A genealogy blog about the migration generation of my McKee Family line, including bios, transcribed obituaries, photographs, and research notes.



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Saturday, September 14, 2013

Try Going Local

An article in the online free eZine GenealogyInTime suggested that if you are looking for information outside of the United States that you use the localized Google search engine for the country in question. I have only two international locations that I need to search in: England and Ireland. I decided to check out what different results I'd get if I used Google.co.uk. Here's what I found.

Discovered Marriages
Ernest Dodd married Clara May Webb 18 Aug 1917
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Ashton-under-Lyne/stpeter/marriages_1915-1917.html
Marriage: 18 Aug 1917 St Peter, Ashton under Lyne, Lancs.
Ernest Dodd - 27, 2nd. Kings Own R. Lancaster, Bachelor, 79 Mount Street
Clara Webb - 26, Cardroom Hand, Spinster, 7 Hawthorne Grove
    Groom's Father: Frederick Dodd, Labourer (wife Ester Middleton)
    Bride's Father: George Webb, Gas Stoker
    Witness: Henry Ibbotson; Sarah Ann Ibbotson
    Married by Banns by: T. W. Pughe Morgan, Vicar
    Register: Marriages 1915 - 1917, Page 100, Entry 200
    Source: LDS Family Search

Sarah Ann Dodd married Henry Ralph "Harry" Ibbotson 4 Apr 1915
Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930
Name: Henry Ibbotson
Marriage Date: 21 Mar 1915
Parish: Ashton under Lyne, St James the Apostle
Parish as it Appears: St James Church Ashton-Under-Lyne
Spouse's Name: Sarah Ann Dodd
Reference Number: L163/1/5/3
Item Number: 6
Archive Roll: 847

Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930
Name: Henry Ibbotson
Birth Year: abt 1886
Age: 29
Marriage Date: 4 Apr 1915
Parish: Ashton under Lyne, St James the Apostle
Parish as it Appears: St James, Ashton-Under-Lyne
Father's Name: Thomas Ibbotson
Spouse's Name: Sarah Ann Dodd
Spouse's Father's Name: Frederick Dodd (wife Esther Middleton)
Reference Number: L163/1/2/3
Item Number: 1
Archive Roll: 847

Alfred Dodd married Florence Elizabeth Jones 30 Oct 1922
Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930
Name: Alfred Dodd
Birth Year: abt 1901
Age: 21
Marriage Date: 30 Oct 1922
Parish: Ashton Under Lyne, St Peter
Parish as it Appears: St Peter Ashton Under Lyne
Father's Name: Albert Dodd
Spouse's Name: Florence Jones
Spouse's Father's Name: John Jones
Reference Number: L74/1/2/10
Item Number: 2
Archive Roll: 519

In addition, I found two christening records to two daughters Cecila and Florence. However, if you look on Ancestry.com, you find that the two daughters might be one daughter named Florence Elizabeth Cecilia Dodd. Therefore, children for this couple remains a fuzzy area. 

Discovered World War I Correspondence
Albert Dodd and John William Dodd
http://ashtonpals.m.webs.com/   (1915 Pg 14)
Published in the Reporter 25 Sep 1919
TWO ASHTON BROTHERS
Corporal J. W. Dodd, who is attached to the machine gun section of the 1/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dodd, of 153, Burlington street, Ashton, and who, as announced in the Reporter last week, was wounded in the leg while fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula on August 7th, is making good progress. He is now in hospital at Plymouth, and writes on September 13th as follows: - "I have arrived in England. We are nice and comfortable, and have plenty of good food. I am able to walk a little today. I am going to have a piece of skin put on my leg, as the wound is to big to heal itself." The wound has not touched the bone, the bullet being buried in the flesh, according to a previous letter sent by Corporal DODD. A brother, Gunner ALBERT DODD, is serving with the Royal Field Artillery in France, where he has been engaged on active service for about ten weeks. In a letter to his parents he says: - "We are having it a bit quiet just now. I am writing this letter at one of our observation posts. I get 24 hours every eight days on the telephone. I have just been watching some of our shells bursting right in the German trenches. It is worth seeing. the other day we blew up one of their trench mortars and the men who were working it. We also dug one of their shells up that had not burst. It was about 9ft in solid hard clay." The observations post referred to by Gunner Dodd is a captive balloon, from which the effects of the British shellfire is seen, and the results telephoned to the battery below.
Parents: Albert Dodd and Mary Jane Hibbert

John William Dodd death record:
http://tamesidefamilyhistory.co.uk/pow.htm
Dodd J Private Manchester Regiment 
153 Burlington Street, Ashton under Lyne (dead)
Action Ashton 11 Jan 1919
Parents: Albert Dodd and Mary Jane Hibbert
This record may indicate that I have an error in that I have John marrying Sylvia Storer in Q4 1935 and having a child (Shirley Dodd). The name Dodd is common in the area and it might well be that I have records two different John William Dodd men crossed. Any help sorting this out would be appreciated. 

Discovered Deaths or Burial Locations
Nellie Dodd
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Ashton-under-Lyne/stmichael/index.html
Burial: 26 Dec 1901 St Michael and All Angels, Ashton under Lyne, Lancs.
Nellie Dodd - 
    Age: 22 mths
    Abode: 153 Burlington Street
    Buried by: C. H. Bagott
    Register: Burials 1892 - 1908, Page 226, Entry 1806
    Source: LDS Film 1550973
    Parents: Albert Dodd and Mary Jane Hibbert

Alfred Dodd and Florence Elizabeth Jones
http://www.stg.org.uk/content/pages/documents/1376749516.pdf
R36 G8 
ALFRED DODD 30/12/1948 (Parents: Joseph Dodd and Agnes Anderson)
FLORENCE DODD 17/01/1979
(Low headstone in book format) In loving memory of (left side) 
A dear husband and father ALFRED DODD who died 26th Dec. 1949 aged 47 years (right side) A dear wife and mother FLORENCE DODD who died 11th Jan. 1979 aged 76 years

Ada Hannah Smith 
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Ashton-under-Lyne/stmichael/index.html 
Burial: 21 Oct 1899 St Michael and All Angels, Ashton under Lyne, Lancs.
Ada Hannah Smith - (Parents: William Smith and Agnes Eleanore Anderson)
    Age: 11 mths
    Abode: Fleet St
    Buried by: George A. Pugh Rector
    Register: Burials 1892 - 1908, Page 193, Entry 1543
    Source: LDS Film 1550973

Conclusion
My voyage into the use of another Google search engine has answered a lot of outstanding questions and uncovered a possible problem with John William Dodd. I'm going to continue searching for additional information to see if there's anything else I've missed. As an exercise, this one has been rather profitable for my research project. So, if you are googling in other countries, you might want to try going local and see if you get results that you've missed using the American version of Google.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Missing in Action...Anderson and Roberge

I haven't posted in a good long while. I've had several life events that haven't been fun and I had to drop my genealogy habit. I'm just getting back into it.

One of the more frustrating aspects of genealogy is finding out that someone was just a hop away from you and you never got to talk to them. While doing some general information trolling on Ancestry.com, I found out that Ann Marilyn Roberge died on 24 May 2013 in Largo, Florida...right across the bay from me and I didn't even know she was there!

Ann (b. 11 Nov 1930 Palmer, Hampden, Massachusetts) was the wife of Edward Michael G. Anderson (b. 7 Jan 1927 Springfield Hampden, Massachusetts d. Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts). Ann and Edward, who were married 22 Jun 1949 in East Brookfield, Worcester, Massachusetts, eventually divorce but they have four children before that event in their lives.

Michael Doran Anderson (b. 21 Jan 1950 Palmer, Hampden, Massachusetts d. 26 May 2001 Idaho)

Kevin Paul Anderson (b. 17 Jul 1951 Palmer, Hampden, Massachusetts d. 16 Oct 1995 Hollywood, Boward, Florida)

Dale Edward Anderson (b. 12 Nov 1953 Palmer, Hampden, Massachusetts d. 17 Jul 2012 Spencer, Worcester, Massachusetts).

In addition, Ann and Edward had a daughter, who is currently living in Massachusetts. I've contacted a person who is perhaps this daughter using Facebook. We'll see if she is the right person and if she or anyone in the family is interested in this project.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Henry "Harry" Dodd

I haven't been posting of late. I've been too busy trying to hold my life together...too much to go into and more info than you might want to hear. Anyway, I've started pecking away again at my family history. No guarantees on how consistent I might be over the next few months. But I came across something that any Dodd/Anderson researchers on this list will be interested in.

Henry "Harry" Dodd
s/o Frederick William Dodd + Esther Middleton
grandson of Joseph Dodd + Agnes Anderson
b. 21 Dec 1896 Ashton Under Lyne, Lancashire, England
d. 13 Aug 1917 France & Flanders World War I

Click here to see entry in list of honor.
Henry Dodd M.M.
Lance Corporal, 49482. 11 th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment. Killed in action 13 August 1917, aged 20. Born: Ashton under Lyne. Enlisted: Stockport. Son of Frederick & Esther, 173 Curzon Road, Ashton under Lyne. Commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper, Belgium.
Award of the Military Medal published in the London Gazette, 14 August 1917. Announcements are normally made approximately three months after the particular act for which the medal is given.

Click here to get a copy of a certificate...a lovely certificate with pictures of the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium. The site includes a picture of the inside walls...filled with so many names. A soldier's name was added to the wall when his resting place was unknown. It's worth a look.

A cousin had told me about the fact that Henry appeared on the gate. I was googling when I found these two entries, which provide more detail than the cousin had told me. Lesson learned? Google it every single time!


Sunday, April 28, 2013

Edna Leta (Leary) Deppe...a mystery

I've been picking at this line and that line and making bits of progress here and there. It hasn't been enough that I've felt compelled to write anything...until today. I've had two distant cousins contact me on two different lines. One of the cousins has provided information on a Deppe line that has been a puzzlement for a long time. Here's what I know.

Everett Deppe
b. 17 Dec 1895 Willisville, Perry County, Illinois
d. Where? When?
m. 8 Dec 1915 Perry County, Illinois
Edna Leta Leary
b. 24 Oct 1899 Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas
d. Where? When?

Everett and Edna had the following children.

Child 1:
Wayne Logan Deppe
b. 27 Jan 1919 Cutler, Perry County, Illinois
d. 4 Apr 1930 Joplin, Jasper County, Missouri (FAG 68156113)

Child 2:
Arliene Rosalee Deppe
b. 18 Oct 1921 Cutler, Perry County, Illinois
d. Where? When?

Child 3:
Melba June Deppe
b. 26 Feb 1923 Cutler, Perry County, Illinois
d. 16 Jan 1924 Illinois

Child 4:
Lorrain Winifred "Winnie" Deppe
b. 22 Dec 1925 Cutler, Perry County, Illinois
d. Where? When?

Child 5:
Kenneth Burnell Deppe
b. 27 Aug 1927 Cutler, Perry County, Illinois
d. Where? When?

As you can see, I've been able to track only limited information. I have my great-grandmother to thank for the dates of birth. In the back of a circa 1930's bank book, she wrote out each of the children's full names and their dates of birth. She did this for both of her nieces...the daughters of her younger sister, Margaret Susanna (Leemon) Shavers, Leary, Appel. Margaret's daughters were Hazel Cliff (Leary) Deppe and Edna Leta (Leary) Deppe.

Edna married early at age 16. You can find her in two locations Cutler and Joplin.

  • 1915 married Perry County, Illinois
  • 1920 living Cutler Perry County, Illinois, where the children were born
  • 1930 living Joplin, Jasper County, Missouri 
  • 1930 Everett is arrested for currency counterfeiting
According to newspaper accounts, Everett was arrested 5 March 1930 after failing to post $4,000 bond when he was arrested on charges of using the mails to defraud.

In June of 1931, a newspaper reports that six individual were involved in a counterfeiting scheme with the object to make a profit of $100,000 and buy a Joplin Hotel. The newspaper notes that a Joplin printer named Everett Deppe was one of the leaders of the ring. It also noted that Deppe was still at large, having absconded with most of the spurious currency.

Later in June of 1931, a newspaper reports that Everett Deppe was under arrest in Charleston, West Virginia and that a total of eight people had been sentenced to penitentiary and jail terms. They were seeking extradition of Everett back to Joplin.

The next time I can pick up Everett is in a Sept 1931 newspaper article noting his arrest for passing counterfeit bills throughout middle western cities over the summer of 1931. In addition the article notes that Everett escaped from jail in Charleston, West Virginia about mid August 1931. A subsequent Joplin Globe article notes that Everett was still not apprehended in June of 1935.

Past these newspaper articles, I've made no progress on tracing this family. And then I heard from a distant Deppe cousin (cousin-in-law?) with the rest of this tale.

After Everett escaped (the Charleston, West Virginia jail?), he turned up in the middle of the night at his mother's home. He hugged his mother and told her he would never see her again. Everett left with Edna and the children (Arliene, age 10; Winnie, age 6; and Kenneth age 4). They left the area and nobody in the Deppe family has heard from them to this day.

The reason that the Deppe cousin knows the story is that his grandfather was Everett's nephew and as a child he played with Arliene and Winnie. This wing of the Deppe family has stayed in the area and it would have been easy for Arliene or Winnie (who would have been old enough to remember) to find their first cousin again. To the disappointment of family members left behind, it seems that the girls have made no effort to contact anyone in their family.

The Deppe cousin who provided these details speculates that the family may have escaped to Mexico or somewhere else. I'm guessing that Everett and Edna may have managed to change their names. The children were most likely encouraged not to remember and not to return to the area.

The last bits of info I have about this family is that when Edna's mother died in 1942, Edna is listed as the only surviving child. In addition, the obit notes that Margaret Susanna had 11 grandchildren, which would have included Edna's living children. Did Edna have contact with her mother? Did she attend the funeral in 1942? I'd love to be able to answer these questions.

Interestingly, the Deppe cousin who contacted me makes no mention of Edna's nephews and nieces by her sister Hazel Cliff (Leary) Deppe. I haven't contacted anyone in that line of the Deppe family. They perhaps have information on their cousins too. So it would seem that the next logical step is to contact Hazel's descendants and see if they have a family tale and more info they are willing to share. I'll post an update if and when I get more info.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Anderson...GenealogyBank...Obituaries

I gave myself a small present--a subscription to GenealogyBank, which is a newspaper site. Using the new subscription, I've found lots of extra detail and a few obits. Here are the obits.

Anne Ellen (Doran) Anderson
The Springfield Union, Springfield, Massachusetts, Monday, 28 Jul 1947, Page 8
MRS. ANNE ANDERSON
Monson, July 27--Mrs. Anne E. (Doran) Anderson, 77, died Saturday in her home in Stebbins Rd. She was born in London, Eng. Jul 8, 1870, daughter of Patrick and Mary (May) Doran and came to the United States in 1904. She first resided in Maine, later going to Springfield where she made her home until last year.
Mrs. Anderson was the widow of John J. Anderson who died in 1925. She leaves two sons, Edward M., and Norman J. Anderson, both of this town; a sister, Miss Susan Doran of Chicopee Falls, and three grandchildren.
The funeral will be held from the Lombard Funeral home in Bridge St., Monday at 8:30 with requiem high mass in St. Patrick's Church at 9. Burial will be Tuesday at 10 in St. Mary's Cemetery, Biddeford, Me.

Edward Michael G. Anderson
The Springfield Union, Springfield, Massachusetts, Monday, 14 Dec 1964, Page 10
DIED
ANDERSON--At Wing Memorial Hospital Palmer, December 12, Edward M. Anderson of Stebbins Rd., Monson. Funeral from the Palmer Funeral Service Tuesday at 8:15, followed by a high mass of requiem at the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle at 9. Burial in St. Thomas Cemetery. Calling hours Sunday and Monday 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.

Elsie M. (Beane) Anderson
The Springfield Union, Wednesday, 7 May 1969, Page 5
Mrs. Elsie M. Anderson
PALMER -- Mrs. Elsie M. (Bean) Anderson, 62, of Stebbins Road, Monson, died Tuesday in Wesson Memorial Hospital, Springfield. She was born in Biddeford, MD., and was a resident of Palmer and Monson many years. Mrs. Anderson leaves two sons, Edward and Paul of Monson; a daughter, Mrs. Patricia Fontaine of Palmer; two sisters, Mrs. Dorothy Soucy in New Jersey, and Mrs. Alice Ball of Daytona Beach, Fla.; and two stepbrothers, Max Brandt of Palmer and Carl Brandt of Saco, Me. Palmer Funeral Service is in charge. Burial will be in St. Thomas Cemetery, Palmer.

Norman J. Anderson
The Springfield Union, Springfield, Massachusetts, Monday, 26 Aug 1968, Page 3
SUBURBAN DEATHS 
NORMAN J. ANDERSON
ENFIELD--Norman J. Anderson, 63, 0f 25 Sword Ave., Thompsonville, died Saturday in a local nursing home. He was born in Biddlefort, Me., June 24, 1905, he had been a resident of this town since 1951, and of Springfield since his childhood. Mr. Anderson had been employed in the Package Machinery Corp., East Longmeadow as a layout worker until retiring in 1967. He is survived by his wife, the former Ruth V. Nooney. Byron funeral home, Springfield, is in charge. Burial will be in Oak Grove Cemetery.

Ruth V. (Nooney) Anderson
The Springfield Union, Springfield, Massachusetts, Wednesday, 12 Jun 1985, Page 6
Ruth V. Anderson
Ruth V. (Nooney) Anderson, 80, of 70 Harrison Ave., Springfield, retired secretary for Hallihan Lumber Co. and formerly of Fred Weake Plastering Co., died Monday in Western Massachusetts Hospital, Westfield. Born in Springfield, she graduated from the High School of Commerce, was a member of First Church, Court Square and also served on many of the church's committees. Her husband, Norman Anderson, died in 1968. She leaves a brother, Walter G. Nooney of Brickerville, Pa.; and a sister, Florence E. Progulski of Agawam. The funeral will be Thursday afternoon at Dickinson-Streeter Funeral Home with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery.

GenealogyBank
Seems that GenealogyBank has a different set of newspapers than the ones I've searched before. It also seems that an individual subscription gives you access to more than the library subscriptions I've used in the past. I'm pleased with the purchase.