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Tag: African American Genealogy
Learning how an African American person lived before emancipation can be challenging. Especially if you make a genealogical brick wall that keeps you at a standstill.
How do you make a genealogical brick wall you ask? By not exhausting all options and limiting your scope of search. I did just that with my ancestor, Thomas Jefferson Holly, who went by his middle name Jefferson. I found him in the 1870 census with his wife, Maria, and children: Andrew, Maggie, and Lucy in Westernport, Allegany County, Maryland. The record revealed that Jefferson and Maria were born in Virginia. Their surname was phonetically spelled H-a-w-l-e-y.
Due to their location at this time, I assumed they lived in the Western part of Virginia. Are you familiar with the expression around the word assume? I searched all of West Virginia’s county databases for Jefferson and Maria before their lives in Maryland. I spelled their names in various ways hoping for a hit, but no success.
The next area to look was all of Virginia. Finally, I found Thomas twice in the 1860 census with two different families, one Black and one White. On June 20th, the census taker entered him as Thomas J Holly with the Shelton family. William Shelton’s occupation was a Blacksmith. In the other entry dated August 15th, Jefferson Holly was counted with his mother, Grace, his six siblings, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew.
What’s so exciting about finding teenaged Thomas Jefferson Holly is that he was a free inhabitant of Rockingham County. He and his family were free people of color!
How do I know that this is the same person, my ancestor? I compared the age, and how frequently he used his middle name which is consistent with the later documents I undercovered for him. He developed his skill in Blacksmithing. It is how he supported his family in Maryland. Blacksmiths made more than horseshoes. They made and repaired tools, which is what he did for coal miners sharpening their picks in Western Maryland.
I recommend that you expand your research borders before for your African American ancestors. Go beyond the geographical area. Play with the spelling variations. Consider their occupations.
Have you been climbing a brick wall?
Want my help in breaking that wall down?
Reach out to me at Admin@diggin4myroots.com
Frank Edward Holly was my paternal Great-grandfather, a World War I veteran. Allegany County is where he grew up with his older sister, Bessie, and, their mother, Lucy on the western side of Maryland that borders West Virginia.
Since it is Memorial Day weekend, I am sharing how I learned about my ancestor’s life through military records and events surrounding the draft. After the United States declared war on Germany, many American men did not volunteer to fight. The Selective Service Act was enacted that required men ages, 21 – 30, to register in the military on May 18, 1917, to meet the military’s need. Frank provided an 1889 birth year on his enlistment in Mineral County, West Virginia on June 5, 1917. He made the cut by two years.
Military records can reveal several pieces of genealogical information for a researcher: name, birthday, birth location, citizenship status, marital status, employer, residence, next of kin, and physical description.
All men in that age range were required to enlist, however, there were a few exceptions. Selective Services had deferments and exemptions to the draft. These are two examples below.
Temporarily deferred, but available for military service.
Married registrants with a dependent spouse or dependent children under 16 with sufficient family income if drafted.
Exempted due to extreme hardship.
Married registrants with a dependent spouse or dependent children with insufficient family income if drafted.
A day before my Great-grandpa’s 28th birthday he applied for a divorce and custody of his children. Frank’s six-year marriage to Lillian Farley produced my two Grand Aunts, Carrie, and Lucille. I did not have the pleasure to meet them, however, their experience and knowledge about Frank Holly gave me a genealogy boost.
Frank began his military training in August. If his goal was not to participate he failed.
His attempts to gain custody and avoid the war were unsuccessful.
Early into my family research, I met my father’s first cousin, Lillian, and Frank’s grandson, Andy online through Ancestry’s site. We made an instant family connection. Our conversations went from email messages to telephone calls. Andy shared that when he was young his Grandmother Lillian drove him through W.VA and Western Maryland. She told him that this was where his grandpa’s family lived. Andy closed our conversation with instructions, “Look up, Lonaconing.”
I didn’t know if Lonaconing was a person, place, or thing. My first thought was glass manufacturing. I discovered a clipped newspaper article titled, “Remembering the Blacks of Lonaconing.” The reporter interviewed an elderly person in the community. She recalled the only Black people living in their town. Lonaconing is one of the five cities/towns in Allegany County. Andy and I were both excited about my discovery. The write-up mentioned Frank’s Grandpa, Thomas “Jefferson” Holly.
Andy remembered Aunt Carrie describing her father. “My dad was an Indian. He wore long braids and buckskin.” I connected with a second cousin on 23andme. Our grandfathers were brothers. Her dad shared the Lonaconing account with his dad. Her Grandpa said, “My dad lived in Lonaconing as a boy.”
I appreciate my Great-grandfather’s service. His military activities left records to trace his actions and learn some insight about him. During this holiday a few sites have free access to view their military record database. You may make a family connection while searching.
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Sallie Francis Method was my paternal ancestor, born during the American Reconstruction Era to an unwed mother, Phoebe Method.1 Sallie was her mother’s fifth child and second daughter. Her grandparents, Solomon Method and Millie Davis Method lived in the town of Moorefield, Hardy County before the Civil War, before the area became a part of the new state called West Virginia.
In her late teens, Sallie worked for a wealthy farming family as their nanny. I learned about her job through the cemetery’s groundskeeper.2 He recalled how the former Moorefield Mayoress (mayor’s wife), Myrtle Miley Pickard visited him while he maintained the Oak Hill cemetery where Sallie is buried.3 He said Myrlte stood near her marker and said, “She was my nanny.”
Sallie’s grave marker.
Photo Credit: Glon Turner, Find A Grave Volunteer. Mr. Turner gave me a lead to interview Mr. Washington for my research.
Prior to her passing, Sallie raised eight children mostly on her own. The mother of two, Charles and Edna, became Willard Ford’s third wife in 1914. 4 She and Willard would have three daughters Mary, Mildred, and Helen. Willard was killed in December 1918 while Sallie was pregnant with their youngest daughter.5 Sallie supported her family as a restaurant cook.6 She owned her home and grew her own food. Her daughter said, “We had fields and fields of land.”7 She birthed three more daughters.
Six of Sallie’s eight children.
Her middle daughter, Mildred Francis.
Her only son, Charles.
Sallie was resourceful and family oriented. Her daughter, Pearl remembered that their mother designed their dresses and made their dolls.8 Her younger daughter described how her mother named them after family members and friends. Her oldest, a son is named after her Uncle Charles. A middle daughter, Mildred Francis after her Grandmother Millie, and herself. Her youngest daughter Anna Mae is her sister, Mae’s namesake.9 Her naming practices would later help me make a huge genealogy discovery.
Sallie’s Uncle Charles Clinton Method lived in my hometown.10 He left West Virginia around the death of his mother, Millie Davis Method in the mid-1870s.11 He married Keziah Foster Lowery in 1877, in Ross County, Ohio. 12 The couple raised their son, William Arthur Method, who became a physician and founded the first and only African American Hospital in Central Ohio in the 1920s.13
Click here to see the hospital and the physician on page 28. https://www.columbuslandmarks.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/African-American-Comm.pdf
Sallie spent her last day caring for her family. Her daughter described they were going in and out of the house hanging laundry.14 When she returned inside Sallie collapsed in the kitchen. The neighbors later arrived and found her surrounded by her daughters.15
Her former in-laws agreed to have her buried in their family plot in Oak Hill cemetery.
Sallie Francis Method Ford, 1884 -1938.
I hope you celebrated your mothers today and remember those women who are no longer here physically to nurture and love us through these earthly journeys.
Sources.
- 1900 US Federal Census.
- Interview with former Oak Hill Cemetery Groundskeeper, Omer Washington, 2020.
- The Cumberland News, July 4, 1968 pg 22.
- Hardy County Marriage Registry.
- The Washington Post, December 22, 1918 pg 9.
- 1930 US Federal Census.
- Interview with Sallie Ford’s daughter in 2021.
- Interview with family friend, Joalee Jones, 2022.
- Interview with Sallie Ford’s daughter in 2023.
- 1920 US Federal Census.
- 1880 US Federal Census.
- Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993
- library.osu.edu/alphahospital
- Interview with Sallie Ford’s daughter, 2019.
- Interview with former Oak Hill Cemetery Groundskeeper, Omer Washington, 2020.
Great Aunt Jennie was the third daughter of my maternal Great-Great-grandparents, Samuel Grimsley and Nettie Smart. Her oldest sister was my Great-grandmother Sarah Lula Grimsley Ervin.
My Grimsley ancestors lived in Abbeville, Henry County, Alabama. Henry County’s border touches the Georgia’s state line.
Sarah, her husband, Jarrett Ervin, and their four children migrated to Columbus, Ohio, in the early 1920s.
Jennie and her husband, Carl Tiller were a childless couple. They migrated to Bayonne, New Jersey, in the early 1930s.
Annie Jennie nicknamed Zada called Sadie came to visit her sister in 1932.
How do I know these names are for the same person?
- 1910 Alabama Census shows daughter Gennie Grimsley, nine years old.
- 1920 Alabama Census shows daughter Annie Grimsley, 18 years old.
- The Alabama marriage certificate shows Zada and Carl Tiller.
- 1930 New Jersey Census shows Jennie Tiller.
- The Ohio death certificate shows, Jennie Tiller, her parents, Sam and Nettie.
My mom’s oldest sister, Aunt Ceil, told me this story about Jennie’s visit.
Jennie didn’t return home to her husband.
Sarah had been ill, near death. When Jennie saw her lying in bed, she prayed, “God allow me to take on her sickness so she can care for her many children.” Sarah had four children at the time of her sister’s visit; three sons and a daughter had previously passed. After her prayer, Jennie became ill. She laid down in Sarah’s bed. Sarah’s health improved, and she rose out of that bed. Jennie died. Family members said an image of a dove appeared and flew away when Jennie passed.
Just like that Aunt Jennie went onto glory.
I never repeated that story, until I found some evidence that supports Aunt Ceil’s account about an aunt dying on a visit to Columbus.
Jennie Tiller’s Ohio death certificate shows that she was not a Columbus resident. Jennie died from Bronchial Pneumonia, Influenza on December 19th, 1932. Mrs. Irvin, Sarah is the informant. I discovered a small blurb in the 1933 Jersey Journal Newspaper stating Carl Tiller was an heir to $500 from Jennie’s death.
Influenza
The Flu is a contagious respiratory illness. It is still a dangerous illness to contract. According to the 1932 Mortality schedule, 129,540 people died to Influenza and pneumonia. Data for Columbus, Ohio, shows that over 200 African Americans died in 1932 from the illness. Jennie is in that number.
There is an expression that says; There is no greater love than a brother to lay down his life for another. In this story, Jennie had loved her sister; she died for Sarah to live.
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The repositories and databases I accessed to support my Aunt’s account of our family history are listed below.
Familysearch an online census records database.
GenealogyBank, an online newspaper database.
Mortality Statistics 1932 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, BUREAU OF THE CENSUS, THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT page, 26.
UPDATE: On June 15th, 2021, A correction includes Sarah lost a daughter.
Boston Irwin is my maternal Alabama Great-great-grandfather. He continued to spell his last name as the people who held his family in bondage.
Boston was born during the Civil War in Shorterville, Alabama. The state has landmarked the area with a historical marker describing the Irwin Empire.
Boston grew up surrounded by love. The 1870 census lists 25 Black people with the Irwin surname enumerated together. The extended family was fortunate to be reunited. Keeping the enslaver’s name more than likely helped the relatives find one another after Alabama ratified the 13th amendment that abolished slavery on December 2, 1865.
Prior to emancipation, the domestic slave trade tore African American families apart. Many other newly freed African Americans were alone. They adopted or fostered families from the plantations where they cohabitated and worked. Sometimes I think terms, play cousins, big mommas, and aunties derived from this Black experience.
Boston’s immediate family included a younger sister, Martha, and parents, Luke and Malisa.
Boston experienced so much exposure to Black Love. He made his first commitment in 1883 to love his wife, Jennie, at the age of 21.
Knowing that Love never fails, Boston made another commitment to Love to his second wife, Fannie, in 1890.
There is an expression that family is everything. You know Cousin Love. Boston and his first Cousin Ellen produced a Love Child named Alma. Alma’s conception was no secret. When Alma and her sister Sarah visited her niece Mary’s house, Mary’s youngest daughter recalls, “We always called Sarah cousin and Alma aunt.”
When Boston’s sons Jarrett and Elgin relocated to Columbus, Ohio, he supported their decision, followed them, and showed unconditional parental love.
However, Boston had no Love for the city. The story goes that he didn’t like the city life and returned down South. This story does not include an exact location for down South. His wife Fannie had passed, his parents were deceased, and Ellen was gone. His sister Martha Balkum, now a widow lived with her daughter Vera and her son-in-law, Lester Miller, in Shorterville.
Boston loved again. He loved himself, the best kind of love.
My Aunts told me; After Boston returned down South, he shopped in a store. A white teenage store clerk demanded that Boston address him as Sir.
Boston didn’t like the city life but had become accustomed to the Northern ways. Boston responded, “Why should I call you Sir”?
He was referring to the boy’s age.
Boston had self-respect, Black Love.
Even though a noose may not be involved, when mob violence occurs that is racially motivated, it’s a lynching. My Great-great-grandpa was a victim of a lynch mob.
My mother added to this account that Boston’s son had to go down South and identify his body. I was a young girl when I heard this story. I immediately asked Boston’s son, my Great-grandpa Ervin, “Was your daddy lynched? And you had to go down South and claim his body?”
Grandpa Erin dropped his head low and nodded yes.
He was a dutiful son who faced a challenging task to return to the scene of the crime; he did it in love. He gave his father a proper burial.
Family is everything.
Say his name and love yourself.
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- Free census records – FamilySearch.org
- Free marriage records – FamilySearch.org
- City Directories – Ancestry.com
Making revelations and family connections. Genealogy, Family History, African American Family History
Walter Lee Jennings is my maternal ancestor. I recall family members sharing oral histories about Walter Lee. I never saw a photograph but heard a description of him, tall and with a thick mustache.
Before he grew a mustache, he grew up as a Virginia farmer with his 12 sisters and brothers on his parents’ land. Walter Lee was born on October 18th in 1879, in Halifax County. His father, Orange Jennings, registered Walter’s birth with his wife, Mary. County Birth registries are very similar to birth certificates. The registry provides birth date, full name, an ethnic description, gender, type of delivery: live or stillbirth, place of birth, and the father’s full name (if the parents were married). Virginia began issuing vital records, birth and death certificates around 1912.
I stumbled across this lead for the Virginia birth registries while researching on Our Black Ancestry.com. The site is similar to FamilySearch, MyHeritage, and Ancestry websites that maintain genealogical documents and an opportunity for members to connect with distant relatives.
As a young man, Walter married his teenage bride, Elnora. The couple ventured away from their farm labor community for the ironworks companies. Walter became a Steel Mill worker in Pennsylvania.
Local Philadelphia history states Midvale Steel employed many African American workers during the 1890s through the 1920s. There isn’t any evidence that points that he was an employee at Midvale. However, Elnora delivered their firstborn son, Noel, whose name later changed to Frank, in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania’s birth registry confirms Walter Lee’s occupation.
I accessed this record at local Family History Center of the Church of the Later Days Saints. It’s a printout from a microfilm roll.
“Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Births, 1860-1906”
The family relocated to an Ohio border town called Youngstown, near Pennsylvania. Walter continued to employ himself in the Steel Mill industry. His work commute was the Sharon Line electric car. The electric “car” he rode to work is not like the Hybrid fuel/electric vehicles you see on the roads today. The Sharon Line was like a city bus whose route began in Sharon, Pennsylvania. Walt’s former home location on Regis Street is part of the historical African American Community called Sharonline.
Walt became a widower, a single parent of three children, Frank, Adele, and Lee, after Elnora’s death in 1908. Walter returned to his family’s farm for his parents to raise his children. He married again four years later in Michigan and continued to live in Youngstown without his children. The marriage to Margret Cobb produced his youngest son, Walter Roy, who went by Roy, and Uncle Roy’s son shared a photograph with me.
My family described him correctly. Don’t you agree? I was so excited to receive this photo and show my mother a photo of her Grandfather. She never met him.
Walt remained a Steel Worker until the day he died. He collapsed on the job of a heart attack at the age of 68. His daughter, Adele, age 58, and sons Frank, age 71, and Lee, age 69, suffered the same ending. If you are a Walter Lee Jennings descendant reading this entry, be mindful of our medical history of heart disease.
Thank you, cousins Walter, Rebecca, Carolyn, Aunt Eleanor, my late Uncle Arthur, and my mother. I could not have shared our ancestor, Walter Lee Jennings’ account without you.
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Walt was one of a few of his 12 siblings to leave their hometown.
Are you an Ohio or a Virginia Jennings descendant? There are Pennsylvania and D.C families as well. Please comment below.
This entry is updated to reflect new information to correctly tell the story.
Growing up, I remember hearing my paternal Grandmother Ann and her sisters saying there were six girls and one boy. Their mother had six daughters and one son. However, my research shows there was one more girl living in their childhood home.
I found evidence of Grand Aunt Fannie’s birth online at wvculture.org. The online repository stores Birth, Death and Marriage documents. It is a free database to research your West Virginia ancestors. The West Virginia Birth registry recorded her birth as April 25th, 1917, Mildred Frances Ford. I learned two interesting details of Aunt Fannie’s birth from this document. First, my Great-Grandfather’s Willard’s middle initial. (New information: I am not a Ford descendant.) It’s the letter G. Secondly, it includes the doctor’s name, Dr. G.S. Gouchenour who assisted in the delivery. I wonder if Aunt Fannie was the first doctor-assisted delivery for Great-Grandma Sallie, because her other deliveries do not list a physician in the registry.
Fannie lived her most of her life in Moorefield, West Virginia. Three census records from the 1920s -1940s chronicle her whereabouts. Fannie first appears as Mildred with the middle initial F, at age two. When Fannie is twelve years old, the census lists her as M. Francis. At 17, she married Richard James Rowe. The newlyweds lived with his mother. It looks like she has chosen her middle name as her first name. She is Francis M. Rowe in the 1940 census.
Richard became a sailor when he enlisted in the Navy in October of 1940. I can imagine the couple sharing a tearful good-bye when he departed to serve our country. Rowe participated in the critical World War II battles against the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. He may have entertained the thought that he would leave their marriage first by being a causality. WWII was one of the deadliest military conflicts.
Before Richard left to serve, the family migrated from the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia to the Queen City of Maryland, Cumberland, where her older brother, Charles owned a Rooming House. The couple lived in that Rooming house on North Mechanic Street. While Richard was at war, Aunt Fannie became ill. She had a wisdom extracted with instructions stay home. She didn’t follow the doctor orders. She caught pneumonia. Fannie died at Memorial Hospital at the age of 27.
I titled the blog entry, “The Forgotten Aunt Fannie,” but I realized Aunt Fannie is not forgotten. She has a namesake. Her sister Mary Jane graced her only daughter with the name, Mildred. Mary Jane and Mildred Francis (Aunt Fannie) were two years apart in age. I have known my cousin Mildred since childhood. I didn’t know her name was out of honor of an aunt whose life was short-lived.
Here’s Aunt Fannie’s obituary that appeared in the Cumberland Times. The obituary has many family names inaccuracies. I am beginning to think this obituary started with the six daughters and one son account. Fannie was the first sibling to pass. It describes her survivors as six sisters and one brother. Her parents’ name are incorrect, Willard and Sallie Method. Method is Sallie’s maiden name. Not all of her sisters were married at this time. Aunt Helen was still single. My Grandma Ann and her sister, Edna were single parents at the time of their sister’s death.
Wed, Nov 01, 1944 · Page 9
Even though Aunt Fannie died in Maryland she is buried in her hometown. Her grave marker doesn’t include her name Mildred at all. I know it’s my aunt’s grave because her husband’s name is on the her tombstone.
Thank you for stopping by. What discoveries have you made in your family research? Did you have any ancestors who fought in WWII? Do you have any name-changers in your family?
If you enjoyed reading my family history and are curious about your family stories, but need help and direction in research, contact me, Cousin Tammy at diggin4myroots.com.
Great Aunt Jennie was the third daughter of my maternal Great-Great-grandparents, Samuel Grimsley and Nettie Smart. Her oldest sister was my Great-grandmother Sarah Lula Grimsley Ervin.
My Grimsley ancestors lived in Abbeville, Henry County, Alabama. Henry County’s border touches the Georgia’s state line.
Sarah, her husband, Jarrett Ervin, and their four children migrated to Columbus, Ohio, in the early 1920s.
Jennie and her husband, Carl Tiller were a childless couple. They migrated to Bayonne, New Jersey, in the early 1930s.
Annie Jennie nicknamed Zada called Sadie came to visit her sister in 1932.
How do I know these names are for the same person?
- 1910 Alabama Census shows daughter Gennie Grimsley, nine years old.
- 1920 Alabama Census shows daughter Annie Grimsley, 18 years old.
- The Ohio death certificate shows, Jennie Tiller, her parents Sam and Nettie
- The Alabama marriage certificate shows Zada and Carl Tiller
- 1930 New Jersey Census shows Jennie Tiller
My mom’s oldest sister, Aunt Ceil, told me this story about Jennie’s visit.
Jennie didn’t return home to her husband.
Sarah had been ill, near death. When Jennie saw her lying in bed, she prayed, “God allow me to take on her sickness so she can care for her many children.” Sarah had four children at the time of her sister’s visit; three sons and a daughter had previously passed. After her prayer, Jennie became ill. She laid down in Sarah’s bed. Sarah’s health improved, and she rose out of that bed. Jennie died. Family members said an image of a dove appeared and flew away when Jennie passed.
Just like that Aunt Jennie went onto glory.
I never repeated that story, until I found some evidence that supports Aunt Ceil’s account about an aunt dying on a visit to Columbus.
Jennie Tiller’s Ohio death certificate shows that she was not a Columbus resident. Jennie died from Bronchial Pneumonia, Influenza on December 19th, 1932. Mrs. Irvin, Sarah is the informant. I discovered a small blurb in the 1933 Jersey Journal Newspaper stating Carl Tiller was an heir to $500 from Jennie’s death.
Influenza
The Flu is a contagious respiratory illness. It is still a dangerous illness to contract. According to the 1932 Mortality schedule, 129,540 people died to Influenza and pneumonia. Data for Columbus, Ohio, shows that over 200 African Americans died in 1932 from the illness. Jennie is in that number.
There is an expression that says; There is no greater love than a brother to lay down his life for another. In this story, Jennie had loved her sister; she died for Sarah to live.
Stay in the know. Please subscribe.
The repositories and databases I accessed to support my Aunt’s account of our family history are listed below.
Familysearch an online census records database.
GenealogyBank, an online newspaper database.
Mortality Statistics 1932 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, BUREAU OF THE CENSUS, THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT page, 26.
UPDATE: On June 15th, 2021, A correction includes Sarah lost a daughter.
My mother introduced me to my maternal Great-grandmother Elnora Freeman Jennings in 1976. It was a 1908 Memorial portrait, a casket photograph. As creepy as a photo of a dead person sounds, I am glad my Great-grandfather Walter Lee Jennings agreed to have the picture made of his wife. She was pretty. My mom looks like her. Matter of fact, their hair was styled the same that day in Afros. Grandma Nora was a head of her time, a “Naturalista.”
Memorial Portraits were common back in the day, but Grandma Elnora’s is the only one I saw in my family to have one made. I think her husband decided to have the picture made so their children would remember their mother. When she passed their children were young. Frank was turning seven, Adele was five years old, and Arthur, who went by his middle name Lee was only 18 months.
The Youngstown Vindicator Newspaper issue November 11th, 1908 reads “Mrs. Jennings dead.” The death announcement included her cause of death, Typhoid Fever.
The cause of death surprised me. The story I heard was that she died on an operating table.
I am familiar with Typhoid Fever disease. In third grade, I gave an oral report on Typhoid Mary, a New York Cook, Mary Mallon infected 51 people from 1907 – 1915. Three people died as a result. There was an epidemic in Philadelphia in 1906. Elnora gave birth to Frank in that city in 1901. Maybe my Great-grandparents lived Philly for a few years.
Typhoid Fever
Typhoid Fever is contracted through contaminated food or water. During this time, people did not use or prepare food with the healthy practices that we use today. We wash fruits and vegetables before eating, and do not eat food at room temperature. The disease is related to Salmonella poisoning. In 1914 an Army doctor developed a Typhoid vaccine that became available for the general public six years after Elnora’s death.
Before becoming a mother and a wife, Elnora was the seventh child of Henry and Hannah Freeman in Halifax County, Virginia. Her mother Hannah Palmer Young died in 1892. Elnora was eight years old. Her father remarried. The 1900 census record shows Henry with his new bride, Rebecca Hamlet, daughter, Elnora, twin daughters Martha and Mary, and stepson Aron Hamlet. Elnora’s six older siblings no longer lived at home.
Even though my mom looks like her, my mom is not her namesake. Her sister is. I learned that a namesake doesn’t share the exact spelling of the honorary person’s name. I ran into research challenges online. My aunt spells her name E-l-e-a-n-o-r like former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. When I typed Elnora’s name like my aunt spells her name, a birth registry for Nora appeared on FamilySearch.org. I thought to dismiss the hint, but I read the entire entry. I recognized Great-grandpa’s name and my Grandpa’s name included on the 1907 Ohio Birth Registry. Then I accepted the document as proof of Elnora’s existence.
The next document I found for Elnora is when she married her husband on March 5th, 1901. Her marriage registration does not list her parents, only Walter’s. I wonder if her father approved of her choice. Their oldest son, Frank was born nine months later on December 25th. Grand Uncle Frank’s birth registry shows his name a Noel. I guess Elnora felt the Noel fit due to the holiday. Uncle Frank didn’t keep Noel as his first name. Records show Uncle Frank using the letter N as his middle initial. The N is not for Noel, but Nora.
The birth registry included Elnora’s birth place as Virginia. This detail also confirmed that this entry was my family. Grandpa Lee would share stories about growing up in Virginia. After Elnora passed Walter Lee’s parents Orange and Mary Jennings raised Uncle Frank, Aunt Adele and Grandpa Lee on their Halifax County farm. Walter Lee remained in Youngstown working the steel mills.
The steel mills is what bought Elnora and Walter Lee to Youngstown, Ohio. The Youngstown city directories give three different addresses for the young family from 1906 through 1908. In 1906 they lived at 478 Andrews Avenue. The second address in 1907 was on 1401 West Federal Avenue. Then in 1908 they resided at 1856 West Federal Avenue, her last home.
Walter Lee remarried in 1912 to a Canadian woman of African descent named Margaret Cobb. Family members I interviewed shared that her nickname was “Mags.” She gave birth to my Grandfather’s youngest brother, Uncle Roy in 1916.
I mention Grandpa Walter Lee’s second marriage because many relatives believe that’s his only marriage. They never heard the name, Elnora, their direct ancestor. Without her, many of us would not be here.
Elnora Freeman Jennings Never Forgotten Never Forget
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Finding Obituaries
There are online services that have historical newspapers databases. Some are free and some have a fee. I always try free first when searching for obituaries.
- Google search
- Elephind.com
- Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
- news.google.com/newspapers
- books.google.com for Jet Magazine archives
- Visit the local library where your ancestor lived to look through microfilm.
- Free trials to Genealogybank.com or newspaper.com.
Special Thanks to the Ohio Genealogy Society and Stacey Adger for their time in locating the news articles and burial records.
