My Old Ohio Home - Illinois

Minda Wilde and Agnes Bateman of Champaign, Illinois

2021-08-14T00:00:00-04:00

1950 Postcard, Oakland CA to Champaign, IL

On August 3, 1950, Mrs Wilde mailed a postcard from Oakland, California, to Mrs Agnes Bateman and daughter at 406 East Healey, Champaign, Illinois. The message read:

Dear Folks: Arrived all O.K. Having a nice visit, we are going up in the mountains this coming Friday. It is cold here this morning but nice [With? so?] one to both of you. [Signed] Mrs Wilde(footnote)The image of the photograph appears in a slide show at the Antique and Vintage Postcards shop at etsy.com and is used with the permission of the shop owner.

Who were these people, how did they know each other, and what can we learn about them?

At first glance, this just looked like a card from one neighbor on vacation to another neighbor. The Wildes and the Batemans both lived on East Healey Avenue in Champaign. But there turned out to be a story behind each side. Let's start with Mrs Wilde.

The Wildes

Minda M (Palmer) Wilde was born January 20, 1890, in Vincent, Washington County, Ohio, the younger of two known daughters of Austin H Palmer and Margaret Breckenridge. Minda had an older sister named Elma, born in 1880. Minda and Fred L Wilde were wed on December 3, 1911, in St Peter's German Evangelical Church in Champaign. They never had children.

The Wildes were at 503 East Healey the year after their marriage and until at least 1960, but Fred's work as a construction engineer for a bridge company took him away from home at times. In 1918, when he registered for the draft he was working on a project for the Cleveland Construction Company at Camp Perry Proving Ground, Port Clinton, Ohio. The 1930 census finds them in Calumet City, Illinois, and in 1935 they were in Hammond, Indiana. But they kept returning to their home on East Healey.

So what was Minda doing in Oakland, California, in August 1950? Well, she had lost her husband earlier that year–Fred died in February 1950 at the age of 64. And Minda's sister Elma, also widowed, had relocated to Oakland by 1940 to be with her daughter and son-in-law, Gladys and Gilbert Hohmann. So it would have been natural for Minda, after suffering such a loss, to take the opportunity to visit her sister and her family.

Minda Wilde once again returned to Champaign though, and is found in the city directory there in 1957 and 1960. She died March 20, 1970, and was buried with her husband in Woodlawn Cemetery, Urbana, Illinois.

As a side point, I found a tree at ancestry.com that included her father, Austin Palmer, and started clicking, and clicking, and clicking. Most of his ancestors are old New England families and eventually I got back to a Thomas Roberts, born about 1600 in England, who settled in Dover, New Hampshire. I have that man in the notes on my wife's ancestry as well so it seems likely that Minda (Palmer) Wilde was a very distant relative of my wife. Trying to figure out for sure has sidetracked me from this article for the better part of a day and I'm nowhere near proving it.

The Batemans

The Batemans had a different story to tell. Agnes Bateman was born August 15, 1903. She and her brother George were adopted by John W and Mary Lodema (Goodell) Bateman between 1910 and 1920, while the Batemans were still farming in Blue Ridge Township, Platt County, Illinois. John gave up farming in 1924 and moved to Champaign where he worked as a furniture salesman. They lived first on East Armory Avenue, but moved to 406 East Healey in 1936. John died there in 1938 and Mary in 1949. They are both buried in Mansfield Cemetery, Platt County. Like the Wildes, John and Mary Bateman had no children of their own.

The postcard, we'll remember, was addressed to "Mrs Agnes Bateman and daughter." Agnes' daughter, Mary Ann Bateman, was born in 1930 presumably in Champaign, but her obituary (as Mary Ann Speck in 2018) said this about her:

"She was born in a two-room log cabin in Gallatin County, Ill., 87 years ago. She and her brother endured the premature death of their father, and an eventual adoption required by their mother’s diagnoses with Typhoid Fever. Luckily, both she and her brother were adopted by loving parents, John and Mary Bateman."

This looked to me like a family story that became mixed up between generations. Instead of Mary Ann being the adoptee, the account was most likely referring to Mary Ann's mother Agnes and her brother George. Agnes' Social Security application said she had been born in Bowlesville Township. George's stillborn daughter Lucille's death record in 1928 said George was born in Junction and his obituary said he was born in Equality. All these are locations in Gallatin County. So it was likely that Agnes and George's father had died young and their mother fell sick with typhoid.

Could we find their birth parents?

A Dobbs Family of Gallatin County, Illinois

At this point in the article we enter the realm of "maybe." There happens to be a Sarah Dobbs, age 25 but widowed, on the 1910 Census of Equality, Gallatin County, with two young children: Agnes, age 6, and George, age 3. Those ages match what we know about Agnes and George Bateman. And there happens to be a William Dobbs, born in January 1876, who died at his home near Junction, Gallatin County, September 20, 1909, and is buried in Pisgah Cemetery.

Was William Dobbs the husband of the widowed Sarah Dobbs? Were they the parents of Agnes and George? I can't say for sure. And what happened to Sarah Dobbs, did she die of typhoid or recover? Did she remarry? I didn't find any record of her after the 1910 Census.

Conclusion

So we will leave it there. We know a little more now about the Wildes and the Batemans, but we don't know if the Batemans were Dobbses by birth. I am waiting for the Shawneetown (Gallatin Co) Library to respond to a request for more information about the death of William Dobbs, and if I hear anything I will update this post.

Updated December 24, 2021

I have heard from the Shawneetown Library. The only microfilms they had with obituaries for that time period were in The News Gleaner, Shawneetown. They did not find anything on William Dobbs.

George and Lucinda Kerns of Kankakee, Illinois

2019-09-03T00:00:00-04:00

1863 postal cover to Kankakee, IL

About 1863, Mrs Lucinda Kerns, of Kankakee, Illinois, received a letter from American Ranch, Colorado. Who was Lucinda Kerns and whom might she have known in American Ranch, Colorado?

Lucinda (Bloom) Kerns was born about 1825 in Pennsylvania and married George W. Kerns on January 31, 1847 in Will County, Illinois. They are on the 1850 Census of Bourbonnais in Will County, with two children. George was working as a mail carrier and Lucinda's sister Harriet was living with them. In 1860 they are living in Kankakee, Rockville County, Illinois, and George is a farmer.

In 1870 Lucinda is alone in Kankakee with three daughters. A biography of her son-in-law, Samuel P Nesbitt has this to say:

Mr Nesbitt [was married to] ... Miss Alice Kerns, a native of Kankakee and the daughter of George and Lucinda (Bloom) Kerns. ... [her father] died in the West, on the Comstock ranch, while on a prospecting tour of that region. He was about sixty years of age.(footnote)See: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, edited by Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, and History of Kankakee County, edited by William F Kenaga and George R Letourneau, Volume II, (Chicago: Middle-West Publishing Company, Publishers, 1906), p 1087, 1088. At Google Books.

I think the biographer, or his source of information, may have the wrong name for the ranch, since I didn't find any mention of a Comstock Ranch in Colorado. Someone may have been thinking of the Comstock lode in California. But at any rate, it looks like George went west to look for a better life for his family. Did he intend to return to Illinois, or was he planning on having his family join him in Colorado?

The Moore Family Tree at ancestry.com, adds the exact dates of January 21, 1872 for George's death and January 15, 1877, for Lucinda's, but without a source. In addition, that tree says that Lucinda was born March 3, 1824 in Burlington, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and George was born December 11, 1825. Again without sources.

Findagrave.com has a photo of a headstone for George and Lucina (Bloom) Kerns in Blooms Grove Cemetery, Manteno, Kankakee County, Illinois. The headstone says "Kerns/Lucinda Bloom 1824-1877/George W/1825 - 1872." There was no inscription saying otherwise, so possibly George is buried there with his wife.

Conclusion

This was one of the first postal covers that I researched, but I took another look at it recently. The quote from the biography of George and Lucinda's son-in-law, and the headstone image at findagrave were new, providing a little closure on George's outcome.

Sources

US Censuses
findagrave.com
Illinois Marriage Index, at ancestry.com

Credits

Image used by permission of PHILGEN: Philatelic Genealogy. To see it there click on Search Database in the left column, then search for Kerns. The image originally appeared in Schuyler Rumsey Philatelic Auctions, Sale 28, Lot 36.

Della Feely, of Oak Park, Illinois

2019-09-05T00:00:00-04:00

1938 letter, Tullylease, County Cork to Oak Park, Illinois

On September 30, 1938, someone in Tullylease, County Cork, mailed a letter to Mrs Della Feely, 405 South Maple Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois. Did this letter come from a relative in Ireland? If so, can it help us trace back Mrs Feely to her county of origin?

The short answer is maybe, but the American records came up short this time. Let’s start with the people who were not from County Cork.

Della Marie Sullivan was born in Illinois, most likely in Chicago, on August 26, 1902, the daughter of William Joseph Sullivan and Della Rose La Haut. She was baptized at Holy Guardian Angel Catholic Church, Chicago, on September 11. Her parents were living at 396 South Halsted at the time.

Della’s maternal grandparents were Louis La Haut, born maybe in January 1846, in Belgium, and Rose Cousineau, born maybe in February 1847, in Quebec, Canada. Both were French speaking. Not from Cork.

Della married Hubert James Feely about 1927. They were living at 137 Central Avenue in 1930 with a daughter Mary Patricia. They were at 405 South Maple Avenue in Oak Park by 1935.

There were enough records for Hubert’s family to eliminate the Feelys as well. More on that in a minute.

The Sullivans

That only left Della’s father’s side of the family, the Sullivans. Do you have any idea of how many Sullivans there are in Cork? Zillions. If I remember right that was their home base, for lack of a better term.

The death record of Della (Sullivan) Feely’s father William, 5 May 1943, Oak Park, said that his father John was born in County Cork. But that is where the road ended. William had been born in Chicago in 1871, but for the life of me I couldn’t find a trace of his parents or of William himself before the birth of his children, starting in 1896.

The Feelys

Della’s husband, Hubert James Feely, was born September 24, 1899, probably in Chicago, the son of Patrick Feely and Mary Coffey. He was baptized November 26, 1899, at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church. The family was living at 1026 Melrose Street at the time. His father Patrick’s death record (July 21, 1930, Chicago) says that Patrick was born in County Mayo on February 23, 1863, the son of Hubert and Catherine Feely.

There is a Hugh and Catherine Feely on the civil records of Killedan parish, Mayo, with children born from 1863 to 1877, but alas, no Hugh/Hubert. If these are his parents, his birth may have preceded the start of civil records for Catholics.

I have a feeling this is the right family, or at least we have the right area. I found a reference on myheritage.com to a Hubert Feely born July 4 1872, in Kiltimagh, Mayo, which is a couple miles from Killedan. His parents were Hubert and Catharine (Kelly) Feely. First names seem to run in families, so maybe this Hubert in Kiltimagh is a cousin.

Finally, Della’s mother in law, Mary Coffey, was born in County Clare, according to the Birth Certificate of her daughter Katherine Elizabeth, registered on Aug 8, 1966. I didn’t find Mary Coffey’s family in Clare.

Conclusion

So was Della’s letter from a relative? We’re back to “maybe” again. The family had left Cork at least 70 years earlier, but that’s not to say they didn’t keep in touch. If it was from a relative, then at least the postal cover narrows down the search to the Tullylease area, if the family starts tracing its roots. Knowing Irish families though, they probably already know exactly where they were from and have been back to visit.

For details on the Sullivans and Feelys see the the Other Families tree on this site.