Photo Friday :: Mrs Parsons

This series was birthed from the large old photo album I rediscovered in the back of my closet. Many of the photos are from my grandmother's side of the family. There are also unknown photos that came with the album. Story goes my dad, an avid garage saler, picked up a celluloid covered Victorian era photo album on one of his scavenges. It already contained photos of an (as yet) unidentified family. My parents put our own vintage family photos in the album alongside the mystery family's.  As children we marveled at the old fashioned clothing and settings, often wondering who these people were and what their lives were like. Of course, we thought that ALL the people in the photos were our relations! It wasn't until my mom passed the album on to me after my dad died that I learned of the mystery family residing alongside our own!

I plan to share these photos over time, sometimes they will be my family, and identifiable, others will be of the mystery family. Thanks to the world wide web, they may find their way home yet!

Enjoy!

Do you know me?
Mrs Parsons
"friend of Mr & Mrs E. W. Twining"
1880's

Mr and Mrs E. W. Twining lived in Corning, IA
~the back of the photo is marked Williams & Thomson, Kansas City~

©2017 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Photo Friday :: Dr Parsons

This series was birthed from the large old photo album I rediscovered in the back of my closet. Many of the photos are from my grandmother's side of the family. There are also unknown photos that came with the album. Story goes my dad, an avid garage saler, picked up a celluloid covered Victorian era photo album on one of his scavenges. It already contained photos of an (as yet) unidentified family. My parents put our own vintage family photos in the album alongside the mystery family's.  As children we marveled at the old fashioned clothing and settings, often wondering who these people were and what their lives were like. Of course, we thought that ALL the people in the photos were our relations! It wasn't until my mom passed the album on to me after my dad died that I learned of the mystery family residing alongside our own!

I plan to share these photos over time, sometimes they will be my family, and identifiable, others will be of the mystery family. Thanks to the world wide web, they may find their way home yet!

Enjoy!

Do you know me?

Dr Parsons
'friend of E. W. Twining"
1880's

E.W. Twining lived in Corning IA
~the back of the photo is marked Williams & Thomson, Kansas City~

©2017 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

The Czachorowskys | From Prussia to Chicago: 1880 to 1890

The Czachorowskys are a conundrum. They seem to simply 'appear' in Chicago around 1868. Claiming to be from Prussia I have yet to determine their actual origins. Or their point of entry into the United States. Or why they chose Chicago. As I set out to research one family I discovered others. Curiosity getting the best of me, this turned into the study of five Czachorowsky families living in Chicago c. 1870.  It is my hope with this series to make some discoveries to either link these families together, or prove they are not related. This is a real-time research project, I have not worked on this cluster before. I plan to share my discoveries and my frustrations in hopes that more eyes on the evidence will result in some sound conclusions. Join me as I explore these families, maybe we'll make some discoveries together!

Chicago 1880 to 1890

We open this decade with the three Czachorowsky families still residing in their original homes. Anton is the most steadfast. He appears to have a steady job as a house mover. Bernard disappears again and Leo seems to be restless.

Oh, by the way, did anyone find anything interesting in the Catholic Church records last week? It's a bit of an eye strain, isn't it? Scanning all those records. I happened upon something interesting! From a hint on another researcher's Ancestry tree I discovered a citation for a marriage record at St Francis of Assisi - guess what!? I found Paulina (Anton's sister) Czachorowsky's marriage! She married Nick Ballmann on June 22nd 1871. We'll follow her story later ..... it might be exciting!

As there were no census records, and the city directories weren't showing anything new or (too) surprising, I turned to the newspapers. I found Leo running for constable of West Town (8th Ward) on the Democratic ticket in 1877.  

Daily Inter Ocean April 3, 1877

Anton's daughter Paulina died on July 5th 1887. She was 22 years old. Oh, and look - they did not have a church service. Curious?

Daily Inter Ocean July 8, 1887

Also in 1887 one of the Czachorowskys filed a lawsuit: 

Daily Inter Ocean Nov 21, 1887 

Maybe it was Anton, here he is filing one in 1893:

Daily Inter Ocean July 7, 1893

Oh, wait. Bernard filed one in 1885 an 1891!

Wow! $4,000 was a lot of money back then! (Still is) Google tells me it's equivalent to $102,214.08 in 2017 money! Holy cow! Maybe that's why Bernard tended to disappear ..... (and maybe he liked the horses a little too much?) Interestingly, these are some of Chicago's heavy hitters of the time, I'd be curious to learn more of this relationship.

Back to the City Directories, we see a few moves we would not have known about with census records alone. And some funny spellings of names ...

1882, here the mystery Frank shows up for the first time. Anton is Albert this year. (Unless there's a new Czachorowsky brother! Oh no!)

1882

1883, looks like Leo and Mary moved! 446 S Halstead is now the family home, and Mary's business.

1883

 1884, Frank's back! Leo's latest occupation is 'driver'. This could mean several things, a person who oversaw convict work parties, a train or coach driver or a horse driver, as in harness racing. (Remember Bernard's involvement with the Driving Park?) Bernard didn't make this edition.

1884

1885, oh well, now what?! Who's Bernhard? Or Bennie? (also a driver) Is this the same (mystery) Frank or Anton's son Frank? Point of interest - Colorado Av is the street the Chicago Driving Park is on ..... hmm...

1885

Chicago Driving Park on Colorado Av

1887, Benjamin? Antoine? The only constant is Mary.

1887

1888, Looks like Anton may have moved out of the house. I wonder if it had anything to do with the death of his daughter? Or could this be Bernard? Anton was never a carpenter before. Leo and Mary are back living on Canal, and Leo is now an insurance agent.

1888

1889, Bernard's back! And another Frank has appeared. Looks like Leo's son this time.

1889

1890, this makes sense. Bernard is here, Anton (Anthony this year)  with sons Bernard and Frank; Frank A, Leo's son; Leo - now an inspector for the water dept - and Mary. Good old Mary.

1890

So, this week closes without too much new information, but perhaps a few hints. My take-aways:

• Who is this 'mystery' Frank? Is he related somehow?
• Why did Leo move away from Canal St for four years, then move back?
• Why did Anton board at a different location (still keeping his home address) for a season?
• Might there be some city of Chicago employment records on Leo?
• Should we dig deeper in the St Francis church records?
• Would a trip to IRAD answer any questions?
• What about Chicago Driving Park?

What do you think? Are there clues in this week's information that might lead us to check other sources?

The Decade In Review

......until next time!

Frasers of Fife: Generation Three | John Fraser and Ann Brown

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

11. John Fraser (William - 3, Duncan - 1) born January 3rd 1798 - at Mildeans Mill. John was a  Farmer at Westmill, Strathmiglo - 1824 to 1875


married August 1827 at Abernethy.


Ann Brown born July 25th 1804. Daughter of Gilbert Brown and Ann Williamson of Abernethly.

Children of this union:

35. i. William Fraser b. July 28th 1828, married Eliza Fairbairn

36. ii. Gilbert Fraser b. December 15th 1829, married Mary Cargill

      iii. John Fraser b. June 24th 1824

37. iv. James Fraser b. July 13th 1836, married Mary Buckley

38. v. Ann Fraser b. December 20th 1837, married James Winton

      vi. Agnes Fraser b. May 24th 1839 d. April 9th 1856

39. vii. David Fraser b. September 5th 1841, married Mary Kydd Finlay

40. viii. Robert Alexander Fraser b. October 11th 1843, married Catherine Oliphant

41. ix. Jessie Fraser b. February 16th 1846, married David Wightman Cargill



John died February 24th 1875
Ann died April 14th 1888

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 



©2016 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved
©1880 John Fraser - Scotland

Frasers of Fife: Generation Three | Duncan Fraser and Allison Grieve Forsyth

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

10. Duncan Fraser (William - 3, Duncan - 1) born February 4th 1794 at Kinghorn Parish - Farmer, Middle Mill

married November 24th 1824

Allison Grieve Forsyth born January 13th 1806


Children of this union:


      i. William Fraser b. October 14th 1825 d. May 21st 1847 - Engineer

      ii. James Fraser b. July 16th 1827 d. November 13th 1855 - Engineer

      iii. John Fraser b. May 10th 1829 d. October 4th 1821

      iv. Eleanor Brown Fraser b. December 10th 1830 m. John Wyllie - Merchant Captain

      v. Agnes Fraser b. March 14th 1833 d. September 22nd 1834

      vi. Alexander Fraser b. April 28th 1835

34. vii. Agnes Bane Fraser b. September 14th 1838 m. James Porteous Scott

      viii. Hugh George Fraser b. January 1841 d. March 1841

      ix. John Fraser b. February 14th 1842 d. August 1st 1843

      x. Hugh Fraser b. December 25th 844


Duncan died November 2nd 1869 - 75 3/4 years old
Allison died January 9th 1881 ay Mitchelston - 75 years old

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: Generation Three | Helen Fraser and George Galloway

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

9. Helen Fraser (William - 3, Duncan -1) born 1791 at Fife


married October 18th 1814


George Galloway born October 12th 1790



children of this union:


      i. Agnes Galloway b. October 14th 1816 d. June 1836

      ii. Isabella Galloway b. March 25th 1823 d. March 6th 1839

33. iii. James Galloway b. November 25th 1827 married Catherine McKenzie


Helen died November 19th 1846
George died April 3 1851

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers Of Fife: Generation Three | John Gibb and Mary Harries

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

8. John Gibb  (Margaret - 2, Duncan - 1) born July 13th 1805 - at Leslie.  John was a courier at Leslie.

married June 22nd 1827 at Glasgow

Mary Harries born May 26th 1815 at Glasgow. Daughter of James Harries and Elizabeth Mackie



Children of this union:


      i. John Gibb III b. June 1st 1838

29. ii. Elizabeth Gibb b. April 24th 1840

30. iii. James Gibb b. December 2nd 1841, married Elizabeth Curry

      iv. Alexander Gibb b. June 1st 1843

31.  v. William Gibb b. June 24th 1845, married Elizabeth Deas Miller

      vi. George Gibb b. February 7th 1847

      vii. Hugh Gibb b. November 1st 1848

      viii. Margaret Gibb b. February 13th 1851

32.  ix. Isabella Gibb b.July 12th 1854, married George Braid

      x. Mary Gibb b. July 12th 1854 (twin)

      xi. Jean Gibb - died in infancy

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: Generation Three | Isabella Gibb and Hugh Fraser

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

7. Isabella Gibb (Margaret - 2, Duncan - 1) daughter of John Gibb - born 1802 at Leslie

married February 27th 1827

13. Hugh Fraser (William - 3, Duncan - 1) born October 5th 1802 at Kinglassie - Farmer at Ballingry Mill


Isabella and Hugh were first cousins




Children of this union:

27. i. Margaret Fraser b. November 27th 1827, married John Shaw

28. ii. William Fraser b. 1830, married Jessie Duncan

      iii. Agnes Fraser b. 1832

      iv. John Fraser b. October 1835 d. 1852


Isabella died April 27th 1860
Hugh died December 27th 1852

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: Generation Three | Agnes Fraser and Charles Stewart

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

15. Agnes Fraser (William - 3, Duncan - 1) born February 25th 1814

married at Markinch March 11th 1840

Charles Stewart birth unknown - farmer in Tasmania


Emigrated to Tasmania 1841


children of this union, all Tasmanian:

i. William Stewart born August 26th 1842

ii. Fergus Stewart born August 2nd 1844

iii. Charles Stewart born September 11th 1846

iv. John Stewart born August 26th 1848

v. James Stewart born August 10th 1850

vi. Duncan Stewart born October 25th 1852

vii. George Stewart born September 10th 1854

viii. Agnes Stewart born August 29th 1856

ix. Isaac Wright Stewart born April 17th 1859


Agnes died in Tasmania May 1st 1880 aged 66
Charles death unknown

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: Generation Two | James Fraser and Mary MacLaren

1880 John Fraser Family Tree

6. James Fraser (Duncan - 1) born Kinglassie 1777, a Mechanic at Prinlaws

married at Duntocher January 17th 1800

Mary MacLaren birth unknown


Children of the union:


      i. Duncan Fraser born at Duntocher 1801, a Mechanic,  died at Leslie 1839, aged 38 years - a bachelor

      ii. Mary Fraser born 1803, died at Leslie December 1871 aged 68 - a spinster

24. iii. John Fraser born 1805, married Agnes Stenhouse

      iv. Isabella Fraser born 1807, died at Leslie July 1873, aged 67 - a spinster

      v. Jean Fraser born 1810, died March 1879, married August 1854, R. Thomson born Kinglassie, died 1874 - no issue

25. vi. James Fraser born May 10th 1815, married Jane Tod

26. vii. William Fraser born 1816, married Ann Nisbet



James died at Leslie, December 13th 1853, aged 76 years
Mary died March 28 1850, aged 74 years

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: Generation Two | Alexander Fraser and Janet Lockart

5. Alexander Fraser (Duncan - 1) born Milldeans, Kinglassie, November 5th 1775

married January 15th 1793

Janet Lockart born Auclamuir Bridge, December 4th 1772

Their residence during life being at Leslie


children born to this union:

17. i. Isabella Fraser b. February 18th 1795, married Thomas Johnstone

18. ii. Duncan Fraser b. March 29th 1797, married Helen Mowbray "Wellie Moutrie"

19. iii. Margaret Fraser b. November 26th 1798, married George Mackie

      iv. Janet Fraser born October 28th 1800, died January 5th 1802

20. v. James Fraser b. May 24th 1805, married Agnes Calander

21. vi. George Fraser b. April 30th 1807, married Jane Turpie

      v. Jean Fraser born June 25th 1810, died July 26th 1812

22. vi. Agnes Fraser b. September 6th 1812, married David Shields

23. vii. Alexander Fraser b. April 26th (no year), married Ann Young


Alexander died August 2nd 1849, aged 76 years
Janet died August 21st 1817, aged 43 years

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: Generation Two | Margaret Fraser and John Gibb

2. Margaret Fraser (Duncan - 1) born in Saline, June 10th 1764, married  John Gibb of Leslie, a tanner, born about March 9th 1772. His parents were Alex. Gibb, a farmer at Rothes, and Janet Williamson. His grandparents were George Gibb, a farmer at Ingrie 1716, and Catherine Philip.

Married 1799, they had the following children:


  i. Alexander Gibb born 1800 died in infancy

7.  ii. Isabella  Gibb born August 1st 1802, married Hugh Fraser (13), son of William Fraser (3), her 1st cousin, February 1st 1827

8. iii. John Gibb Courier at Leslie, born July 13th 1805, married Mary Harries




Margaret died January 23rd 1849
John died November 9th 1849

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: The Beginning | Duncan Fraser and Isobel Burness

Duncan Fraser married Isobel Burness and the story began. The acorn from which the mighty Fraser tree sprouted, being planted about 1763.

1. Duncan Fraser, a native of Invernesshire, date and place of birth unknown, was out in the rebellion of 1745 in cause of Prince Charlie. In 1764 he seems to have been a Miller at Craighouse Mill, Saline, Fife and in 1773 he removed to Milldeans Mill, Leslie of which he was a tenant until his death.

Isobel Burns or Burness, his wife (tradition says that she was of the same stock as Burns the Poet) and from the Session Records at Drumlithie, Kincardineshire it is found that an Isobel Burness daughter of a Robert Burness was born June 21st 1748


Married about 1763 they had the following children:


2. i. Margaret Fraser born June 10th 1764, at Saline married John Gibb

    ii. Hugh Fraser born November 3rd 1765, at Saline, contracted to Elizabeth Arnot November 15th 1794 in Kinglassie, died about Dec 1794 - no issue

3. iii. William Fraser born July 24th 1767 married Agnes Bane

4. iv. John Fraser born September 23rd 1770 at Saline married Ann Johnstone

5. v. Alexander Fraser born November 15th 1775 at Milldeans, Kinglassie married Janet Lockart

6. vi. James Fraser born 1777 Kinglassie married Mary MacLaren

    vii. David Fraser born August 15th 1779 died in infancy

    viii. George Fraser born December 25th 1780 died at 18 months

    ix. Issabella Burns Fraser born  January 29th 1782 at Milldeans, died in infancy

    x. Janet Fraser born December 12th 1793, died January 29th 1797


Duncan died about 1795/6 at Milldeans Mill, Leslie
Isobel died January 15th 1805 at Leslie

~ all information provided here has been taken directly from the John Fraser family tree compiled in 1880 and as such is the only source for these writings - the objective being to record his work for further study and documentation ~ 

Frasers of Fife: Documenting the Family Tree

The writing, in my father's hand, on the outside of the mailing tube located behind the furnace read: "IRONS Family Tree"

Where on earth had he acquired this, I wondered? And why was it stuffed behind the furnace? My mom, weary from the monumental task of emptying one's home of a lifetime of memories, had hastily shoved it into my hand, saying "here, you want this?" Of course I wanted it!! No brainer. But where had it come from? She was remiss to answer. Didn't know, couldn't remember, too exhausted to care.

I took it home and, like a kid at Christmas, prepared to behold the wonder the tube contained. Inside was a cloth object, rolled around a dowel, wrapped in a thin tissue. Gingerly unfurling it, I discovered a hand inked family tree on linen. Badly cracked and worn. It frightened me. And thrilled me. 

And wait! What? It was not the IRONS family tree, as my dad suspected, but the FRASER family tree! Hand inked in 1880 containing well over 700 names! Did he ever look at this tree? The last FRASER in the direct family had died over 100 years ago.

The where will forever remain a mystery, I resigned.

I unrolled it once or twice more in the passing weeks, realizing that with each unfurling I was losing bits of valuable, perhaps priceless, information. I stored it away for almost a decade, but it kept drawing me back like the Sirens of The Odyssey, until finally I could bear it no longer. I had it archivally framed so that I could bask in it's magnificence, and record electronically what my ancestor John Fraser had done by hand 135 years ago.

Behold the Tree!

The Frasers of Fife - Family Tree c.1880

My next task was to sit down and begin entering and documenting all these people. Overwhelming? Yes. How to start? Paper and pencil proved too labor intensive, so I moved to photographing bits of the tree so I could enter the names into my software program. That also was difficult and too labor intensive. I finally decided on working with my laptop stationed next to the tree, which was now hanging on an interior, shaded wall, and too cumbersome to tote around.

I decided to start a public Ancestry tree too, there might be other Frasers out there looking for more family info. After all, mine is but a tiny twig on this mammoth tree, the IRONS branch on the FRASER tree.

That decision proved to be quite providential.

compiled by John Fraser 1880

to be continued .....

©2016 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved