My Old Ohio Home - Ohio

Russell Blackwell and Bess Young of Harrison County, Ohio

2026-07-21T00:00:00-04:00

Introduction

In September 1918, Miss Bess Young of Harrison County, Ohio, received a letter from Private R.E. Blackwell
with the United States Army in Europe. The envelope read:
Private R.E. Blackwell
Co. D. 308 Motor Supply Train
American Ex Forces
A.P.O. 762
postmarked Rec'd From Army, Bordeaux
10 AM Sep 4 1918
marked: Soldiers Mail O.A.S.

to
Miss Bess Young
R.R. #4 Cadiz [scratched out]
Uhrichsville
Harrison Co. Ohio US

Censored by
E Vanderpoel
1st Lieut 2. M.C. U.S.A.

Stamped: Passed As Censored [something] A.E.F.

Can we learn a little more about this couple?

Russell Errett Blackwell

Russell Errett Blackwell was born February 13, 1888, at Station 15, Monroe Township, Harrison County, Ohio, the son of Martin Luther Blackwell and Sarah Frances Miller. In 1900 he was with his parents and siblings in Bowerston Village, Monroe Township. Station 15 was located on the railroad line, just south of where Ohio Route 151 meets U.S Route 250. Bowerston Village is about 5.3 miles north of that. The family was still in Monroe Township in 1910, presumably at the same place. The 1910 census doesn't give any details as to location.

World War I

Russell registered for the draft on June 5, 1917, in Cadiz, Ohio, and enlisted in the United States Army on September 19, 1917. He was assigned to the 332nd Infantry at first, but on May 12, 1918, he was transferred to the 308th Supply Train. Both units were attached to the 83rd Infantry Division, which trained at Camp Sherman, just outside of Chillicothe, Ohio. The Division staged for departure to Europe at Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and Camp Mills, Long Island NY, in late May 1918, before leaving for Europe via various ports. Russell's unit left from Boston on June 12, 1918, and arrived in Le Havre, France, on the 28th. The 83rd was designated as a depot division and assigned to the area of Le Mans.

Depot divisions were located at the French ports. They received newly arriving soldiers and provided six weeks of basic training before they went to the front. And, yes, Le Mans is a port. The river Sarthe is navigable out to the English Channel.

Russell Blackwell returned home to the United States in 1919, leaving Brest, France, on July 1 and arriving in Boston on July 12. [note: his information says June 12, but I am assuming that is a mistake.] He was discharged July 19, 1919.

While at Camp Sherman, Russell survived a serious outbreak of the Spanish Influenza:

"In Chillicothe and at Camp Sherman, the disease spread just as quickly as it did everywhere else. Thousands of residents and soldiers were infected in a very short time. Approximately 5,686 cases of influenza were documented among Camp Sherman soldiers in 1918. 1,777 of them were unable to ward off the disease and died."

Russell's letter to Bess Young was postmarked Bordeaux. That was where the mail from the American troops was gathered and sent to the United States. It was censored by 1st Lt Edwin T Vanderpoel of Metuchen, New Jersey, the commanding officer of the 308th Motor Supply Train.

Bess Dale Young

Bess Dale Young was born March 24, 1889, in Stock Township, Harrison, Ohio, the daughter of John Young and Annie E. Baker. In 1900 she is with her parents and siblings in Stock Township. In 1910 the census page says they were living on the Moravian Road, which runs west from Cadiz to Deersville. Based on the birth dates of his children,

Bess' great grandfather, also named John Young, was born in Ireland about 1789 and arrived in Harrison County between 1829 and 1834. The tree at familysearch has exact dates for his birth and death and that of his wife, but provides no source for the information. John's wife's name is Martha on the censuses but the tree says it was Matilda. They had a daughter named Matilda but not one named Martha, so maybe Matilda is correct. Her daughter Elizabeth (Young) McIlroy's death record says her name was Matilda Goorley. The tree says it was Martha Matilda McDougal. Again, no source at familysearch for her surname.

Russell and Bess (Young) Blackwell

Russell Blackwell was discharged from the Army on July 19, 1919, and on September 3 he and Bess were married in Harrison County by Charles Gilmore, a Presbyterian minister. They lived in a number of places over the years: Uhrichsville in 1920, Monroe Township in Harrison County in 1930, and at 736 Second Street NW in New Philadelphia in 1940 and 1950. They were still at that address on April 9, 1974 when Russell died. They had been married almost 55 years. They had no children.

Russell worked as an oil well pumper until September 1938 at which point he was unable to work, according to his WWII Draft Registration form. He evidently had some kind of pension, since his 1950 census information said he had received $650 in income other than wages and salaries.

Bess Blackwell, still residing in New Philadelphia, died on May 18, 1982. Both died at Union Hospital, Dover, Ohio, and both are buried in Evergreen Burial Park, New Philadelphia.

Obituary of Russell Blackwell

Russell E. Blackwell, 86, of 736 2nd st. NW, New Philadelphia, died following complications Tuesday morning in the extended care unit at Union Hospital. He had been a patient five weeks. Born at Station Fifteen, near Dennison, his parents were the Martin Luther and Sarah Frances Miller Blackwell. He was a retired oil well worker and an Army veteran of World War I. He also was a member of First Presbyterian Church of New Philadelphia, a 32nd Degree Mason of Valley of Columbus and the Blue Lodge of Leesville. Surviving are his widow, Bess Young Blackwell; five sisters, Edna Blackwell and Carolyn Blackwell, both of Columbus, Mrs. Ray (Dorothy) Copeland of Tiro, O., Mrs. Oscar (Ethel) O'Donnell of Dennison and Mrs. Lyda Reaveley of Salinas, Calif. Two brothers and a sister are deceased. Services will be Thursday at 3:30 in Linn-Hert-Geib Funeral Home with Rev. Stuart Barr officiating. Interment will be in Evergreen Burial Park. Friends may call Wednesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 at the funeral home.

Findagrave says this was originally published in The Times-Reporter 10 Apr 1974.

Conclusion

It seems a shame to have all this information on these two people, descendants of some of the earliest families in Harrison County, and have no one to share it with. But, as mentioned, they had no children. It makes me wonder who kept the letter after Bess died and how long the family held on to it before someone sold it off. Hopefully a relative will find this article. You can find Bess Young's page in the familysearch tree here: https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/LKVP-ZL7. Clicking on Russell's name will take you to the Blackwells.

Russell wrote Bess another letter, postmarked September 7, 1918, at A.P.O. 762, Le Mans. As of this writing, the envelope is for sale here: https://www.postalhistory.com/results.asp?group=20&sort=2&cs=oh.

When writing the section on WWI, I relied mainly on the article in Thunderbolt. After I had finished I realized that the familysearch site had the original government document on line. You can find that in the last source listed under the WWI section. The Thunderbolt article agrees completely with the original source. Familysearch helpfully tells us that the information about the 83rd division is on images 365 to 372 of the government's document.

I might have gone overboard on sourcing this article. If you would like to understand why see the article Fact Checking a Specific AI Generated Wiki Site.

Sources

The sources for Russell Blackwell and Bess Dale Young and families are mostly the usual birth, marriage, and death records, along with findagrave, draft registrations, and the Philadelphia City Directory. Email me if you need the exact details. Other sources were:

Ohio Railroad Stations, Past and Present, Harrison County at https://www.west2k.com/ohstations/harrison.shtml
Ohio WWI Returning Soldier Index Cards at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7BNX-4ZT2?lang=en

Thunderbolt, Volume 71, Issue 1, Winter 2017, "Golden Lions–83rd Infantry Division during World War One" at https://www.83rdassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ThunderboltWinter_Final_pages_online.pdf

Harbour of Le Mans at https://www.lemans-tourisme.com/en/port-capitainerie-du-mans.html

Mail by Rail: The Story of the Postal Transportation Service, by Bryand Alden Long with William Jefferson Dennis, Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation, New York, 1951, at the website of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: https://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/OCA/Books2010-10/mailbyrailstoryo00long/mailbyrailstoryo00long.pdf

Thank you to this article at Roads to the Great War for pointing to that book. https://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-railway-mail-service-goes-to-war.html

"The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 at Camp Sherman" at the website of the National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/articles/influenza-at-camp-sherman.htm

familysearch.org "American Expeditionary Forces, Infantry, 83rd Division" at https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/American_Expeditionary_Forces,_Infantry,_83rd_Division
Click on FamilySearch Digital Library, https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/idurl/1/244497, and it will take you to

Order of battle of the United States land forces in the World War : American expeditionary forces. Divisions, by Army War College (U.S.). Historical Section, US Government Printing Office, Washington:1931. images 365 to 372, at https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/244497-order-of-battle-of-the-united-states-land-forces-in-the-world-war-american-expeditionary-forces-divisions

Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters, 1916-1939, Muster Roll of Company "D" of the 308th Motor Supply Train at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:662H-K6KB?lang=en

U.S., Army Transport Service Arriving and Departing Passenger Lists, 1910-1939, at https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/61174/records/4176607

George Allabaugh of Crawford Township, Coshocton County, Ohio

2023-08-05T00:00:00-04:00

George Allabaugh and his son-in-law John Dial, arrived in Crawford Township, in time to be on the tax rolls in 1827 and are listed one after the other on the 1830 census. George's household held himself and his wife, both between age 60 and 70. John's included himself and his wife, age 20 to 30, and two sons under 5 years old.

For more on John Dial, see John Dial of Crawford Township, Coschocton County, Ohio.

The two man are listed next to each other on the 1840 census as well. This time George Allabaugh's home includes a 10 to 15 year old male, George age 60 to 70, and his wife age 70 to 80. John Dial's family is "short" one male compared to 1830. He has only one son age 10 to 15 where you would expect two, based on the 1830 enumeration. I know that both of John's older sons lived to be adults, so it would seem that George Allabaugh and his wife had taken in one of John's sons.

Neither George Allabaugh nor John Dial are on the 1850 Census. Instead we find one household headed by John's second-oldest son Thomas, age 23, and including his sister Eliza, age 18, and his brother Evans, 16. Next door is Maria Dyal, 48, with two children Maria, age 9, and Harrison, 6. Maria has no occupation but holds real estate worth $2000; Thomas is a farmer with no real estate. It looks like Thomas was farming his mother's land--the farm that had been his father's.

Those three censuses confirm, in my mind at least, the "rumor" on familysearch and ancestry.com that John Dial's wife's name was Maria Allabaugh. What the rumor did not include was the identity of Maria's parents, who look to all accounts to be George Allabaugh and his wife. I haven't yet learned the name of George's wife.

And before that ...

... where was George Allabaugh?

European settlers in the United States generally moved from East to West, so the logical place to look for him was somewhere east of Ohio. Also, John Dial's oldest son, George, usually said on his censuses that he had been born in Pennsylvania. (This matters if we are correct in concluding that John Dial's wife was Maria Allabaugh, since they must have met before arriving in Ohio if the families were traveling together.) Looking in Pennsylvania, I found this household in Cross Creek Township, Washington County, in 1820:

George Allabaugh
1 male 45 and over
1 female 16 to 25
1 female 45 and over
1 person engaged in agriculture

If that isn't George and his wife, then I don't know who is, since I didn't find a match anywhere else. That also agrees with this bit of information from the History of Coshocton County, Ohio, 1740-1881 (Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & Co, 1881), page 487:

"Beginning about 1832, quite a number of settlers from Washington county, Pennsylvania, poured into this and the adjoining township in Tuscarawas county."

Farther East

Backing up and looking farther east, I found this family in Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1800 and 1810:

1800
George Allibaugh
1 male under 10
1 male 26 to 44
1 female 26 to 44

1810
Geo Allabaugh
1 male 26 to 44
1 female 0 to 9
1 female 45 or older

If that is George, then he and his wife had at least two children before Maria. Either they died before 1810 or, more likely in the daughter's case than the son's, had married and moved out of the household.

Coventry Township puts George about 15 miles away from Lower Salford Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, home of the immigrant ancestor Christian Allebach, who died in 1746. A transcription of Christian Allebach's estate papers is online at Christian Allebach's estate papers. They name five sons: Christian, David, Peter, John, and Abraham. Various online sources have lists of the sons of those men, but none are named George.

Somebody's Son

Still, I think "our" George Allabaugh is a grandson of Christian Allebach. The lists might be incomplete--I didn't find the original sources. Or possibly George Allabaugh went by his baptismal name rather than his given name, or vice versa, and the lists include him under the other name. (German custom was for a child to be given a baptismal name in addition to his or her given name. A family could actually use the same baptismal name for a number of children, resulting in sons named John George, John William, etc.)

Note that there were Albaugh or Ahlbach families in Maryland about this time as well. I don't think George Allabaugh was part of that family. They seemed to have kept the spelling of the name closer to the original German, not including a vowel after the "l", and often preserving the "ch" at the end of the name. And I looked in Maryland for George Allabaugh and didn't find him there.

For further research

The following resources, which I did not have access to, might provide more information on George Allabaugh:

John Alleback, son of the first Christian, died November 6, 1790. His will is in the Charlestown, Chester County, PA, Estate Files at ancestry.com. George could be named in the will.
Updated August 5, 2023: John died intestate and the record in probate dated 18 March 1794 says he was survived by a widow Mary and seven children. It does not name the children.
The book Pennsylvania births, Chester County, 1682-1800, by John T Humphrey, is said to include baptisms at the Brownbacks German Reformed Church in Coventry Township. George Allabaugh's children could be named there, or possibly even George himself.

Sources

George Allibaugh, 1800 Census of Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania

George Allabaugh, 1810 Census of Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

George Allabaugh, 1820 Census of Cross Creek Township, Washington County, Ohio.

George Allabaugh and John Doyle, 1830 Census of Crawford Township, Coshocton County, Ohio.
George Allabaugh and John Dial, 1840 Census of Crawford Township, Coshocton County, Ohio.

Thomas Dial and Maria Dial, 1850 Census of Crawford Township, Coshocton County, Ohio.

Taxable property in Crawford Township, 1827, 1828

tagged: genealogy

Cornelius Keating of Cleveland, Ohio

2019-02-20T00:00:00-05:00

Ned Rodgers usually had a boarder or two in his house at 4025 East 89th, Cleveland, Ohio, in addition to his family of nine. His daughter Margaret Cushing kept up the tradition. Margaret owned the home in 1920, and besides herself, her mother, two daughters, her sister and her four children, plus another two nieces, she had a boarder named Con Keating. I've written articles about the other Rodgers' boarders, so here goes the article about Mr. Keating.

According to his death record, Cornelius Keating was born on May 11, 1859, in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of John Keating who had been born in Ireland. In the course of my research I found that Cornelius' mother's name was Sarah, but I didn't find her maiden name.

The family was at 2553 Bluff on the southeast side of Cleveland by 1876. That became 2553 Bissell, then 86 Bissell, and then 4134 East 76th Street. John Keating died there in 1892, and Sarah Keating was still living there in 1920. She died in 1923 at the Little Sisters of the Poor home on Superior Avenue but was buried from Holy Name, so I imagine that East 76th was her home address when she died. Her death record did not name her parents. I didn't find a record of her husband John Keating's death.

Cornelius himself married Mary Downs on March 28, 1900. They had three children but only one, John, lived to adulthood. Mary (Downs) Keating died March 28, 1913, and Cornelius on May 26, 1927. They are both buried in St Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Cleveland.

When Con's wife Mary died in 1913, they were living at 4018 East 89th, so it was a short step to the Rodgers' home at 4025. He was found at that address in the 1916 to 1921 Cleveland City Directories. When he died in 1927 Con was living with his son John at 1389 Penhurst on the northeast side.

I'd hoped to find the Irish place of origin for the Keatings, but could not from the available records. That's twice that I've drawn a blank on someone named Keating. Edited March 9, 2026: the Keating Family Tree at ancestry.com, says that Cornelius' father, John, was born 5 April 1828, in the parish of Moyne and Templetouhy, Co. Tipperary. I don't know what their source is for that information.

What I did learn along the way was that the name was probably originally pronounced something like Cat'n with a long A. The earlier records often had spellings like Caton, Cating, etc. In fact the 1880 census had John and "Conroy" listed as "Kayton." Cornelius signed his wife's death record as "C. Kating."

So there you go, just about all I know about Cornelius "Con" Keating, one of the many boarders at 4025 East 89th over the years. He is the last that I know of—I wonder if any more will turn up.

Sources and a little more information can be found on Cornelius Keating's page in the Ohio Families tree on this site.

1960 Postal Cover from Warrensville, Ohio, to Duncan, British Columbia

2019-09-02T00:00:00-04:00

1960 Letter from Warrensville, Ohio, to Duncan, British Columbia

On March 11, about 1960, Mr John L Alline of 19415 Wickfield Road, Warrensville Heights, Ohio, sent a letter to Mr W D Wadsworth, of Gibbins Road, Duncan, British Columbia. Who were these men, and what was the correspondence about?

John L Alline

John Lowell Alline was born December 4, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of John Lowell Alline and Emilie Maue. His father was born in Le Mars, Iowa; his great-grandfather Alfred Alline had moved to Le Mars from Addison, Maine, in the mid 1800's.

John's mother, Emilie Maue, was born about 1892 in Pennsylvania, most likely in Hazelton, Luzerne County, where her father Philip is found on censuses from 1850 (with his father Adam) through 1880. Emilie's mother, Mary Nusbaum, was born in Germany, and Emilie's paternal grandparents were born there as well.

You can find extensive information on the genealogy of the Alline family at Alfred A Alline.

For the Moue ancestry see: Philip Maue. If you start looking for them on the search page at familysearch.org, note that their surname was usually indexed incorrectly, as Mane, Maney, Mowey, etc.

William Deakin Wadsworth

William Deakin Wadsworth was born February 20, 1917, in Trail, British Columbia, the son of John Aspinwall Wadsworth and Helena Hoskin. His father was born in Wrexham, North Wales, where he is found with his parents on the 1891 Census. William's mother was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, and is with her parents there on the same census. John A Wadsworth was living in Chesterfield, not far from the Hoskins in 1901; he and Helena were married in Braxton, Chesterfield, in 1904.

I have posted the research that I did on the Wadsworth family under Wadsworth in the other families section of this website.

Reason for the Correspondence

While it is possible that these men were old friends exchanging pleasantries, the reason for the letter more likely has to do with the groups of letters and numbers included in the address and return address.

Both John Alline and William Wadsworth were ham radio operators and the letters and numbers were their on air callsigns to identify their station. I found Mr Alline in the Radio Amateur Callbook Magazine as early as 1940, when he would have been 18 or so. Mr Wadsworth showed up a few years earlier, in 1937.

In this case, John was probably asking Mr Wadsworth for a QSL Card to confirm a contact he had made on one of the amateur radio frequencies.

The extra call sign on the address caught my eye, so I did a little more research. The March 1960 issue of DXer Magazine, published by the Northern California DX Club said that Bill Wadsworth, VE7ZM, was the QSL manager for the station TA3GI in 1960. That meant that he handled any request for confirmation of contacts made with that station.

TA3GI

Further Googling brought me to a few accounts of the operation of the station itself. The October/November 2004 of The Nugget, The Newsletter of the Mother Lode DX/Contest Club, carried the reminiscences of Shirley L. Rose (AA6K). He said that he was in the US Air Force and stationed in Turkey from October 1959 to October 1962. He relates:

QSL Card

In those days the government of Turkey forbid Ham Radio within their country. However when you have some bored personnel who are isolated with time on their hands then they’ll find something to do. Myself and two other troops set up a station using some “auxiliary” HF equipment we had in supply (Collins KWS-1 transmitter, Collins 75A-4 Receiver, And a Mosley trapped vertical antenna) and went on the 20 meter band as TA3GI. TA being Turkey, three being the number of participants, and GI referring to government issued equipment. We had a great time for about three months and then the Turks began snooping around with their DF (direction finding) equipment so we ceased our operation.

A similar story was told by Alfred J. Cammarata, who was stationed in Turkey from April 1960 to October 1961:

Amateur radio operation was banned in Turkey. During slow periods at work I sometimes tuned a spare receiver to the ham bands and listened to the activity. The temptation was strong to operate illegally or “bootleg” but better judgement prevailed. However, one day the propagation was so good - the USA was coming in strong - that temptation overtook me and I tuned our transmitter to the 20 meter amateur band and in about a half hour caused a ruckus using the call sign TA3GI working several stations using morse code. No harm done. So I thought. A month later at the close of a monthly commanders call meeting, as an afterthought, Capt. Speelman mentioned he’d received a memo from Turkish authorities reminding U.S. personnel that amateur radio operation was illegal. My heart dropped into my stomach. I’d been forewarned.

DXer Magazine, mentioned above, also carried a brief note saying that TA3GI was operating undercover, and QSL requests should be sent to VE7ZM.

Newsclip from DXer Magazine, March 1960

Incidentally, those first hand accounts narrow down the likely postmark date of the letter we started with to the spring of 1960. That would be when John Alline was skillful enough and fortunate enough to communicate with the US servicemen's station, TA3GI, in Turkey.

An Explanation of the QSL Card

QSL Card, reverse

To clarify, the QSL card pictured in this article is not the one that was sent to John Alline, in Warrensville Heights, Ohio. The back of the card indicates that it went to a man named Fernand, who operated a station with the call sign ON4DM. This would make it a Belgian station.

The front of the card is easy enough to read. It says basically that a station in Turkey, TA3GI, engaged in a two way communication in the single side-band mode (not AM or FM, for example.) The operator, Zack, sent his best wishes, or 73's. And the card was paid for by a Radio Club in British Columbia, where William Wadsworth lived.

The back of the card is a little more cryptic for the non-amateur. The top section reminds the recipient to address all correspondence regarding this station to Mr Wadsworth since, as we learned, he was the station's QSL manager. It then confirms the conversation with station ON4DM, giving its date and time: February 16, 1960, at 1903 GMT or standard time in Greenwich, England. "Bill" says that Zack was pleased to talk to Fernand, the operator, and thanks him for the contact.

Conclusion

It's not often that I get to combine four past and present hobbies at once: stamp collecting, blogging, genealogy, and ham radio, but this envelope got my attention for that reason. Plus I lived not far from Mr Alline while growing up, so it was a touch of home to work with a postmark from the Cleveland area.

Sources

myheritage.com
- 1891 and 1901 Censuses of the UK
familysearch.org
- British Columbia Death Registrations
- Ontario Births
- various US censuses
- probably others not mentioned
archive.org
- Radio Amateur Callbook Magazine
DXer Magazine, Northern California DX Club, Oakland, California, Volume XV, No. III, March 1960.
The Nugget, The Newsletter of the Mother Lode DX/Contest Club, October/November 2004.
1959-1963 USAF Experiences in Turkey, Alfred J. Cammarata, © 2008-2011 by Author.

Credits

The image of the envelope is used by permission of the Jim Forte Postal History site and can be found on this page of the site, unless it has been sold. I am not connected with the site.
I think the short newsclip from the DXer Magazine is covered under "fair use."

Ethel Ann Jones of Columbus, Ohio

2020-01-27T00:00:00-05:00

1908 postcard, Columbus, Ohio, to Mountain Ash, South Wales

On November 23, 1908, Ethel Jones of Columbus, Ohio, sent a postcard to her cousin May Jones in Mountain Ash, South Wales. The message reads:

November 23, 1908
Dear Cousin May:-
This is where cousin Will sang when he was here. You certainly had ought to see it. It is just grand. Ask Will about it. From your loving cousin,
Ethel Jones
417 Clarendon Ave

Can the postcard help us narrow down the Welsh ancestry of the Columbus family?

Introduction

To make a long story short, yes, the postcard did help me find the Joneses' ancestry in Wales. I hadn't done much research in Wales, and I took this postcard from a Jones family as a challenge. I don't think I ever would have found their family without the clues on the card. Let's start in Ohio …

The Columbus Family

Ethel May Jones was born April 30, 1890, in Columbus, the daughter of Thomas Stephen Jones and Marietta Boswell. She was the second of six children, who survived to adulthood. Ethel's oldest brother Raymond was born in 1888; her younger siblings were Clara (1892), Harland (1898), Etta May (1900) and Thomas Stephen (1902). The family was living at either 289 South 18th or 2120 Sullivant Ave, Columbus, in November 1908 when the postcard was sent. Ethel's father was working as a meat cutter.

Thomas Stephen Jones' died in Columbus on January 22, 1932, and his death record said he was born November 21, 1860, in North Wales, the son of Edward Jones and Martha Paugh. Thomas's wife Marietta provided the information and, as it turned out, she hadn't remembered Thomas' parents' first names correctly. But the key clue was his mother's maiden name, Paugh, or Pugh.

That was a start toward his Welsh origin, but I needed more if I was going to connect these families. I looked for the recipient of the postcard, May Jones, in Mountain Ash, Wales, but there were too many to focus on just one. So what next?

The Postcard

What made the difference were the clues on the postcard. The front was a picture of the Franklin County Memorial Hall in Columbus, and the message said "This is where cousin Will sang when he was here."

Front of 1908 postcard, Columbus, Ohio, to Mountain Ash, South Wales

So I tried Googling a few things and eventually, by looking for "will jones welsh singer columbus ohio 1908", I found this:

Columbus News, November 19, 1908

Tomorrow (Friday) evening the Cambrian Club will present the Welsh singers, known as the Mountain Ash Chorus, the concert to take place in Memorial Hall. There are a large number of native Welsh people in Columbus who with many others will give this choir of singers a warm welcome.(footnote)The Musical Courier, No. 1496, November 25, 1908, page 39, New York, NY at Google Books.

November 25, 1908 Musical Courier of New York City, page 39

Since Ethel May Jones sent the postcard to her cousin on November 23, this event must have been the one at Memorial Hall in which her cousin Will performed.

Then a light bulb went off in my head and I realized that if Will was in Columbus he had to get there from Wales. So I went looking for passenger manifests and found this one:

Arriving 1 October 1908 at NY, on the Adriatic, left Southampton 23 Sep 1908 William S Jones, 28, a machinist, relative in Wales: father Edward Jones, 13 Richmond Street, Mountain Ash, non immigrant alien, last permanent residence: Mountain Ash, nationality: Welsh, carrying $45, 5'8", dark complexion, black hair, blue eyes, tattoo marks on left arm, born in Llanidloes. He had never been in the U.S. before.

There were 24 men on the same page in the group travelling with William. A note for all of them said they were on a 4 months tour.

With an address in Mountain Ash, it was easy to find the correct Welsh family, namely …

The Mountain Ash Family

… that of Edward and Mary (Davies) Jones, at 13 Richmond Street, Mountain Ash. In their household in 1911 we find William Spoonley Jones, age 30, the singer, with a sister Lilian May, age 21, the recipient of the postcard. Also in the household were a younger brother Stephen, and two younger sisters Bronwen and Ceinwen. Two sons, Albert and Thomas, had left the household.(footnote)1911 Census of Mountain Ash, Pontypridd, Glamorganshire, Wales.

William Spoonley Jones and both his parents had been born in Llanidloes, Montgomery, Wales, so the next steps were to find:

William Spoonley Jones' birth in the 2nd quarter of 1880 in Newtown, Montgomeryshire;
his father Edward's in the 2nd quarter of 1858 in Llanidloes, and
his uncle Thomas Stephen Jones' birth in the 4th quarter of 1861 in Newtown.

For both Edward and Thomas, the mother's maiden name was Pugh. A Thomas Jones and Ann Pugh were married in Newtown in the 2nd quarter of 1858.

On the 1861 census of Newtown, there is an Edward Jones, age 2, with parents Thomas and Ann, at 30 Great Oak Street. In 1871, Ann, widowed, Edward, and Thomas S were at 31 Great Oak Street. I am fairly sure these are Edward Jones, later of Mountain Ash, Wales, and Thomas S Jones, later of Columbus, Ohio.

Glyndwr's Mountain Ash Welsh Male Choir

Before I close this article, here are a few words about the group William S Jones was with, apparently properly named Glyndwr's Mountain Ash Welsh Male Choir. If you Google their name, you will find a number of articles, including this one, which I thought was the best: Glyndwr’s Mountain Ash Male Choir, a discography: Glyndwr Mountain Ash Welsh Male Choir, and a group photo of the 1908 choir that toured the United States. The photo was in the Cardiff Times:

Cardiff Times, August 15, 1908, page 1

William Spoonley Jones is in the back row, the third person from our left.

Sources

Sources and details for both Jones families can be found in the Jones section of the Ohio Families tree on this site.

James and Jennie Patterson of Washington County, Pennsylvania

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

1912 postcard, South Euclid, Ohio, to Washington County, Pa

On August 9, 1912, Miss J L Patterson, of Washington County, Pennsylvania, received a post card from her brother Jim postmarked South Euclid, Ohio. The message read:

Dear Sister: Received yours of 29th and also Lillian's of 4th the same day but will not attempt to answer her tonight. Tell Burt to hold on to that piano and be able to play for me when I come home next time. All of me is getting along find don't you worry. Tell mamma to be careful of that eating. Say hello to Aunt Lizzie for me. How does the home take with the boys? Love to all, your loving bro. Jim.

Can we find out anything about Jim and his sister?

Lately with the postal cover articles, I’ve been tracing back people of Irish descent to the county their family came from in Ireland. But this time I thought I would try something different, and the South Euclid postmark caught my eye, since I grew up in a neighboring suburb.

James M Patterson

James was born June 1, 1890, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, the son of J Leman Patterson and Mary McElroy. He is living with them in Hopewell Township at the time of the 1910 Census, along with his older sister Jennie, six younger brothers and sisters, including Robert, and his aunt Lizzie McElroy. He must have left home soon after that, since the postcard was mailed in 1912. I didn’t find him in the Cleveland City Directories for that time period, but he is listed as follows in the American agriculturist farm directory Washington County, Pennsylvania, published in 1915:

Patterson, James M. machinist bds J. L. Patterson rd9 Washington H31 BT.

So, I wonder if he had been in Cleveland earlier for school or to work?

back of postcard

I first found James in the Cleveland records in June 1917 when he registered for the draft, living at 2740 Euclid Avenue. He was working as a salesman for M & M Company at 500 Prospect. They sold automobile radiators, doors, and probably etc.

On November 24, 1920, James Patterson married Ethel M Dawson, the daughter of Arthur and Mary (Millar) Dawson. She was living at home in Mayfield Township and teaching school in January of that year, but gave her occupation and residence as “clerk, South Euclid”, on the marriage license application. Ethel was a teacher most of her life. I found references to her in the Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle Telegram in 1927, 1932, and 1938, one of them saying that she was a home economics teacher at Ridgeville Township School.

James Patterson died on September 3, 1972, while living in Fairview Park and is buried in Knollwood Cemetery in Mayfield Heights. His wife Ethel died on December 11, 1990 and is also buried there. They had no children.

Jennie L (Patterson) Knox

James’ sister Jennie was born February 16, 1887. In a biography of her father published in 1910 she is described as a “popular teacher.” She was still teaching in 1930 and was living at home with her family.

On December 27, 1932, Jennie and Harry Knox, 52, also of Washington County, applied for a marriage license. They must have gone through with it as they are found as husband and wife on the 1940 Census of Buffalo Township, Washington County. Harry was farming and Jennie had stopped teaching.

Jennie L (Patterson) Knox died in 1968 and is buried in North Buffalo Presbyterian Cemetery along with her husband. They did not have children either.

Conclusion

I enjoyed doing something different this time with the postcard and look forward to a few more: one from Rockland, Rhode Island, and one from Wilmore, Pennsylvania, my grandfather’s birthplace.

From other people’s research at myheritage.com, it seems that the Pattersons and McElroys had been in Pennsylvania for a long while.

1856 map Hopewell Township(footnote)The 1856 Map of Hopewell Township comes from ancestortracks.com.

There is a map of Hopewell Township in 1856 that has two Patterson farms marked on it. One might be James M Patterson’s grandfather. The immigrant ancestor, James Patterson, is said to have been born in County Down, Ireland, in 1777, and James McElroy in Armagh, in 1738. So I guess I was working with Irish descendants after all.

Sources:

1900 Census Hopewell Township, West Middletown Borough, Pennsylvania
1910 Census Hopewell Township, Washington, Pennsylvania
1920 Census Mayfield Township, Cuyahoga County
1930 Census Buffalo Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania
United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013
newspaperarchive.com, free OCR rendering.
Ohio Death Index, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007
Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1885-1950
Cleveland Necrology File and News Index
findagrave.com
Automotive Industries, Volume 31, Chilton Company, 1914
American agriculturist farm directory Washington County, Pennsylvania : a rural directory and reference book, including a road map of Washington County, 1915, New York, Orange Judd Co.
20th Century History Of The City of Washington and Washington County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens, by Joseph F. McFarland, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1910

Mary Belle Lemon, Clermont County, Ohio

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

1908 postcard, Chilo, Ohio to Rising Sun, Indiana, back

On July 20, 1908, Mary Belle Lemon of Neville, Ohio, sent a postcard to Miss Effie Turner of Rising Sun, Indiana. It read:

Arrived home safe and sound and found everything fine.
Suppose you got home O.K the other night.
Mary B Lemon.

What can we learn about these two young ladies? And how did they know each other?

What first aroused my curiosity about this postcard was the locations of the sender and receiver, and the picture of the Sinton Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the front side. Rising Sun, Indiana, is 36 miles from Neville, Ohio, as the crow flies, but 64 miles today via the interstate, a route which takes the traveller through Kentucky. In 1908, the journey would have been considerably longer.

Cincinnati is about half way from one place to the other. So my working theory was that the two ladies met in Cincinnati, possibly at a teachers' conference, and struck up a friendship. A bit of research squashed that idea. Although Lizzie Turner was a teacher, Mary Belle Lemon was only 16 when the card was written. So did they attend a religious meeting of some kind? Had Mary Belle's older sister accompanied her? At the end of the day, both questions were unanswered.

1908 postcard, Chilo, Ohio to
Rising Sun, Indiana, front

The other two possibilities for the common bond between Mary Belle and Lizzie were 1) that their two families were part of an extensive riverfront community along the Ohio River, or, overlapping with that idea, 2) that the two towns were tied together through family relationships. As it turned out the last option was the most likely scenario, from what I could tell.

Mary Belle Lemon, of Neville, Ohio, and Bellevue, Kentucky

Mary Belle Lemon was born May 16, 1892, in Washington Township, Clermont County, Ohio, the second daughter of Edwin Wallace Lemon and Clara Belle Galbreath. Her sister Clara Edith was born in 1888. By 1910 the family had moved from Neville to New Richmond, then by 1914 Edwin had evidently retired and they were living at 449 Washington Avenue, Bellevue, Kentucky. Mary's parents and sister died in Bellevue, while Mary herself died November 21, 1974, in Cincinnati.

Mary Belle was married briefly to John Henry Laskey, a World War One veteran. He enlisted in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, in August 1917, and was discharged May 5, 1919. During the war, he contracted tuberculosis and was treated for 8 months during 1923 and 1924 in Dayton, Ohio. It looks like he went directly from there to being a patient at Fort Whipple, Arizona, which had been converted into a hospital for respiratory patients. Mary and John were married in Flagstaff, Arizona, on September 6, 1924. John died in the Fort Whipple Veteran's Hospital on February 26, 1927, and Mary never remarried.

Effie Turner, of Rising Sun, Indiana

Effie M Turner was born August 21, 1886, in Sugar Branch, Switzerland County, Indiana, the second of five children of Martin V Turner and Ellen Harris. She and her parents were living in Quercus Grove, Posey Township, Indiana, in 1900 and 1910, the nearest post office in 1908 evidently being in Rising Sun. Effie married Bernard H Galbreath on June 8, 1910, at her parents' home. Bernard died at the age of 44; Effie lived to be 93, dying March 26, 1980. Both are buried in Rising Sun Cemetery.

Conclusion

As postal cover articles on this website go, my success rating for this one was about a "4". The only proven link I found between Mary (Lemon) Laskey and Effie (Turner) Galbreath is this: Effie's husband, Bernard Galbreath, was Mary's second cousin. The great grandparents of both were Robert Lawful Galbreath and Katharine Harvey. Was this enough of a bond for them to meet in Cincinnati in 1908? I don't know.

Sources

None of the information was very hard to find. I had a bit of trouble with Mary's marriage in Arizona, until I realized that both bride and groom said they were from Cincinnati. Everything was available either at familysearch.org or ancestry.com. There are family trees for both Mary Lemon and Effie Turner at familysearch.

Henry "Harry" Billups, Pittsburgh, 1890

2018-10-08T00:00:00-04:00

Note: This article has been updated over the years, as I found more information. The current list of places I have looked for Henry "Harry" Billups' death is at the end of the article.

Introduction

First of all, I have good reason to believe that Harry died by September 1892. Our family had a note written by Harry's son-in-law which said that Harry died at age 46. He was born in September 1845, so he would have turned 47 in September 1892. All the other information in that note was accurate, so I think the information about Harry is correct also.

Separate from that note, we were told by older family members that Henry and his wife died in a carriage accident. Agnes, we have come to learn, died of breast cancer. But did Henry die in a carriage accident himself?

Last seen alive

Henry Billups was last known to be alive in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in January and February 1890. According to the Pittsburgh Dispatch of January 8, Harry was accused of "alienating the affection" of a Mrs. Acor. Harry was said to have left Pittsburgh for an unknown destination.

On February 1, the Dispatch carried an article in which Mr. Acor said he had located Harry Billups in Youngstown, Ohio. Harry denied knowing the whereabouts of Mrs. Acor, but her husband said he believed she was still in Youngstown.

September 2018

In September 2018, I posted a request on the United States forum at rootschat.com, hoping that someone could find a reference to either Henry Billups or James Acor in Youngstown in the years 1890 to 1892. That thread is at Newspaper lookup, Youngstown, Ohio, 1890 - 1892.

One of the replies pointed out that Henry is not found on the Mahoning County Coroners Inquests, 1883-1908, which are online. So the good news is that he didn't die under suspicious circumstances in Youngstown, and probably didn't die there at all.

Mrs Acor

The response to the rootschat post also turned up this interesting information about Mrs Acor:

The Pittsburgh Press - 30 September 1893 Applications for divorce. Alice Amelia Acor charges her husband James Acor with cruelty.

and

Pittsburgh Daily Post - 20 March 1895 - page 4 - Divorce was granted to Amelia Alice Acor from James Acor. Testimony related to a horrible story of the life of an unhappily married couple. Married 23 January 1873 and lived a miserable existence until July 19 1893. When married the libellant lived on South Diamond Street but at the time of the suit was entered she lived with her children in the rear of 25 Goodrich Street Allegheny. The last heard of Acor was when he worked in the workhouse in September 1893. Several witness corroborated Mrs Acor's testimony.

Another rootschatter pointed me to the Youngstown Examiner of 1891 to 1893, at Google News archives. A search for Henry Billups, with various spellings of his surname, found nothing.

So, did Henry Billups return to Pittsburgh from Youngstown? If so, did he die there? His brother Thomas didn't move to Jeannette Borough until about 1899, so there is no reason to think Henry went to Jeanette from Youngstown.

Did he remarry in Logan, PA?

March 2019

Further research turned up this marriage record in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, where Henry had lived with his wife Agnes until her death in March 1880:

Marriage
December 5, 1886
Henry Billups of Logan
Martha Thompson of Mifflin County

That came from the United Methodist Records, Burnham Charge, Burnham (Freedom Forge), Pennsylvania.

There were no other Billups families in the Logan, Pa., area in the 1880s–at least I haven't seen one. So that groom looks an awful lot like "our" Henry.

Then there is this death information for Martha Thompson, from findagrave:

Martha M Thompson
Birth 1850
Death 28 Mar 1892
Burial Maitland Brethren Cemetery, Maitland, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, USA
Gravesite Details 42y 2m 12d Wife of Wm Thompson

Note that Mrs Thompson died in 1892, the year that we think Henry died.

So did Henry remarry? Did he then leave his second wife and go to Pittsburgh, and Youngstown? Did he return to Logan, Mifflin County, and die in a carriage accident with his wife? Then did her family bury her as "Thompson" with her first husband? And did the county bury Henry? The search goes on.

A lookup request for Henry Billups in Cemeteries of Mifflin County, volumes 1 and 2, by Bob and Mary Closson, returned no listing for him. The two Billups in Mifflin County were:

Church Hill Cemetery, Section B reads "M12 Mary E. Billups 1887-1955"
St Mark's Episcopal Cemetery, Oldest Section Lot 97 1
(2 graves) Billups, Agnes 1846-1880
2 Lake, William Civil War Veteran

William Lake doesn't seem to have any connection to the Billups, other than living in Mifflin County. One question though is: his wife Elizabeth is a widow in 1880, so he died before Agnes. Maybe Henry only purchased one plot. But at least we know Henry is not buried in the same lot as his wife.

A Brief Timeline

March 3, 1880, Agnes (Gratton) Billups dies in Logan.
June 1, 1880, Henry and sons John and James William, on census of Derry, Mifflin County.
April 27, 1882, son James William dies in Philadelphia.
December 5, 1886, Henry weds Mrs Martha Thompson, in Logan, Pennsylvania?
before 1890: Henry's nose is broken in a fight with a policeman in Philadelphia, according to Mr James Acor of Pittsburgh.
January and February 1890, Henry is charged with alienating the affection of Amelia (Mrs James) Acor, in Pittsburgh.
?? 1892 Henry returns to Logan and dies in a carriage accident with his second wife ??

The Records

Here is where I have looked for Harry so far, without success:

I'm almost certain I asked St Mark's Episcopal Church in Lewistown if Henry was buried in their cemetery. Agnes is, but Henry's name is not on the stone
Philadelphia City Directories for 1881, 1887, 1889, 1891.
Death records for Mifflin county
Death records for Montgomery County, including Norristown, which begin in 1893
The City Directories of Norristown for 1888, 1890, or 1892
1891-92 Youngstown City Directory at ancestry.com
Allegheny County Deaths. A letter dated July 18, 2005 from the Office of the Register of Wills, said they were unable to find any records of Henry Billups. Prior to 1905 immediate registration of deaths was not required, so many pre-1905 deaths are not officially recorded.
the Knights of Pythias (Greenwood) Cemetery in Philadelphia. In an email of Feb 21, 2009, the Friends of Greenwood Director said that Henry was not found. His son James was.
There doesn't seem to be a Knights of Pythias cemetery in Pittsburgh. Henry's sister, Naomi Jackson, was a Daughter of Pythias.
Deaths in Salem, New Jersey from Jul 1891 to Jun 1893. A letter from the State of New Jersey received by a relative in 2010 said Henry's death was not on the records of Salem City/County for that time period.
New Jersey Deaths online, through 1885, searched in December 2009 at: https://wwwnet1.state.nj.us/DOS/Admin/ArchivesDBPortal/DeathIndex.aspx.
An online search of cemeteries in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Montgomery counties, searched in February 2009 at http://usgwarchives.net/nj/salem.
The Records of Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh
the extant death records of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Westmoreland County Death Records begin in 1893. I did not request a search.
Youngstown Examiner, 1891 to 1893.
"The St. John’s [Episcopal Church] record does not include an mention of a Henry or Harry Billups, or any other Billups for that matter." -- reply from Administrator for Property and Archivist, Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh
"Please note that I could not find any information regarding deaths from 1892 in the following church records deposited in our holdings ... Eleventh United Presbyterian Church (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Register, 1847-1925 (2 vols.)" -- reply from Reference Archivist, Presbyterian Historical Society
The death records and the Mahoning County Coroners Inquests, 1883-1908, which were once available at Ohio Genealogical Society - Mahoning Chapter, but no longer. An incomplete transcription is available at Ohio Genealogy Express as of April 2024.
The Allegheny County, Pa. Coroner's Office Records, 1884-1976.
He was not found in Obituaries of Mifflin County Vol. 2 1880-1896, by Dan McClenahan.
He was not found in Cemeteries of Mifflin County, volumes 1 and 2, by by Bob and Mary Closson.
There are no Billups on the Membership records or Baptism records of the United Methodist Records, Burnham Charge, Burnham (Freedom Forge), Pennsylvania. Database found at ancestry.com as part of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records.

Credits

Image courtesy of digitalart at freedigitalphotos.net.