after the devil-cat, while Tink and Bella keep up their hullabaloo. Harbor had slipped out of his collar and was giving chase to the orange feline who had disrupted our walk.

You have to understand, Tinker is 12 pounds and Bella is 13 pounds dripping wet. Tinker and Bella are Rat Terriers. Harbor is about 40 pounds and a Sheltie mix. All three are rescued dogs. Tinker was traumatized by the terrible tangerine tabby! And Harbor strutted like he knew he had saved the little girl... I'm sure the cat must have been at least double Tinker's weight.

Tinker and Bella arrived on our doorstep last year and a couple of months ago, respectively, and Harbor was rescued a couple of years ago by Joel. Moxon, the 83-pound lab and Harbor are staying with us and our menagerie while Brittany and Joel are on their honeymoon... Yes, that's right six dogs.

I do not have any data or information specific to my great-grandmother Catherine Marie Antoinette, and so I do not want to start the serial of my search and research of her life.

The first question I asked when introduced to the personage of my great-grandmother, who was known as Marie Antoinette Abraham, was "Why did she leave British Guiana and move to San Diego, California?"

To be continued...

Jim

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June 10, 2009 - The After Blues, and How Do I Solve A Problem Like Maria?

Morning,

Not that this father of the groom had much to do with the excellent organization of the wedding, I'm just sort of going through after-the-event-blues.

The house is open, the humidity is rising, the dogs are walked and fed. Tink, of course is on her guard, fending the house of the dreaded squirrel aliens. Last night Mr. Green Jeans provided some Thai eggplants, tomatoes, basil, parsley and peppers from the garden and supper was a combination of the same roasted with pasta and a touch of sherry... Not bad, actually, really good.

I've been thinking about the direction I need to start with my genealogy work this morning. I'm not quite sure as there are a lot of paths I can choose. I keep saying to myself that this is the work I love, so don't put it into the category of "something that I have to get done"... but more in the vein of "that which I want to get accomplished". Makes a whole bit of difference.

In my organization, each project needs a starting point, and in someway I keep leaning towards trying to identify each point and address... what it is, and where I want to venture and accomplish. The one thing for sure is that my mind is continually on the go, and even though the wheels need some oil from time to time I know that it really never stops... or for that fact, never will.

Each project is unique. That is, dependent on the family tree I'm working on. But at the same time each is inter-connected as I learn from each direction I move in and then there is that "Aha! instant" when I realize that I can apply a moment of discovery and understanding to another situation I may have found myself within another project... if that makes sense?

My mind at this stage of the game is directing me to lay out my research and the discoveries of my great-grandmother Catherine Marie Antoinette (née July) Abraham. Great-grandmother Marie was my father's maternal grandmother. She left British Guiana, now Guyana, in 1919, the year before Dad was born in 1920. (Dad was born in Grenada on 6 April 1920 while his parents were there visiting the Smith family. He was brought up in British Guiana.)

I mentioned great-grandmother Marie earlier in my Blog on 6 May 2009. My work on her life is down as point number 3... and therefore, it looks like I'm following the path of my projects as I set them down that day. Cousin David, in Sacramento, discovered this picture of great-grandmother Catherine Marie Antoinette sitting at a beach, we believe, somewhere near San Diego. The picture was taken sometime between 1920 and 1940... Quite a range, but we should eventually be able to narrow the time frame. I clipped the picture of her sitting with some others who may have been Brebner and Ham cousins.

So the question is "How do I solve the problem of my great-grandmother Maria?" Sorry, bad use of some sound of music. (Check out the info of the BBC "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?" competition at this link. Reruns still can be seen on BBCAmerica.)

Keep coming back to my Blog and check on the progress of my work.

Enjoy,

Jim

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June 7, 2009 - The Party Is Over... And Compounded Non-Errors.

Morning,

The wedding is over, and the honeymoon has begun. Brittany and Joel are on their way to the whiter sands and bluer waters of the Lesser Antilles. And the patter of 24 paws and many more nails clip their way over the tile floors. Six dogs, ten days.

Well the green in my Mr. Green Jeans overalls is beginning to fade. It appears that the rain we've had in the past month may have been just too much water for the vegetable plants. I picked the first red tomatoes this morning and there are at least four Japanese eggplants looking like they are going to make it to the dinner table. The herbs are doing fine, but the pepper plants are giving up one after another. But I'm not giving up as yet. Guess I'll have to become "obsessive" about suburban farming.

Following up with my search for the 10 or 11 children revealed a couple of issues that are frustrating, me the researcher. There appears to be a number of errors that compound the search and has me chasing after ghosts... so-to-speak. Many thanks to those of you who answered my questions and were able to provide me with possible answers, or at least expectancies of errors that I should be made aware.

The first problem is the attempt to coordinate the number of offspring to the fact that there were actually more than expected living at a time when they were not expected to be. Stats: 1900 Census - 10 born, 2 passed away; 1910 Census - 11 born, 8 passed away; 1954 knowledge - 4 living. As points of note, I have not found any record of any more siblings being born after 1910, and the mother passed away in 1921. Living family members recall that there were supposed to be only nine children.

I then discovered that there was a first husband, and two children were born to that union... and that sort-of resolves the 9 versus 11 issue. But the 1900 and 1910 Census enumerators never did indicate an "M2". They both show an "M1" and an "M". The "M", "M1", and "M2" were general notations indicating how many times an individual had been married... "M2" meaning married twice. So you know what problem number two is. There is no physical Census record that the mother had been married twice. But the 1880 Census certainly proves the point and resolves the number issue, sort-of. There was a first husband and there were two sons born of that marriage.

But have I resolved the issue of two versus four surviving offspring? No.

So what's my take home message? I can not rest on the laurels of only one piece of historical documentation. The research doesn't stop with one find! I have to constantly keep aware that there may be errors and/or contradictions, or incidental errors.

Enjoy,

Jim

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June 1, 2009 - The Blow-Hard Season and Not Enough Info

Morning,

June 1st, and the beginning of the hurricane season. Six months of blustery bliss... trying to understand if that monster of a whirlwind is headed to my house, and how much time do I have to get up the shutters and throw the patio furniture in the pool, and check for any would-be missiles laying down somewhere around the house. Have I got enough propane for the bar-b-que and gas for the generator? Are there enough meds and bottles of water to last for a black-out? Has complacency set in? Probably. Humid nights and sticky floors, now til November 30.

I’m assisting another friend with her genealogy and I’ve come across a puzzle. The 1900 and 1910 US Censuses for Alabama were enumerated for a couple of the family we’re researching. The following:

• The Head of the household is recorded at 39 years in 1900 and 51 in 1910; marriage 14 and 20 years, respectively.
• The Wife is recorded at 39 years in 1900 and 46 in 1910; marriage 14 and 20 years, respectively.

Ages, theoretically should be either 39 and 49 years for the Head or 41 and 51 years for 1900 and 1910, respectively. His wife's ages should be realistically calculated at 39 and 49 years or 36 and 46 for the two Censuses. The "error" in the difference of years can be considered a normal error. The reporting of ages at census-taking-time can result in all kinds of mathematical inconsistencies. I have found that if the difference is not too great, plus or minus five years, I'm not going to stew over what is the actual date. I can always use the words "circa" or "about" until I find a document or other sources that provides me with some type of conclusive and primary proof.

The 1900 Census enumerates that the Wife is the "Mother of how many children" as 10, and the "Number of these children living" is 8. Ten years later, the 1910 Census has the Wife is noted as the "Mother of how many children - Number born" at 11, and the "Number now living" at 2. Sequentially and mathematically this is not an issue. Interpreting the Censuses it means, at face value, that the Wife had had, by the reporting date of 1900, 10 children and within the next 10 years she had had an additional child to bring the total number of children to 11. As the 1900 Census indicates that eight children are living at the reporting date, it means that two of her children had passed way at least by the same 1900 reporting date. The 1910 Census provides the sad news that nine of her children had passed away since the last reporting date in 1900.

The reporting is a sad realization. My next course of action in our research is to find some type of documentary proof of the passing of the nine siblings. But now here's the issue. Family lore and tales today had at least four of the children living in 1954. Further research indicates a coincidental possibility of a 5th sibling living in 1920 with a family of his own.

I thought I was aware of possibility of enumeration errors and the provision of unknowns, but if this is an error, how do I find out the actual answer? Could this be an enumeration problem? And then, (me thinking… which at times can be dangerous), could this be a falsehood provided due to any number of reasons; knowledge and understanding, race, war and draft issues, etc., etc.?

I've got a somewhat similar situation in my CROSSLEY family. I think I've checked out all possible angles trying to figuring out the blood line relationship... but there is a wee-bit of a hiccup of a problem... I'll present that mystery at another time.

Enjoy,

Jim

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