The Mysterious Jennie Whitford Faulkner (52 Ancestors #1)

Jennie M Whitford is my 2nd great grandmother on my paternal side. She, like many female ancestors, is hard to research. I have made a few discovers, but she remains largely a mystery.

Jennie was born about 1835 in either Ohio or Michigan depending on which U.S. Census  you are looking at. She first appears in the 1860 census recorded as being born in Ohio. The 1870 census lists Michigan for her birthplace and the 1880 census again lists Ohio as her birthplace.

She married Harrison Faulkner, my 2nd great grandfather, on May 1, 1856 in Grass Lake Michigan. From the Jackson Citizen Patriot dated May 15, 1856: "Faulkner, Harrison and Miss Jenni M Whitford, both of Grass Lake, m. in Grass Lake, May 1, 1856, by Rev. C. R. Pattison."

Mrs. Harry Faulkner of Faribault

So, I know she was living in Michigan in 1856. I have not been able to find any record of her prior to this wedding announcement. Her parents remain a mystery. How did she get to Grass Lake? I can find no other Whitford's listed in the early Michigan census' at this time.

By 1860 she and Harrison are living in Faribault MN with their first child, Arthur, who was born in MN in 1859. (Second son Lloyd, b. 1862 and third son Louis, b. 1864, in Faribault as well. I can find no record of any other children born to this couple.) Interestingly, in this census there are listed two additional household members. Sarah Woodford age 16 and James Nichols age 10. Both born in MI. The children's relationship is not noted. I have always wondered if Sarah might be Jennie's younger sister. And if that is true then which surname might be correct? And who is James Nichols? Neither Sarah nor James appear in the household after the 1860 census.

On May 29, 1878 Jennie is granted a divorce from Harrison. Why? I'd love to know!

By 1880 Jennie is employed as a tailoress, still living in Faribault with her three teenage sons.

In 1885 she has moved to St Paul, MN and is listed in the city directory as Jane Faulkner (wid Harrison) residing with her three sons. Harrison, apparently following his family, is found living several blocks away.

Jennie died Feb 29, 1888 in St Paul. She was only 53. Her middle son, Lloyd, had become a successful doctor by this time and she was living with him at the time of her death. There is a record of the obituary in the Dalby Database, but I have been unsuccessful at finding either the actual obituary or the death certificate. It is claimed she was buried in Faribault MN, but that has yet to be discovered. Several other family members were cremated and I suspect that Jennie was too.

Interestingly, shortly after Jennie's death Harrison returned to Faribault where he remained until his death in 1905. The three sons remained in St. Paul.

Samuel Faulkner: Hiding In Plain Sight (52 Ancestors #7)

Samuel Faulkner is my favorite. I think because he was so hard to find. A multi-year brick wall that I just kept butting my head into until it finally cracked. One day a chink fell out and I quickly was able to tear the wall down.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

My introduction into the seductive world of genealogy came with a box of stuff from my grandmother, interesting family lore and Ancestry.com.

On my maternal side were Patriots, Pilgrims, Pioneers and suggestions at Royalty. Talk about Bright Shiny Objects! I quickly entered all my grandmother's research into my new Ancestry.com account and ... Oh My Gosh!! ... Well, I never! What?? By the end of an afternoon I had added centuries to my family tree! Centuries!

Well, that was easy. Mom's side - DONE.

I know, you are either laughing hysterically or totally aghast at this point. Wait. Things were soon to take a turn. I was about to get schooled.

So on to my dad's side. The Faulkner side. No one had ever done any research on my dad's side, that I was aware of. I actually had to build it from scratch. And, to make it even more interesting my dad was an only child. And had recently died. My mom had a few notes from a second cousin who could not be less interested in genealogy - so the quest began. With no one to consult on this family I set out to forge a new trail into the wilderness.

Samuel Faulkner is my 4th great grandfather on my paternal side, but I did not know this for a very long time. The oldest piece of information I had at the beginning of my quest was the name of my 2nd great grandfather. My father has started a file labeled "Operation Grandpa" which I did not find until after he had died, and it made me laugh.  He had been searching for the mythical Faulkners too!

Using Ancestry, I plugged in all the information my dad had gathered.  I immediately found some good census, birth and death records. I found marriage and divorce records. I found obituaries. I found children. And blessedly I did not find one single Family Tree to mess me up!

I contacted Historical Societies, wrote to cemeteries, joined Yahoo groups, posted to message boards. I posted public trees on every site I could think of hoping to lure a cousin or two. I ordered genealogy and history books through the library that I couldn't view online.

I discovered some second cousins I did not know I had, and managed to track them down via long evenings Googling. That hard work proved unfruitful for family info, but I gained brand new kin.

None of this was easy. There were a lot of misses. A lot of dead ends. A lot of "I'm sorry, we are unable to help you with your request". A lot of years searching in vain for a man with no name.

I can't even describe the twists and turns my research took. The one step forward two steps back. The high hopes dashed in an instant. And all the quitting. Throwing my hands up in disgust and walking away - muttering "it's impossible!" "it can't be done!".

But something kept pulling me back. I was a mad woman on a mission. Why was no one else researching this family? No one! I became very protective of MY Faulkners. Yes, My Faulkners. I had gone there. At this point I had invested 4 years of solely researching this particular family. Investing my own blood, sweat and tears. I lived and breathed Faulkner history. I was pretty annoying to be around.

With all the information I was able to gather I had been able to prove my way back to my 3rd great grandfather - a regionally famous man named James Faulkner - I wrote about his wife here.  Of course, in all the biographies and histories done on him there was never a mention of his father.

And I had a very strong candidate for my 5th great grandfather, William Faulkner. Very strong.
Early on in my research I was given a transcript of his will. By all indications this was my 5th great grandfather. And it listed 4 sons. Hallelujah!

Maybe.

So, how to get from James to William? Another year or so passed as I worked the four sons lines. I ruled out one right away as he was deceased and there was no mention of any offspring. Another was a Patriot and there had been some lineage work done on him. The third son married into the Bull family of New York, and traceable through extensive histories. That left Samuel. Invisible Samuel.

Plugging Samuel in to my database brought me nothing. I started my writing, searching, posting campaign yet again, to no avail. This man was invisible! This man who, at one time owned 1000 acres of land in Wallkill, New York was invisible! Another year passed and I sadly put my quest for Samuel away. Vowing to travel to New York one day to pick up the search in person. Time to get on with life. Time to rejoin the living.

Then it happened.

A week after Christmas.

2012.

A casual mention in a chat room about newly added unindexed records on FamilySearch.

Oh. Hell. Yes.

Locked in my Genealogy Cave - fueled on nothing but raw tenacity and coffee - eyes bleary and red from hours of scrutinizing the computer screen ....... there it was!

No. What? Did I do it? Did I just find Samuel?

Staring in shocked disbelief. Frozen in the moment. The quest was over. OVER.

Stumbling out of the Cave I began my happy dance. I did a little Church Lady, and cried tears of joy.

It was a wonderful, frustrating, magical 5 years. I learned a lot. Not only about my Faulkner family, but about researching from scratch and doing it right. Best lesson ever. This is why Samuel Faulkner is my favorite. I worked hard for him and was rewarded magnificently.

Samuel Faulkner was never really lost. Just hiding, in plain sight.

Field Notes: What's In A Name?

I was named for my father's grandmother. Or so the story goes. My brother got a combination of our mother's surname and our father's first name. Names are important. Names have meaning. I'm sure, if you have children, you thought for months about what to name him/her. Although traditional naming patterns are rare these days, we still name our offspring something important to us. We want them to be a member of our tribe, or we want to honor and remember someone special who has gone before us.

Our ancestors were no different.

Even if they did not subscribe to the traditional naming patterns of their heritage, they still choose meaningful names for their children. Often that meaning is obscured behind the veil of time, and we are left speculating on the meaning and origin when there is no direct correlation. 

I have a lot of Harrison's, Lloyd's and Anson's in my direct Faulkner line. Even more collaterally. The name Harrison, especially has been used across numerous branches of the Faulkner descendants, but I'm as yet unaware as to the origin.

While working on my Finding Faulkner series I was reminded of a mystery that has haunted me off and on over the course of almost a decade. Niggled at my logic. Kept me awake at night. (Genealogy geek - no shame in that!)

I have been trying to identify the purportedly eleven children of my 3rd great grandfather, James Faulkner. He was said to have eight daughters and three sons. I can only get to nine.  I am missing a son and a daughter. The other bit of information that bugs me is a man named Nelson Faulkner who purchased land adjacent to James, my 3rd great grandfather, in the Michigan Territory in the 1830's.

Nelson seems to appear out of nowhere. And vanishes just as quickly.

I have been trying to claim him as the missing third son for some time now. The Michigan patent, dated 1837, says that he is from Michigan, whereas James Faulkner's patent, dated 1834, says he is from New York. That's true. He was an early settler in Jackson Co, by way of Orange Co, NY.

(Wait! I thought this was a post about names? Now we're going to talk about land patents? Just wait.....)

As I said, I have been successful at finding nine children. Including birth years and places. The first identified child, a daughter, was born in 1812. BUT on the 1810 census James is listed with one female age 16 - 25 and one male under ten. Clue #1. (This older boy appears on the 1820 and 1830 census as well.)

Clue #2 would be the land patent. Although vague it does put Nelson as a resident of Jackson Co, Michigan in 1837. Whereas James and his family settled in Grass Lake (Jackson Co) in 1834. Meaning by 1837 Nelson would be a resident of MI if he had come with his family in 1834.

Clue #3 just sort of "hit" me when I was not paying attention. (Here it comes!) While relooking at the  names of my 2nd great grandfather's children recently, it sort of slapped me upside the head. IF Nelson was a son of James, then Harrison, my 2nd great grandfather, would be his brother. Harrison's known brother was named Anson. Harrison and his wife had three sons. Arthur Edward, Lloyd Anson, Louis Nelson. Coincidence? Maybe. Edward was the name of his wife's father. Anson, of course, was his brother. So, Nelson was .... ?

I still have some digging to do, but I feel just that much more confident that Nelson could actually be the missing third son. 

Have you considered the names of your ancestors and their collateral family? What's in a name could be more than it first appears. When stuck, perhaps a reexamination of family names may afford a clue. Just maybe you will find another piece of your puzzle! 

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

Finding Faulkner: Part One | The Backstory

It started, as good quests always do, with a family tale. 

As a child we were told stories of our maternal ancestors but heard very little of our paternal side. There were a few allusions of family ties to famous historical figures that, as children, we boasted about in the schoolyard. Genealogy was the weird hobby that my grandmother pursued. 

Later, when I had a child of my own I really started to get curious about my heritage. Quizzing my grandfather was not an option. He was not a talker and did not care for family history. (Or anything in the past, actually.) My father had pieced together what he could, talking to his various cousins. The Faulkner family was not a close family, whereas on my maternal side, there were reunions, holiday meals, weddings, family vacations, etc. I never really gave it a second thought, it was what it was.

I contented myself with working on my maternal line. My grandmother was over the moon that I had been bitten by the genealogy bug and would supply me regularly with packets of family info; all badly typed, accompanied with handwritten notes that I'm still convinced are written in cypher. I dutifully entered it all into my Family Tree Maker program on my Windows 3.1 boat anchor and spent my days writing (yes! writing) to distant relatives for information.

Time passed. Children grew. Grandparents died. Life moved ever forward. 

Then my dad died. 

On Father's Day.  

In the days leading up to the funeral my mother was a whirlwind of activity. Pulling out boxes of family memorabilia I was never aware existed. Old family photos, correspondance my dad had kept with various cousins, and a folder marked "Operation Grandpa".

Operation Grandpa? 

The time was not right to question this odd file, we were planning a wake. A magnificent wake. A party to end all parties. Just the way my dad would have wanted it. A grand party with him at the center. And it was wonderful, and he would have loved it.

Several weeks later my mom presented me with 2 large boxes filled with photos, documents, notes, letters, etc. "Operation Grandpa" was there too.

Seems my dad was trying to find out more about his Faulkner lineage, about his own grandfather and where he came from. He had check lists, correspondence, photocopied pages of  books. A small family tree that he was able to put together. He had sent away for coat of arms, family crest and name origin information. (This was prior to the internet!). It seemed he believed our Faulkner was of Scottish descent.

And then, there it was, in a notation written in my mother's hand:

 "His ancestor came to the Colony of New York from Scotland as a young man." 

Game on.

Relook Early and Often: You Just Might Solve A Mystery!

Last January 2015 I wrote my first 52 Ancestors bio about my 2nd great grandmother Jennie Whitford Faulkner. I felt I had exhausted my search for the time being and was resigned to be content with not knowing the answers I was seeking. I put Jennie aside and moved forward with other ancestors.

Last week, to my utter surprise, I was contacted by a second cousin's wife. She had come across a letter I had written to him several years earlier and was curious if he had ever made contact with me. Short answer was no. But I had moved on and made significant discoveries in the time since I had first penned the letter.  

Eager to share my new discoveries I began taking a relook at the family we have in common.

Fresh eyes (quite literally) and a year of intense genealogical immersion allowed me to see things in a new light.

I revisited Jennie and laid out all the facts I had amassed. I created a new working tree in Ancestry dot com and titled it "Jennie Whitford Mystery". I plugged in everything I knew, the things I suspected, and a few questions. Then I went to work.

I kept coming back to the 1860 census. As I wrote previously, I was really curious as to who the 10 year old boy named James Nichols was who was living in Jennie's household. A little brother perhaps? Did her mother remarry? (And who was her mother?) So I was a little surprised when the second hint that appeared when I hit the "search" bar was for a marriage between Jane Whitford and Daniel Nichols in 1849.  (I knew that in later life Jennie had gone by Jane, and I had included that in the search.)

Clicking on it got me this:

Drat! Ok. I jumped over to Family Search and plugged in the info from the record and ......... Bing, Bing, Bing!!! Found this!

Oh. Jane. You were only sixteen! And who were the witnesses? E. M. Whitford and Elizabeth Whitford. I would suspect that at least one parent had to witness to give consent for a minor. Elizabeth may well be her mother, E. M. could be male or female. Father? Brother? Sister? Add that to the "to solve" list for now.

If this is my Jennie/Jane, then the 10 year old James living with her in 1860 was most certainly her child! (Happy dance ensued)

But before I got ahead of myself I wanted to check this new theory, so I utilized the aid of PFTs (public family trees). Normally I have these "hints" turned off, but now I wanted to see if other researchers had these people in their trees too.

FamilySearch had one entry with the right "keyword" for me: Faulkner. But no detail.

Ancestry brought me zip. So I searched through James Nichols and found this:

Opening it and then clicking on James' mother Jennie gave me this!

On the right track indeed!! But the "sources" were merely notations of people's names and email addresses. Messaging the tree owner brought no better results. 

BUT, I have solved the James Nichols mystery and have some new leads to follow. 

And a new mystery afoot. 

Jane, now Jennie, married my 2nd great grandfather in 1856 and went on to have three more children. Her first husband Daniel also remarried in 1856 and had another seven children.

Ironically, Jennie divorced her second husband in 1878 and went back to being Jane shortly thereafter.

Oh, to have a time machine!!  

Faulkner Surname Research Group on Facebook

FAULKNER SURNAME RESEARCH GROUP

This is just a quick post to invite you all to join my Facebook group for Faulkner research.  It is a closed group, safe to discuss more personal topics or work out theories within the confines of a small group of like-minded people. Please check it out!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/472928906110273/

Best of the day to you!,

Anne